Met someone who thinks Acetone is unsafe - help please?

[Seraphine]

Hello all (I apologise for the length)

I was reading a forum about travel, and they have a beauty section. There's a prolific poster there who has a beauty salon who said yesterday (during a discussion about the Brazilian Blowout safety issue):

"Wow! It's amazing how the product industry will lie to sell products. This is one reason we decided not to use the new Shellac nail polish in our salon. The removal with acetone is too risky."

I countered this comment with

"How do you think regular acrylic and gel enhancements are removed? Using acetone in controlled amounts has been an accepted practice in the beauty industry for 50 years... why the concern now? Do you not use acetone at all in your salon? How do you remove regular nail polish? (or do you not do that either?)

Shellac requires about a 10 minute exposure to acetone to remove the product. If you use the Shellac Remover Pads, that helps keep the acetone directly on the nail where it can best do it's job, rather than placing the whole fingertip in a soaking tray full of acetone. It's a great product, and myself and so many of my clients are thrilled with it.

I have no qualms about using acetone in my nail studio, on myself or on clients. It is a very useful chemical, and can be used safely.

>> I included links and a quote from Doug Schoon about acetone and chemical safety here <<

Why the scaremongering, PosterX?"


Then two other people wrote back with essentially the same comment:

"Many of the nail tech I know refuse to use an acetone product and the Shellec product is being used with caution up here in Canada. I saw no scaremongering in what PosterX posted. She has been a valuable poster on this board

"


Okay, I guess I'm looking for backup. Or at least validation? This other board has a lot of nail chat that I've tried to be helpful with, and so far quite a few people have talked very positively about Shellac. I only said something because I felt PosterX was stirring things up about "dangerous" products and grouping Acetone and Shellac into the same group as this formadehyde-laced Brazilian hair treatment.

1) Is there some talk that I'm unaware of that people (public or nail techs?) think Shellac is unsafe?

2) I am aware of some "green" salons, but hardly thought they were a big trend. Am I right to be shocked that a beauty technician refuses to use acetone?

I wanted to confer with you here before I wrote back. I feel like I need to stand up for my industry - after that first comment, I felt attacked (like I'm happy to use just "any old crud" on my clients hands). I know I can't fight all the battles, but how should I approach this one?

(I know walking away is an option, but I don't want all the people reading it to just think I'm slinking away because I'm wrong)

Thanks

 

[natalie24]

Did they mean just the acetone is unsafe, surely they cant think the actually shellac is unsafe??

Crazy, crazy people!!

As you said Shellac removes with pads in 10 mins and the pads ensure minimal contact with the skin.

I would just ignore people with these kind of silly comments, there is just no pleasing some people!! They cant have much understanding of the Shellac product and ingredients, unsafe Grrrrrr!!!!

 

[angel fingers]

what are they doing with it to make it unsafe?
drinking it/bathing in it/smoking whilst using ?

crazy talk, its perfectly safe when used in a professional manner.

 

[natalie24]

what are they doing with it to make it unsafe?
drinking it/bathing in it/smoking whilst using ?

HA HA this made me chuckle!!!

 

[naturalnails]

I bet they have recently read the (old) story about the poor girl who put acetone in the microwave and burnt herself very badly - oh that acetone is dangerous stuff!

I know that was not funny but I think your posterX is either very ignorant of her chemicals or is using an alternative and is just one of these CND bashers for the sake of it.

If acetone was so unsafe then why would the FDA not have banned it years ago. Do they not have MSDS sheets where she is.

 

[Seraphine]

Did they mean just the acetone is unsafe, surely they cant think the actually shellac is unsafe??

Crazy, crazy people!!

As you said Shellac removes with pads in 10 mins and the pads ensure minimal contact with the skin.

I would just ignore people with these kind of silly comments, there is just no pleasing some people!! They cant have much understanding of the Shellac product and ingredients, unsafe Grrrrrr!!!!

I took her comments to mean that Shellac is unsafe because it has to be removed with acetone.

 

[Seraphine]

Okay, this is what I want to write in response:

PosterJ, I realise PosterX is a prolific and valuable poster here on TravelForum. I did not intend to offend her, but have a genuine, professional interest in why she would state publically that acetone is so dangerous.

I belong to several professional beauty organisations in 3 countries (UK, Canada and the US), as well as 3 professional nail forums that I communicate on daily, and while I have encountered one or two "green" salons in the past few years I've never encountered a salon owner or a nail tech that refuses to use acetone. Acetone has been used for decades, and if one follows the MSDS sheets for usage, it is an effective and useful solvent. If it were so dangerous, why wouldn't the FDA ban it's use in the beauty industry? Last time I checked, the FDA doesn't have a word to say about it because it is not dangerous when used as directed.

I asked PosterX why she was "scaremongering" because I believed she was posting negative information about a product (Shellac) without backing up her claims. I don't work for CND in any way, but by bringing up this particular product in a thread that's discussing an extremely dubious hair treatment I felt was bordering on slander. She is saying that acetone is too dangerous to use in a salon environment, but has not come back to say WHY she feels that way, despite an industry-wide standard.

I felt like she was painting my entire industry with the same brush - we will happily use dangerous products and hurt people if there's money to be made. People on this thread will read this and start worrying about their treatments. I think it's very important to ask questions, but you also have to educate yourself both as a consumer and as a professional.



What do you think? Anything I should add/take away? I feel like I want to stand up for our industry!

 

[geeg]

Okay, this is what I want to write in response:

PosterJ, I realise PosterX is a prolific and valuable poster here on TravelForum. I did not intend to offend her, but have a genuine, professional interest in why she would state publically that acetone is so dangerous.

I belong to several professional beauty organisations in 3 countries (UK, Canada and the US), as well as 3 professional nail forums that I communicate on daily, and while I have encountered one or two "green" salons in the past few years I've never encountered a salon owner or a nail tech that refuses to use acetone. Acetone has been used for decades, and if one follows the MSDS sheets for usage, it is an effective and useful solvent. If it were so dangerous, why wouldn't the FDA ban it's use in the beauty industry? Last time I checked, the FDA doesn't have a word to say about it because it is not dangerous when used as directed.

I asked PosterX why she was "scaremongering" because I believed she was posting negative information about a product (Shellac) without backing up her claims. I don't work for CND in any way, but by bringing up this particular product in a thread that's discussing an extremely dubious hair treatment I felt was bordering on slander. She is saying that acetone is too dangerous to use in a salon environment, but has not come back to say WHY she feels that way, despite an industry-wide standard.

I felt like she was painting my entire industry with the same brush - we will happily use dangerous products and hurt people if there's money to be made. People on this thread will read this and start worrying about their treatments. I think it's very important to ask questions, but you also have to educate yourself both as a consumer and as a professional.



What do you think? Anything I should add/take away? I feel like I want to stand up for our industry!

Excellent, Dawn plus the poster is flying in the face of repected chemists like Doug Schoon and pretty much calling him a liar or at the least a person with no integrity. What are her particular credentials that she feels she can do that?

Fact is there is a huge lobby in North America re chemicals and they are turning folks into chemo-phobics.

We all know that everything in the world is made up of chemicals so that's pretty stupid and no one is advocating the use of dangeous chemicals in our industry. Used responsibly and with intelligence and knowledge of what one is doing (ie professionals), any chemical is safe in a user's hands.

These lobbiests would be better off spending their time going after ebay who knowinglky let anyone at all sell professional products to consumers who have no knowledge at all of that which they are using.

 

[Seraphine]

I posted my reply, and this is what I got back:

"Ha ha ha. Honestly, I am really thick skinned, it takes more then an opinion to offend me.
I use acetone on myself, I have used it many times on clients and I don't feel, personally, that it's that bad, as a normal polish remover. But...for the soak offs of certain nails, I know that a body does absorb it. And it CAN, not will but CAN cause liver damage. Also too much sugar can cause diabetes, too much booze can cause sirrocas (or however you spell it) yada yada yada.
My main point was, makers of almost anything will lie to sell a product. I especially see it in the beauty industry. New hair products, don't get my started! LOL "

Geez!!

 

[geeg]

I posted my reply, and this is what I got back:

"Ha ha ha. Honestly, I am really thick skinned, it takes more then an opinion to offend me.
I use acetone on myself, I have used it many times on clients and I don't feel, personally, that it's that bad, as a normal polish remover. But...for the soak offs of certain nails, I know that a body does absorb it. And it CAN, not will but CAN cause liver damage. Also too much sugar can cause diabetes, too much booze can cause sirrocas (or however you spell it) yada yada yada.
My main point was, makers of almost anything will lie to sell a product. I especially see it in the beauty industry. New hair products, don't get my started! LOL "

Geez!!

Well I suppose she isn't entirely wrong as I have seen much twisted or false information about products which turn out to be not quite what they have been cracked up to be.

CND however is not one of those companies as is well attested to by 30+ years at the top of our industry leading with new and innovative and what's more, SAFE products. Man, CND go way past the norm when it comes to R&D and safety. Look at the UV Lamp info for example ... we have always said use the right lamp for your system TO BE SAFE AND FOR A COMPLETE CURE ... What do we get ??? "You just want to sell lamps Jaysus ..... actually "NO " we would really rather say. "use any old lamp you want" .. it would be much easier but for safety sake we cannot. CND are not known to be liars and even the WRAPS were produced in rder to minimize exposure to the Acetone on soak off ... NOT because Acetone is dangerous but because it can be drying to the skin and it's always best to be moderate when exposing yourself to ANYTHING.

 

[Joanna W]

It's also scary that she thinks too much sugar causes diabetes LOL take no notice, she's an idiot

 

[geeg]

It's also scary that she think too much sugar causes diabetes LOL take no notice, she's an idiot

true good point lol nutter

 

[Seraphine]

This was my reply - I think I'll walk away from the thread now as you can't convert the crazies... but at least I've said my piece:


"But PosterX, you don't know for sure that CND is lying about Shellac! My issue was that in the middle of a hair product thread, you brought up this particular nail product and called them down for being unsafe. While it's your opinion, there are a lot of readers here who are not familiar with the goings on in the beauty industry - it's up to you and I and other professionals here to give our best advice when asked. You've stated you use acetone personally and professionally, and the length of exposure to acetone for Shellac removal is really short - why don't you say anything about the products like L&P acrylic that need 30 -60 minutes for a soak off time? Instead, you called out Shellac.

Personally, I think as professionals, this is a small issue. The FDA and other protective agencies are looking after us and acetone has been shown over decades of use to be safe. We have a much bigger issue with untrained people buying products off ebay for their own use and companies that will sell products without training. These things cause much more damage, especially in relation to overexposure.

Too much of anything can be a bad thing. Too much water will kill you in a few hours. That doesn't mean I'm not going to drink my 2 litres a day. "

_______________

Thanks, all of you, for the advice and guidance. I just couldn't let this one go... I just thought it was so unprofessional, and because that forum is so heavily subscribed I just felt like I had to get a word in for us.

Great back up!!

 

[geeg]

:Good job hunni!

 

[user 35377]

Good thinking--bringing up the water! My standard statement when someone brings up the use of acetone is: Acetone is second most used solvent in the world! The first being water! Just look at what it did for the Grand Canyon! And how many women do you think immerse their hands in water daily versus acetone?

 

[honeycure]

Lol I wouldn't bother with the conversation any further.

She obviously has no knowledge of her own field (or anything else for that matter). She's seen as a "valuable poster" because she spurts out catty aggressive responses towards anyone who questions her. From the sounds of it, she probably didn't bother to receive any education in nail care.

Let her rant as much as she likes. If you ever get a client who comes in with that kind of belief, you just have to re-educate her.

 

[mely-bely]

I hear that crap so much out here its pathetic - I whip out a myth and fact sheet I have compiled from Doug Schoon's book (with publisher's permission of course) and tell them to get an education.

I know my attitude can make people angry - and can be considered inappropriate as I am a distributor - but I am ok with it.

My customers appreciate my honesty and come back when they have questions.