Monomer odor

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e_lucy

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Hi there,

Im doing my essential course in L&P and so far love it, i love working in acrylics, its just everyone keeps moaning about the smell - it is really really bad, even when i keep the lip on the dappen dish as much as i can, open all the windows the smell lingers for hours. When I leave the nails on the trainer and have even polished over the top they still stink to high heaven!! I have even taken to going out in the garden and pouring the liquid onto a kitchen towel for it to evaporate before putting it in the bin. I went round to do my mums nails today and everyone was moaning, to the point my sister went out because she had headache. We were working in the conservetory for air !

The acrylic supplied with the course are Dream - i like the texture and find it easy to work with - but for once i qualify (i dont think i will be using dream as they are ... erm ... overpriced and REALLY Smell )

Does anybody have a recommendation for a less stinky acrylic ??? I have heard of the oderless ones you can cure with a UV light, and various other bits and bobs - but i always trust anything you geeks have to say ....

Thanks as ever ! Lucy x
 
oohhh im no help i really love the smell! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
i think most acrylic have a smell to them. What i do is put some cented candles round me in a safe area do still get abit of smell but the candles will help.
 
I think you just get used to the smell it doesnt seem to bother me now but I have to say my daughter some times can feel sick:green: but as long as you have a window open and keep all the doors closed its fine.
 
Put a bowl of vinager in the room, its really good at soaking up smells. It works really well on smoke and cooking smells so I imagine it will do the same with monomer. Also try working with smaller amounts in your dappen dish.
 
I lurrrvvveeee te smell too. think it's addictive.
 
Covering up or masking the odor is not the way to work intelligently. Best not to create it in the first place. MY guess?? You are wiping you brush on tissue WAY too much.

Let me share a few tips with all of you Liquid & Powder users who may :?: :?: I say MAY because it is not the case with everyone - be producing a more than necessary amount of odor in whatever setting you are doing nails - salon, home, booth etc.

An odor problem or an excess amount of odor is completely avoidable if you work with good habits and an understanding of WHY you are causing it.

First of all, how long is that dappen dish open while you are working? I am assuming that we are all working with a covered dappen dish right? (Pumps are not a good idea for monomer) Maximum of ten minutes? It is NOT the dappen dish that is causing the problem.

1. How often do you wipe your brush whilst working and where do you wipe it?
2. Where and into what do you throw your waste materials?

The answers to these two questions form 90% of where your odor comes from AND if you make the appropriate changes, I guarantee you will reduce the odor in the work place by 80% :!:

Monomer liquid is expensive - so don't waste it by wiping it out of your brush to acheive the right mix!! Make the right mix first time every time by getting to know your brush, how much liquid it holds and making the correct size bead every time. :shock:

Avoid wiping your brush (when you have to wipe it) on a tissue or paper. The paper just spreads the liquid area larger as it absorbs and creates a tremendous amount of odor. Instead, use a gauze or other lint-free pad that has been slightly dampened with sanitising solution and place it where it is easy to wipe your brush on. Because the pad is already slightly damp, it draws the liquid from your brush into the pad and traps the odor. A second benefit is that with a dedicated area/pad for wiping when necessary, you are less likely to lean in it with your wrist whilst working!! :(

Lastly ... always store your waste materials in a METAL bin (trash can) with a lid. Plastic bins are porous and just let the odor seep out of them and into the room. Using a metal bin alone will reduce odor significantly. :p
 
Hi Lucy

Geeg is so right with all this, but let me add this!

For heaven's sake, don't resort to an odorless liquid - just because it doesn't smell, doesn't mean it's not in the air... scary thought. And since they ADD ingredients to do make it odorless, I'm afraid that climbs a few steps on the sensitivity ladder. UV Liquid and Powder will take you right to the top of this ladder....

Odour is your friend - it's a warning sign, just use the techniques from Geeg. Just think - even if you put your favourite perfume in a dappen dish in your breathing zone - that would probably give you a headache too! But we don't ever think that is bad for us because it smells of flowers.

It's sounds like Dream might be a high odour product - and believe it or not they come low on the ladder of sensitivity... I know Creative is low odour and many others too....

Good Luck Lucy - you've started a good thread - a very important one x
 
geeg said:
Avoid wiping your brush (when you have to wipe it) on a tissue or paper. The paper just spreads the liquid area larger as it absorbs and creates a tremendous amount of odor. Instead, use a gauze or other lint-free pad that has been slightly dampened with sanitising solution and place it where it is easy to wipe your brush on. Because the pad is already slightly damp, it draws the liquid from your brush into the pad and traps the odor. A second benefit is that you are less likely to lean in it with your wrist whilst working!! :(

Lastly ... always store your waste materials in a METAL bin (trash can) with a lid. Plastic bins are porous and just let the odor seep out of them and into the room. Using a metal bin alone will reduce odor significantly. :p

Thank You so much for this tip, I will start to do this from the next set I do. I will admit I probably do wipe my brush too much, I have been copying the technique on the essential DVD that tells you to wipe your brush, from now on I will practice getting the mix right on the brush to avoid wiping and try the tip with damp gauze.

Many thanks for all your comments, they are really appriciated

Louchia x
 
I have to say 2 things I changed dramatically reduce the amount of odour my monomer creates...... (1) wiping on a dampened pad when I need to, and (2) using a minature metal bin with a lid (minature because I'm mobile!).... this has made the biggest difference I reckon.

Being mobile I can't afford to make loads of smell in my clients houses but these 2 things above all else have made a huge difference. I still get really annoyed at the comments I get though, usually from men not from my clients! I smile through gritted teeth at the 'oh, you must be high all the time' one......:rolleyes:
 
I followed the tips from geeg the last set of nails I did, and I could not believe the difference! My mum used to suffer really badly at the smell, I done my own nails the other day and was waiting for the 'god that stinks' comments, but she hardly smelled it at all. Thanks geeg!
 
Hiya....I started off using Dream liquids and powders and have switched to Creative - the bad news is that the Dream one isn't too bad as far as smell goes really...certainly no worse than Creative, so I don't think brand is your issue. The reason I'm switching to Creative bcause of the product support and training by the way as opposed to odour, but I don't think you'll find it to be cheaper. Several girls I know have stuck with Dream as they reckon the price to be good, for what you get, but as I'm fairly new to l&p, the training swung it for me.

However, sorry I digressed so...back to the subject of odour, I read a previous post by Geeg, with the same advice as she has above and followed it and I have to say it has worked wonders. I always had a covered bin, but was still really bothered by the smell, and hubby hated it, but now I fold a kitchen towel into quarters, and lightly spray with a little scrubfresh and water and it is amazing the difference it makes.

Make sure you have good ventilation...but not so that it blows the odour back into your working area, and just ensure you aren't picking up too much monomer on your brush...I used to and was working way too wet and getting monomer on my hand, off the brush to boot! Not good...was having allergic reactions and because the smell was on my hands, it smelt much worse than it just being in the air.

HTH...
 
I have recently bought a stainless steel garbage can,and it works wonders for keeping in odours,i will definately investing in scrubfresh,this thread is great i hope everyone has seen it.:idea:


Florentina Alexander
[email protected]
Nails At Last
 
Clarite is a odorless form of acrylic from opi its not too bad to work with if you play around with it enough!
 
nailnerd66 said:
Well,
I have no virtually no odor or dust at my breathing zone, at my workstation or in my salon and I use Creative Retention+ Acrylics and Backscratchers Glass Glaze and Extreme Systems. I am afraid to tell you how I do it because so far just about everyone I've met wants to kill the messenger.

Nail Nerd

Do you use some sort of extraction?
 
I bought some liquid from Millennium.. it was purple and stank soooo bad!!! I still have it but have no use for it as I use UV liquid, and this stuff is not meant for using with the UV lamp.

I also use a metal bin with a lid, its a small bathroom chrome bin... got it from Next and pinched it from the house!! It's great.

Going to start dampening my lint free pad though, as I've just been using them dry.

We don't have much smell in the salon to be honest, because the door is always open and my jars are under a cowl that sucks away odour. My husband hates the slightest smells!
 
nailnerd66 said:
Well,
I have no virtually no odor or dust at my breathing zone, at my workstation or in my salon and I use Creative Retention+ Acrylics and Backscratchers Glass Glaze and Extreme Systems. I am afraid to tell you how I do it because so far just about everyone I've met wants to kill the messenger.

Nail Nerd

Please tell us how you do this.....are we all so scary?
 
nailnerd66 said:
Well,
I have no virtually no odor or dust at my breathing zone, at my workstation or in my salon and I use Creative Retention+ Acrylics and Backscratchers Glass Glaze and Extreme Systems. I am afraid to tell you how I do it because so far just about everyone I've met wants to kill the messenger.

Nail Nerd

Nobody wants to kill you LOL

Tell us how you achieve this, you are telling us what YOU do..
 
iluvOPI said:
Clarite is a odorless form of acrylic from opi its not too bad to work with if you play around with it enough!
NSI also have an odourless liquid (Spa Nail Liquid) which has a faint scent, hth.
 

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