Suntan lotion affecting nail varnish

[tog]

I wonder if any of you have heard of this happening.
Two of my clients have told me that recently whilst on holiday and using suntan lotion they found that by the end of the day if they were wearing nail varnish on their fingers, it had gone dull-looking and needed to be reapplied. As their toes were unaffected, they both concluded it must be the suntan lotion reacting with the polish.
Has anyone had this happen with any of their clients?

 

[Ruth Mills]

Hi, just saw your message on my profile page.

I'd need to give this a bit more research to be sure... but, at a guess, the suntan lotion would be containing a substance that would be reacting with the surface of the nail polish, hence causing the dull look.

Did the clients say which brand of sun tan lotion they were using? Would be interesting to see the ingredients list...

Maybe even do an experiment to see how the nail polish is affected on a willing volunteer's nails...

 

[Cathie!]

It's likely acetate or deet.

 

[femmefan]

I'm sure I read somewhere on here about sun creams with an insect repellant in could 'melt' the surface of gel enhancements. I think it was the same active ingredient used in Deet. Would be interesting to find out if the creams your clients used had insect repellant in them - could be the same thing.

 

[trusim]

Hi ,

Interesting you brought this up. Another great lesson to learn.

Yes it can effect not only the varnish, but plain french as well. It has happened to me.

It is annoying, but it is the chemicals in the lotions reacting with our products.

Good Luck.

 

[Ruth Mills]

I'm sure I read somewhere on here about sun creams with an insect repellant in could 'melt' the surface of gel enhancements. I think it was the same active ingredient used in Deet. Would be interesting to find out if the creams your clients used had insect repellant in them - could be the same thing.

Hmm, Deet is N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide - DEET - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - and, according to the Wikipedia entry - will dissolve nail polish, as it is an effective solvent.

 

[trusim]

Hmm, Deet is N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide - DEET - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - and, according to the Wikipedia entry - will dissolve nail polish, as it is an effective solvent.

Hey Ruth, good one, I was going through my old notes. I didn't even think to check wikipedia or google. You smart cookie....:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Cathie!]

Acetates in their various forms are also, I believe solvents and are found in many sun tan lotions x

 

[tog]

Really interesting everyone, thanks so much. I am going to write down these chemicals and when I see those 2 clients give them the chemical names and get them to check their suntan lotions to see if they contain the ones you guys have mentioned.
Also it's useful to be able to warn any of my clients having a manicure before going on hols.
Would it affect Biosculpture coloured gel, do you think? only we offer that at my salon too, I have a nail tech who does it. I'll ask her if she has heard of it happening before.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Really interesting everyone, thanks so much. I am going to write down these chemicals and when I see those 2 clients give them the chemical names and get them to check their suntan lotions to see if they contain the ones you guys have mentioned.
Also it's useful to be able to warn any of my clients having a manicure before going on hols.
Would it affect Biosculpture coloured gel, do you think? only we offer that at my salon too, I have a nail tech who does it. I'll ask her if she has heard of it happening before.

From what I've read, a lot of nail polish is based on cellulose nitrate, which readily dissolves in acetone; I'd imagine that because the BioSculpture gel is acrylic based, this should be more resilient to the agents in sun tan lotion that have caused the problem with standard nail polish (just like enhancements take a lot of acetone to soak off, whereas nail polish comes off just like that by comparison)...