Down with acrylics
For now, I'm just dropping these musings on here. I feel like I need practice because it's been so long since I've written and... *enjoyed* it.
I know. I write all the time. Tweets, texts, blogs, captions... the list is endless. But the way I feel the words flow when I'm writing about manicures is altogether different and it makes me excited.
So for now I toil quietly and in obscurity. There will be time to figure out and to cull and edit. But for now, I tell you HELL NO I WILL NEVER DO ACRYLICS.
Look, if you love them, I love them for you. But there are several things that aren't great about acrylics. Below, a short list linked to other pages. If you come across this... blog thing, and you're seeking to understand why acrylics are not great, then you can click, read, and make your own mind up.
They are usually too thick and you can spot the fake a mile away. Yes, those are two problems for me, and they may not be a problem for you. Perhaps you like nail beds that are several millimeters thicker than they regularly are. Maybe you enjoy the way the acrylate gives you an exaggerated c-curve (which is the clawlike slope that some people have on their nails naturally). But unless you have a really artistic person who is also a minimalist, your nails are going to be thick and that, in the parlance of the kids nowadays, gives me the serious ick.
If my aesthetic qualms seem quaint and even rude, then here's the big one: contact dermatitis, a.k.a. you might become allergic to the material. And, mind you, after reading several scholarly abstracts, there is not a wide consensus on how, exactly the sensitivity starts; however, it's commonly agreed that it's the materials used in the process of giving you the manicure that make it irritating: in other words, the nails themselves once applied won't hurt you-- but all the wet acrylates will react with your skin and cause all manner of sores, irritation, etc.and the dry ingredients, like the dust, will irritate your respiratory system and eyes (I liked how this abstract talked about it.) (This one is good too). In some cases, you may even have a separation of your nail from the nail bed, called oncholysis. (More here.) Some materials cause a lot more reaction than others; for instance, methyl methacrylate or MMA is among the worst offenders. (Read here about why it's terrible.)
As if the chemicals weren't damning enough, you can't soak it off with acetone, so you gotta drill, baby. Alas, drilling makes your nails really thin and vulnerable, which means you have to stick with acrylic or other methods to keep your nails artificially strong. It's not great.
Now, these days people are becoming savvier-- or perhaps just more aware of the potential for allergy from all these plastics. This means that we have newer, shinier, more flexible options, like builder gel or Builder in a Bottle (BIAB). These are still acrylates, though they are more flexible than the acrylics of yore. They can still react with your skin and give you contact dermatitis. They may not be the same acrylics girls rocked at a Y2K prom, but acrylates can still cause sensitivity, are still hard to remove (most still require a mechanical method to remove-- hello, evil buffer) and others require ultraviolet light to apply and cure, which means you can get a sunburn (or skin cancer?!) when you apply your nails.
Anyway. Yes, anytime you apply plastics to your nails, it's not great. Are regular lacquers bad? I mean... I have news for you.
Regular nail lacquers are *also* plastic. Flammable plastic. Nitrocellulose. The chemical that makes your bullet go bang bang.
I know. It's a shock to the system (not really-- what did you think they were made of?) but this plastic is not as reactive with your skin.
You may also see acrylates copolymer as an ingredient in indie polishes and wonder if it's the same acrylates that cause boils. But no, since these compounds cure a lot more easily and quickly, they don't cause as many problems. In fact, the Environmental Working Group rates it as better for you than other chemical compounds. Mind you, EWG is a bit of a Chicken Little when it comes to ingredients, so if they say it's on the safe end, I think you can rest easy (unless you're alredy sensitized from a prior allergy).
Anyway. No acrylics for me-- and perhaps not for you as well?
