Shellac Nail Polish Review | The Healthy Beauty Project -by Todra Payne

Guest Post by

Keri Lehmann

About two years ago, Creative Nail Design announced their new breakthrough hybrid technology that combined nail polish with gel, giving the client a manicure that dried completely in TWO MINUTES, was “3-Free” (didn’t contain DBT, Formaldehyde, or Toluene), and could potentially last at least a couple of weeks before chipping. My BFF/Kindred Spirit and I are both cosmetologists, so we knew that this sort of innovation required our undivided attention.

We immediately booked a hotel, headed to our local professional beauty supplier to purchase the new products and UV lamp needed to cure the gel , checked into our rooms, (ate our Greek take-out and talked nonstop for several hours), watched a training video, and got busy ‘Shellac”-ing each other.

The process, from start to finish was amazingly easy. Our nails were beautiful, the product cured immediately to a hard finish, and we couldn’t have been more pleased. I was especially excited because I had weaned most of my clients off acrylic nails (for their sakes AND mine), and I knew that polish-chipping was a big issue for the stragglers I had yet to convert.

I wanted to use the system on my clients because I expected less damage to the layers of nail protein and less dehydration in the soak-off, compared to acrylic nails, but in many clients, those results were not the case.

After our hotel retreat, I headed back to the beauty supplier and purchased more colors of Shellac and offered the service to my clients. They were thrilled at the possibilities as well. And it was, indeed thrilling…at first. But then the white spots came…

One of the benefits touted by gel and gel-hybrid manufacturers is that because there’s no need to etch the surface of the nail plate, there is no damage to the natural nail, unlike acrylic applications. That rational made sense to me, and so I was taken aback as, one by one, my natural nail clients’ healthy natural nails were suddenly, systematically dehydrating.

I was following all of the directed application techniques (it’s not hard to apply at all!), and yet, they were peeling, splotching, and all around making a mess of my faithful clients’ nails. Meanwhile, my BFF/Kindred Spirit was using the products pretty regularly on herself, with no ill effects at all. She loved the gel hybrids. Still does today.

I decided to pull back on using the system on my clients until I had researched what could be causing the problems; and ultimately, I quit using the system altogether.

Here’s the low-down:

• Gel nails (like OPI’s Axxium
  ) and gel-hybrids (like Shellac) don’t require etching of the nail plate for preparation, but they still adhere themselves to the top layers of the nail plate, and (oddly enough) adhere more deeply as the days go on, which is great for color retention, but… if you are not soaking off and reapplying the gel every two weeks, the polish actually attaches itself stronger to the nail plate by going deeper into the middle layers of nail protein. Deeper penetration means deeper effect on the natural nail plate.
• In order to remove the gel from the nail plate, a 10 minute soak-off is required. This entails applying a cotton ball soaked in pure acetone or the acetone wipes suggested by CND directly to each fingernail for 10 minutes.  It’s a much shorter soak time than removing acrylic nails, for certain, but it’s still a good amount of time for such a caustic chemical to sit on organic tissue (ever thought of yourself as organic before? We should get the USDA Organic certification stamped on our bums).  It’s also EXTREMELY dehydrating to the nail proteins, which, like the skin, require adequate hydration in order to function and grow healthfully.

I wanted to use the system on my clients because I expected less damage to the layers of nail protein and less dehydration in the soak-off, compared to acrylic nails, but in many clients, those results were not the case.

Many people love, believe in, swear by, name their first child after their gel nail products. The reason that gel nails are so popular today is that there are lots of people who have had great results with gel and gel hybrid applications.

I am a VERY cautious person by nature, and even more so professionally, so in light of the results that I read about online and experienced first-hand with my clients (and myself), I couldn’t say with certainty that they would get the results that they desired without any negative side effects. To me, gel and gel hybrids performed the same as acrylic nails in terms of benefits versus drawbacks: some great, some not so great.

Ultimately, in regard to nail care, as in life, each person has to determine what she is willing to sacrifice in order to get what she wants. The older I get, the less I want to sacrifice.

How about you?

Keri Lehmann is a licensed cosmetologist who used her knowledge of skin care to create a line of body care products made with REAL ingredients that the body recognizes and knows what to do with…Savvy Bohème: Welcome to the Most Authentic Moisturizing Event of Your Day.

Photo by Vudhikrai