Acrylic Nails for Teens: Safety, Pink & Whites, and Finding the Right Technician

Question
I am 17 and i am currently getting acrylics put on. i has the powder and liquid kind and she is certified, but she is taking on many clients and am finding i have no time to see her to get my nails done, and also because she does not do walk-ins. I want to get pink & whites, because they take less time and more salons have it available, but my mom doesn't want me to, she says they are unsafe, what is your opinion?

Answer
It is worth the time to wait for the good tech with good certification.  Make your appointments and keep them, it's only an hour or so every two weeks, surely you can find a way to make the time ;) It's hard, but it will be worth it to stick it out.  

Your mom's fears of nails being unsafe is one that is unfortunately being played out in the media.

I will calm your worries and your mothers right now by saying:  NAIL ENHANCEMENTS ARE PERFECTLY SAFE.  Period.

What is unsafe is the poor technique that the majority of techs use in the salon.  Constant skin contact with uncured product, overfiling, bad air ventilation, and low quality enhancement products are all factors in this.

The trick is always going to be finding a great tech with excellent training using the most up to date, science based techniques available.  And they ARE available!

What you should take into account is that having enhancements takes COMMITMENT.  You have to commit to taking care of them.  You have to commit to buying the take home products that will produce the best results for your nails, and you have to commit to USING those products.  You have to commit to not picking prying poking or peeling with them.  You have to commit to making time to have them rebalanced every 2-3 weeks.

But again, you are perfectly safe as long as your tech is using good habits, and I wouldn't fix what doesn't sound broke.

If there is anything you find worrisome, give me some more info.  If you want to just try to find someone else in general, e-mail me privately and I will refer you to a salon in your area.


I hope this is helpful, let me know if I can help any further. :)