Are Your Gel Manicures Causing Cancer? 🫢🤨 The Truth

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The Double Cleanse Podcast - Spotify

00:00 Intro
00:19 Becoming A Nail Tech
02:15 Nail Education
02:59 Can You Let Gel Polish Touch Your Skin?
06:07 Why Do People Have Gel Polish Allergies?
08:09 Can You Over Prep Your Nails?
10:00 Extensions, Gel X And Allergies
11:02 Finger Cuts, Grazes and Allergies
11:50 Can Polygel Cause Nail Allergies?
12:11 Unregulated Gel Nail Polish And Allergies
13:53 Does Gel Polish Give You Cancer?

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For more videos about Korean skincare, k-beauty, hair tips and tutorials, skincare routines, product trials, Hauls, reviews, and lifestyle, then be sure to subscribe, and don't forget to leave your questions down below!
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Remember that skincare is extremely personal to everybody's skin. What works for me, may not work for you. But I hope my videos give you some good ideas for products, techniques, and Ingredients to try.
Also, I'm obviously not a dermatologist or a doctor, so all opinions on products and anything else I'm presenting, are results and findings from my own experience and research.
And that's why I'm here, to share my research and my findings that go further than what is said on the bottle or Google!
But, everything I present is always a discussion for you to join in with :)
If you have any serious skin concerns, please see a dermatologist/doctor.
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Ad Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in my videos are all my own honest feelings. I will only work with brands and products that I truly love and use. Working with brands allows me to invest in my channel and create better quality videos for you guys :)

[JamesWelsh]

Forgot to mention, wear fingerless UV protection gloves and get a good SPF hand cream (may be rubbed off around the nails eventually) but will do no harm! I also make a mistake saying I had an allergic reaction before but what I meant was an irritation to a certain ingredient. If you develop an allergy, you will get it over and over again 😢

[TeriSquari]

I am soooo glad you covered this topic. The online nail tech community is SCREAMING trying to warn people about all of the topics you covered flawlessly with this video. I’m a licensed nail tech and I CRINGE every time I see a tiktok where someone touches uncured gel like it’s no big deal… and a lot of those videos are tutorials. Thank you for using your platform to talk about this!

[Lemoncatsf]

It was pretty obvious when gel nails became a thing that the UV lights were going to cause sun damage especially after repeated use. I did my cosmetology training in 2011- beginning of 2012. In California a cosmetology license covers hair, skin and nails though the focus is on hair. When we did nails we were taught to not touch the product to the skin, leaving a tiny gap. We spent such a small amount of time practicing but it’s part of the state license board test (including artificial nails). I have seen such little follow through in nail salons with all hygienic and safe practices that I rarely go to have my nails done professionally 😭 As someone who is older too, developing allergies and sensitivities is a real thing. Love your video. Your PSA is so needed, thank you!

[glycerinetears]

This happened to me! I’m devastated, but I’ve spent the last two years instead trying to improve my natural nails and using regular lacquer only. The channel The Salon Life has so many helpful educational videos on nail health. I really wish I had educated myself before ruining gel for myself 😢

[Lucysurridge]

It’s good practice to get clients to wear spf on their hands or even have UV fingerless gloves to lend them as part of the service

[ChloeFrench]

I love this video!!! Even as a nail tech - there was so much fear mongering during lockdown it was crazy. People were spending thousands to completely change their brand over to a HEMA free alternative!

[shaffer_sl]

This happened to me but instead of doing my own gel nails I was doing press ons and glue on nails at home during covid. I did all the things you mention NOT to do and I developed a horrible allergy to the 2 main acrylates (methyl methacrylate & ethyl cyanoacrylate) used in all nail adhesive products & now I can’t even paint my nails with regular nail polish. I wish I’d known better bc I absolutely caused it myself but it sucks bc there’s no reversing it & I haven’t been able to paint my nails without getting full body hives & a swollen painful face in 3 years😞

[JamesElise]

At the beginning of 2020, I bought a bunch of regular Born Pretty nail polish that made my nails really itchy. Turns out that was the feeling of my nails separating from the nail bed 🥲

[RiRiSmi]

I am so grateful for my nail tech in Korea so far. I do get my nails done monthly by her (gel) but she makes sure everything is fully cured, that everything is sanitised and each gel application lasts four weeks. I never rush her because I would rather she do her job correctly. I still take all precautions I can and these things can happen to anyone but I am not brave enough to do my own nails lol

[wt_]

my allergic reaction was after 3-ish years of DIY gel and acrylic products, and the reaction is generalized to ingredients that are in literally all nail products. Most terribly, the methacrylates also limit what DENTAL care I can receive. My dentist will not do resin fillings for me for example, as I did have reaction. Please take seriously the advice here. I was a sloppy DIY'er! :)

[hotpinkkt]

Suzie from nail career education has some really good basic tips I learned from her as well. She basically says everything you do but I had no idea about how in depth some of the allergies got! I usually use nail polish (Holo Taco Royalty here) but when a nail breaks, I do use polygel and have overused the slip solution in wich it would flood. This is good to know. Thank you for this

[lilymulligan]

I always figured that eventually we'd be talking about the skin risks of curing your nails under a UV lamp. It's literally A UV LAMP!!

[noiwont]

My aunt has a gel allergy, so acrylic has been a great alternative for her ! Life’s not over after a gel allergy:’) even though having one is really not great.

[cheese]

Thank you for talking about this. A lady got a serious reaction over doing just ONE at home nail kit on herself and now she has intense shooting pain in her spine whenever she has any kind of acrylate touch her. She has bad teeth and can’t even get a crown or an implant or even dentures in the future. It’s very serious

[krm]

this video couldn’t have come at a better time. i’ve just recently gotten into doing my own nails and initially kind of prided myself on doing it all without having to look up any tutorials. i clearly had no idea about any of this. thank you so much for spreading the word, i’ll be doing a lot more research and educating myself further before i continue on!

[camryn]

This comes the day after I decided to learn how to do my nails! Great timing 🤣

Of course I’m watching this while practicing a gel nail design 😂 but congrats on your license! I to want to get mine as well. I destroyed my natural nails because I was doing all the things you mentioned. Thanks for this video!

[Kaeracter]

Great to see this on your main channel!

One of the things that makes HEMA more dangerous and more likely the allergen culprit for many people over other monomers is that it's water soluble and due to the molecule size, it can be absorbed through the skin.

This is an important factor for DIY folks, less experienced nail techs, or anyone who may not have the knowledge, experience, or equipment to cure gel properly. If someone under cures a HEMA gel, the HEMA can leech out of the layers of the product and be absorbed into the skin - even if you were absolutely perfect in application and didnt get any on your skin to begin with, if its undercured at all, that HEMA can be absorbed and the body can have an allergic reaction.

Of course anyone can have an allergy to any ingredient, but HEMA inherently comes with more risk and therefore it's reasonable to avoid it.

[existentiakrisis]

Because of my recent discovery of your channel, for the first time in my 31 years, I actually care about taking care of my skin.

[luchirimoya]

THANK YOU for making a distinction between the EPONYCHIUM (living skin that acts as a barrier) and the CUTICLE (dead skin cells stuck on the nail plate)!! I'm so tired of people, including NAIL TECHS confusing and conflating the two terms. This could lead to infection and other nasty things really quickly!! I'm glad you did all this research and education before making this video, plus you're being so humble about it, very well made honestly 💕