I may not paint my fingernails, but I can appreciate the desire to have pretty colorful nails. However, the acetone nail polish remover you soak your hands in to remove those pretty colors is extremely problematic.
Welcome to Fatal Conveniences™.
97% of 12 to 14-year-old American girls use nail polish and removers.
But it’s not just young girls. Plenty of people all over the world love to paint their nails and do it regularly. There’s nothing wrong with it, I actually think painted nails look cool! But, when it comes time to remove that pretty polish, the majority of the options are toxic.
I know I say this almost every week, but the FDA is failing us. Cosmetic companies are not legally required to list all the ingredients in their products. This means the products you’re soaking your skin in may have dangerous mystery ingredients. But the ingredient we do know is in most nail polish removers is acetone. And acetone, although not as toxic as I once thought, is still not safe for daily use.
In this segment, I’ll go over how and why acetone works to remove nail polish, and why it’s so readily available. I may not know much about manicures, but I do know there are safer alternatives! So if you’re a regular nail painter, listen up. You’re going to want to know what you're soaking your fingers in.
Other info in this Fatal Conveniences™ segment:
[00:01:30] The truth about FDA approval
[00:01:55] What’s acetone, and why should you care?
[00:02:20] History of nail polish and remover
[00:05:10] Lack of transparency from cosmetic companies
[00:08:10] What acetone does to the skin
[00:09:00] Acetone alternatives
More information to learn about this subject:
The Science of Nail Polish and Nail Polish Remover
Toxicity Studies on Acetone
Nail Polish Removers: Are they harmful?
9 Ways to Remove Nail Paint Without a Remover
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Fatal Convenience Intro
Darin: It’s that time of the week for another fatal convenience. This is a bite-size segment that addresses some of society’s fatal conveniences and the steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of them. I define fatal conveniences as the things we may be doing because the world we live in makes us believe we have to, tap water, shampoo, sunglasses, food. I dive into the hidden truths behind some of our everyday choices that could not only be harming us but even killing us, so let’s dive in.
[00:00:41] Fatal Convenience - Nail Polish Removal
Darin: Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. This is Darin Olien. This is another installment of Fatal Conveniences. This is nail polish removers. So women and men and whomever else wants to polish their nails, paint their nails, and then ultimately have to remove whatever it is they painted them with or gels or whatever, listen, in the cosmetic industry, it is interesting because yes, is the FDA supposed to regulate it? Yep. But under law, cosmetic products and ingredients do not need FDA premarket approval. Basically, they don’t have to test for anything and they can put it in there, especially if it’s proprietary. But we’re going to focus in on the nails. I have been around my mom when I was a kid when she was removing nail polish, and it revolted me. I was, boom, out of the room. There is no way I’m sitting in that toxic soup irritating my nose, ears, throats, and eyes. And sure enough acetone, the main ingredient, it’s also a paint thinner. It’s been used in the industry for a very long time and there are some adverse effects, headaches, dizziness, confusion, faster pulse rates, nausea, vomiting, effects in the blood, passing out, even coma, and shorter menstrual cycles. So just keep that in mind. Nail polish goes back literally to 3200 BC by the warriors in the Babylonian Empire. Black nail polish was significant and showing the high social status and green fingernail polish was signifying lower status. So where are you in there? What is red and blue then?
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