Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Why nail services are sooooooooo cheap!!

As many of you already know, I am a licensed nail technician. I don't know if you've ever wondered why nail services are so cheap at those fly by night places. Well, I'm going to tell you. Many of those shops do not have licensed nail technicians working in their establishments. Most states (with the exception of Connecticut, no license is required for manicures) require some type of license or certification. Also, if you live in Illinois, you can contact www.idfpr.gov to see if someone has a current license in their area of expertise. (This site is not only for nail technicians, it is for anyone who is licensed by the State of Illinois.) You can also go to www.nailsmag.com/pdfs/handouts/NAStateBoardsDir.pdf for more info.

Anyway, many of these "chop shops" use a product call Methyl Methacrylate (MMA). MMA is banned by the FDA because it is unsafe to use on nails. Many of these places purchase large quantites of this product containing MMA because it is cheap and that is why they charge such low prices for nail enhancements. Most of the people in these places wear masks because the smell is so pungent; however that does almost nothing.

Here are some of the warning signs that a technician may have used MMA on you:
Damaged nails beds, tingling or numbness in the fingers, whitening of the fingers, irritated skin around the nail bed, difficulty in removing nail enhancements, and of course the low price.

Many people don't think about the long term health risks involved in going to these "chop shops." I always say, price is what you pay and value is what you get. It is better to pay more for a quality service in the beginning. I would not want anyone to have long term health care issues due to visiting these places. For additional information go to www.hooked-on-nails.com/mmaandyou.html

3 comments:

Shop Girl said...

Thanks for the info! And don't worry, I clicked on your ads.

Ms.Curtis said...

This is very informative. I wish everyone would read this because they are not aware of the dangers with going to the "chopo shop". Just like a hair stylist, you need a nail tech who is going to not only make your nails look beautiful, but also help them become healthy. Thanks for the advice FOXXY.

Unknown said...

Thanks You so much for this! I recently returned to the nail business after a 6 year hiatus. Customers ask me all the time why my prices are not as cheap as those other places. As a young nail tech in the early 1990's, I belonged to a nail tech association whom I give credit to for starting the investigations of those other shops here in the Metro Detroit Area. It's important that we inform our customers of the dangers of those other shops.