Nail polish
The formula has been revised repeatedly to enhance its decorative properties, to be safer for the consumer to use, and to suppress cracking or peeling.
[1] During the Ming dynasty, nail polish was often made from a mixture that included beeswax, egg whites, gelatin, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic.
[5] In Europe, Frederick S. N. Douglas, while traveling in Greece in 1810–1812, noticed that the Greek women used to paint their nails "dingy pink", which he understood as an ancient custom.
In the 1920s, however, women began to wear color in new makeups and nail products, partly in rebellion to such prim customs of their recent past.
[citation needed] Modern nail polish consists predominately of a film-forming polymer dissolved in a volatile organic solvent.
Beyond solid colors, nail polish has also developed an array of other designs, such as crackled, glitter, flake, speckled, iridescent, and holographic.
They were generally red, while leaving a round crescent shape at the area near the cuticle blank to enhance the lunula of the nail, known now as a half-moon manicure.
[citation needed] With the modern French manicure, trends involving painting different colors for the tips of the nails instead of the white.
Women's Wear Daily reports nail polish sales hit a record US$768 million in the United States in 2012, a 32% gain over 2011.
Nail polish in the Western world was more frequently worn by women, going in and out of acceptability depending upon moral customs of the day.
[17] Colored and clear polishes can be used to protect nails from breakage, impart a well-groomed sheen, or express oneself artistically.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "The amount of chemicals used in animal studies is probably a couple of hundred times higher than what you would be exposed to from using nail polish every week or so.
In 2009, Susan Reutman, an epidemiologist with the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Division of Applied Research and Technology, announced a federal effort to evaluate the effectiveness of downdraft vented nail tables (VNTs) in removing potential nail polish chemical and dust exposures from the technician's work area.
According to Reutman, a growing body of scientific literature suggests that some inhaled and absorbed organic solvents found in nail salons such as glycol ethers and carbon disulfide may have adverse effects on reproductive health.
Manufacturers have been pressured by consumer groups to reduce or to eliminate potentially-toxic ingredients,[26] and in September 2006, several companies agreed to phase out dibutyl phthalates.
[30] Nail polish is considered a hazardous waste by some regulatory bodies such as the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.
[34][35] Chromium(III) oxide green and Prussian blue are common in nail polish and have shown evidence of going through chemical degradation, which could have a detrimental effect on health.
