491: Hidden Nail Salon Dangers, Risks of Gel Nails, and What To Do About It with Lanna Dang

We love pretty nails and pampering pedicures, but at what cost? From dirty tools to toxic ingredients, your nail salon might actually be doing more harm than good. I want to talk about what's really hiding, not just in the nail salon, but in our polish, in the treatments. Aging happens. But feeling old, that is optional. Imagine feeling 10 years younger by taking something just two days a month. What if young? You could redefine your own aging starting at a cellular level. I want you to meet Qualia Sanheletic. They are a favorite show sponsor of mine. A cutting edge formula designed to help your body eliminate senescent cells, also known as zombie cells. So these outdated cells, they hang around a little too long, draining your energy and slowing workout recovery. Now here's the fun part. I was actually taking Qualia Sanolytic well before they ever became a show sponsor of this show. I take it once every four weeks? Yes, once every four weeks. And it's honestly one of the easiest things we can do for our health by clinical research. It uses nine plant based compounds that support joint comfort, sharper focus, better aging, all naturally. And here's the kicker, you literally only take it two days a month. That's it. Once a month, two days, back to back. Simple, easy, backed by science, validated by research. You can also try it risk free. With 100 day money back guarantee, you can experience the science of feeling younger. Go to Qualia Life. That's Q u a l I a life.com NatalieJill for up to 50% off your purchase. And that code Natalie Jill it gets you an additional 15% off. So that's Qualia life.com NatalieJill Q U A L I A life.com NatalieJill for an extra 15% off your purchase, your older self is gonna thank you.

Welcome to Midlife Conversations. I'm your host, Natalie Jill and I'm passionate about having amazing conversations that matter to us midlife women. On this path podcast, I do what I do best. Taking complicated health topics and breaking them down simply so that we can optimize aging together. I share actionable steps to help you thrive in what I believe are our best years to come. Join me as I interview the most inspiring people living their best midlife years and dive into essential topics like hormone changes, health optimization, weight management, blood sugar, emotional well being, relationships, beauty and so much more. We love pretty nails and pampering pedicures, but at what cost?

Cost?

From dirty tools to toxic ingredients, your nail salon might actually be doing more harm than good. I want to talk about what's really hiding, not just in the nail salon, but in our polish, in the treatments, in the pedicure bowls. And what product ingredients do we need to be staying away from and looking at? And does toxic load even matter? Should we worry about this or not worry about this? That's the conversation today. And I have my friend Lana Dangon, who owns Pampered Soul in Scottsdale, Arizona. And I want to tell you, before I fully bring her in and introduce her, why I wanted to feature her and why I was drawn to her salon. So I am a girly girl who loves nails. I've always loved getting my nails done. My gosh, I couldn't. When I had a girl. My daughter's a girl. She's 18. When she. I could not wait. I kept saying, I cannot wait till she's old enough to get her nails done. And that meant, like, age three, I was taking her to the salon to get little pedicures with me and her nails done. I was always that girly girl into nails. And when I went through my toxic journey, like learning about toxic load, which we've talked about many times before on the show, but toxic load, it means there's. Everything is toxic. There's a lot of things that are toxic. But as we get older, that toxic load builds up. So it gets more and more important to look at what's in our cosmetics, what's in our food, what's in our environment, because all that starts to build up in our body. And if you're not efficient at eliminating toxins, that could create a problem.

And.

And one of the biggest offenders, which was very disappointing for me to learn, was nail products, the stuff going in our nails. And that made me sad.

So.

And I know a lot of you listening might be like, I understand. And some of you might be like, well, that's completely vain, and that's stupid. Whatever. But I did go, and Lana knows this as well, I went completely, like, took all my gel off, no nail polish, everything, for over a year, while I was. When I explanted and when I was detoxing from everything. But I caved and said, I need nails. I like to get my nails done. I like to get pedicures. I like to get all of that. And I've been on this dance, on and off on what is toxic, what is not, and how much do we need to be paying attention to this? Now, Lana owns a very unique salon in Scottsdale, and she's going to share her story in just a minute here. But she Owns a salon where she is the OCD of nail salons. She is on it on cleanliness, on who she hires, on the practices there, and on education to clients and really looking for the best of the best of all products so she can help clients make wise choices. So I actually drive pretty far to go to her salon because I think if I'm going to do it, I'm going to drive and support what she's doing. She is not the cheapest, nor should she be. I want to put that out there. Nor should she be, because she really does a good job researching, finding the best ingredients, the best employees, and really curates an incredible environment there. She's very knowledgeable. And recently on Instagram, she started really sharing a lot of these tips, these shares about what is hidden in nail salons, what's hidden in products. And I believe we need to be a lot more informed about this. So, that being said, Lana, thanks so much for having this conversation with me today.

Thank you so much for having me on, Natalie. I love my conversations with you. Just like, off the record. So I think bringing it on here is just going to serve the people and we'd like to talk about some juicy stuff, you know.

Yes, yes. So I want to start with your background because you have a very interesting background. Tell us how you grew up and what you grew up around. Let's start with that.

Yeah. So I pretty much grew up inside of a nail salon. Like, my parents owned a nail salon. It was the first shop at the. The first standalone nail salon in that town, which is not like too small of a town. It's in Santa Rosa, California now. There's dozens and dozens and dozens. But they had the first one there and they did really well there. But to paint you this picture, the walls were painted bright pink inside of the salon. All the women loved it. My mom would pick us up after school and then take us there. And we would just hang out there. There's like a little back room, but we would be like weaving through the customers and talking to everybody. I had a job. My job was, remember back in the day, you got your nails done and you had to sit in the thing to let it dry, like a little light. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, I remember that.

Yep. I went around and I had two jobs. I either sprayed their nails to dry them with that. It's like a drying spray that had this kind of like a hairspray spell.

I forgot all about that. Yeah, yeah.

So I would just go. They thought it was the cutest thing because I was tiny. And also, women always messed up their nails when they would reach into their purses. And I remember they had to grab their checkbook because back then that's how they paid. So they needed their car keys and their checkbook and they couldn't, you know, so I'd go by and I'd grab all their stuff for them and send them on their way. So I grew up in this industry. Both sides of my family, mom and dad's side, have aunts and uncles who own salons. My parents, friends growing up, own salons. So I really grew up in it. And as a child, I just thought that that's how things were. I didn't really know any different. When I got older and started just learning about sanitation, proper protocols and things like that, I was like, okay, there's. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that people do not realize.

So when you were, when did you first first start realizing maybe this is not the best practice for women? Maybe this is not as healthy as we think. Maybe this pampered idea is not the best idea. Like, when did you start putting that together?

I mean, at a point when I started going. When I went off to college was when I started getting my nails done at other places and experiencing other salons. So I want to say it kind of registered at that point.

Because it was like, now I'm the customer. And then it just kind of. Things slowly started clicking of like, oh, this file is probably reused. This set of tools is just repackaged, right? And then it's like, I mean, I didn't know much about sanitation protocols. And so I started like getting my nail license and then obviously opening my own salon. And then I was like, oh, wow, they've been doing this wrong the whole time. Like, this is disgusting. But things just kind of came in slowly, right? So it wasn't like a one time epiphany. It was just like, oh, that's probably not how you should do that. Or, you know, again, when I was on the receiving end of these services.

So before we even get into like, what goes wrong sanitation wise, I want to ask you what even made you want to start a salon? Because you grew up in it. Like, this was. Did you just know you were going to do that? Did you think you wouldn't do that? Like, where, where did that moment come from?

No, I actually used to want to be a doctor. Surprise, surprise, Asian family. It was like I was groomed to either go into like be an engineer or a doctor or something. So I Went to school for that. Actually, my undergraduate degree is in biochemistry. I never wanted to be in the nail industry. Wanted nothing to do with it. I watched all of, like, my parents, friends, kids that I grew up with grow up and start doing that. Like, they graduated high school, got their nail license, eventually opened their own salons and things. I started thinking to myself, again, I think it was right when I was in college. I was like, gosh, I really wish there was a different option out there. Like, just everywhere I went was the same experience. Literally, from the layout of the space to the products that were being used, to what was on the menu, to, like, the names of the services and everything felt to me just felt a little bit like, hokey. Kind of like they would just put these words in with these services. Like, when I see anything organic at a nail salon, it's like organic manicure or pedicure. I'm like. I roll my eyes, you know, like, okay, like, there's nothing organic about this.

And I can go into that a little bit further too. Like, even the manufacturers of the products themselves are just slapping random words that they think are catchy and trending to sell these things and then buy it. Really don't look into it at all. But.

So I remember if it was. I don't know if it was the late 80s or there was the 90s. I remember when there was this whole buzz, not even about the toxic part yet, but about salons being dirty. And I remember they started getting more regulated, state to state, and put it. What about those regulations? I think, is that a false sense of protection that people have when they. When they see that the health, you know, health is checking this out or whatever.

It's. It is real. Like, there's been stories of clients, you know, watching state boards show up because they do randomize checks. But there's been stories of clients, like, watching state boards show up and nail techs literally running out the back. I've heard that story so many times. Yeah, it's very common in California. I don't know about here so much, but growing up in California, I used to remember hearing about that all the time. And it could have been that they were not licensed. That's typically why.

But Pampered soul. We have had several. We've been in business six years. We've had maybe four or five visits. We pass with. We pass with an A plus every time. But it does help. And they do become more stricter over the years, I've noticed. But I think that that's needed and you know, they'll find you. Now, the fines can be, like, pretty small. They don't take away your license unless you're doing just something absolutely heinous. But if it's like disinfectant stuff, things that aren't clean the proper way, not placed in the proper way, or covered the right way, it's typically a fine. But it absolutely does help for sure.

So when a client, when a person. I know a lot of. A lot of people don't take the sanitation stuff seriously, at least. I mean, the end user, the customer, they don't really think too much about it. They see them putting a new plastic bag in the tub and they think, oh, it's clean. But they don't really understand the ins and outs. Why do we need to understand, like, what goes wrong? If you are going to a salon that is not clean and not up to, like, maybe they look clean, but they're not doing all the protocols. What could go wrong?

Yeah, so think bacterial growth and pathogens. Right. So these are things that can go inside of your body and cause harm, cause infections. I mean, you've seen the pictures probably of, like, the people getting really bad foot infections. I mean, there's stories they teach you in. In cosmetology school. And when you're going to get your exams or your licenses, they'll show you all the terrible cases that have happened in Arizona. People have been. Have had to get amputated from pedicures or, you know, they. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I mean, it's not common.

And did you ever see this in the nail salon world? Not at your salon, but have you ever. Did you ever see this in the nail salon world, like, real yourself?

I never saw anything that extreme myself, but there would be people that had bad reactions or infections. I saw that. And again, it's not common, however, it's just like, do you want to risk that person being you?

I think that's why they say, like, not to shave your legs before a pedicure, things like that. Because if you have any kind of open wound and then you have. You're in any kind of pathogen, it's easier for you to get infected.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Or if your immune system is lower for some reason, or, you know, with your nervous system, if you're in a high stress state, you're just not able to fight things off as well. And it's just a matter of, yeah, they didn't clean that pedicure tub or those tools properly brought something over. Or a bacteria Grew on it, and now it's. It's. You're exposed.

Wow. Okay. Give us, like, some general understanding of, like, what are the most important sanitation things and like, what might not be so obvious that we need to be aware of when we're walking into a salon.

Okay, so the first things are the tools that are touching your live skin and cutting your skin. Now you're. They're supposed to not be cutting any live living skin. It's all dead tissue that we're coming off. But you're pretty close, right. Sometimes they do kind of nick you and things like that. But those tools definitely. So you have to sanitize them by washing them first with soap and water and scrubbing off any dead skin. Because if you have any debris on there and you pop it in the cleaning solution, it actually doesn't clean behind that gunk on it. So that's why you scrub it off first. And then you have to soak it for a minimum of 10 minutes in a properly portioned out, hospital grade cleaning solution. So those are the steps.

Now, I think most people are not doing that. They're not scrubbing it, and they're definitely not doing it for 10 minutes.

Yeah. From what I know in the past that I can't speak specifically for anybody, but usually they would either wipe it down with a towel and repackage it, or just rinse it in water and repackage it.

Or sometimes I'll see people. They just put it in those. They look like they're auto cleaving. They put it in a. They just dump them in a thing and throw them in this. This thing. But is that actually doing anything?

Yeah. So the autoclaves in the state of Arizona. And I didn't research and no other states approve it, but I don't think very many do. Are not approved as proper sanitation. It doesn't kill off all the potential bacteria and gunk that's been on there.

Okay, so what are some. So besides cleaning the tools, what's proper tub maintenance? Like the pedicure tubs? Like, how clean are those and what do we need to be aware of there?

So the state board has different guidelines for this, depending on your tub and what you use. So we do a double barrier method. So we spray all the tubs with that barbicide cleaning solution after each use, even though there are liners in there. So the clients are always protected from anything on that surface of the tub, like touching them. But every time we remove that bag, we're also spraying it and letting it Sit. Sit for a couple minutes with the barbicide solution and then putting the bag back in. So we clean it, let it, spray it. Yeah.

You're the only. You're the only salon I've actually physically, with my own eyes, seen do that. I've never seen another salon do all those things.

That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, the bag.

Yeah, I see them change the bag.

Yeah, that's. That's a good protectant. But we just like to be extra secure. And I always think, like, okay, if I'm coming in right after someone that just had their feet soaking in there, you know, who knows where they've been or what's on their feet? I mean, obviously we know because we see a lot of feet, but it's just like, how would I. How would I want to make sure? What would make me comfortable sticking my feet in after somebody else is what I think of. Also, if a place doesn't use these liners, Arizona State board says you're actually supposed to fill that tub with the barbicide solution and. And let it sit there. And that's how you clean that.

Wow. And I not seen people do that. Definitely, definitely not see that. What about those little jet things at the bottom that people are always changing out? The little massage jet thing? What.

Tell us about those. Yeah, so that gets exposed every single time to all the stuff that's fluffing off your feet. The dead skin or whatever else people might be tracking in. Again, just also bacterial growth from not being cleaned properly, and you can keep dragging that from service to service. So the jets, you turn them on, they make the water whirl and bubble. Looks cool. It works with the chair. It's cool. Lights on there. But I know for sure people don't clean that. So we also scrub those with soap and water, and we also soak them in barbicide. Yeah. And I just. I feel like that's. That's the main thing that's skipped.

Cuticle cutting and callus removal. What's the proper way? What's the dangerous way?

Yeah. So I know some states have outlawed the cheese grater ones. In Arizona, you can still use them. We have one. We rarely ever have to use it. I mean, and if we ever have to, it's usually somebody that really wants a full callus treatment. We have, like, a special service for it, and the staff are so well trained. We do not overdo it. We use it to take off the main things, and then we actually go back through with finer files to clean, to smooth it. Out. But this is one of those things that's just contact to skin. You're peeling off layers of dead skin. Also, some people don't clean their feet properly. That's just the truth. It's hard. You know, some. Some people don't scrub their feet in the shower. They just. They can't.

That's so gross.

I'm sorry. Yeah, it is. We're talking about disgusting stuff, but it's the truth of things. So think about that file. Rubbish scrubbing off this person's nasty feet that they couldn't clean themselves who knows how long. And then if they just rinsed it in some water, tossed it in that autoclave thing and then packaged it and used it on you. Right. Gross. Same thing. I mean, I have.

I would think. Yeah, Well, I would think unless, you know, your salon is like completely taking these protocols, you would probably should pass on those. That. That part of the service.

I. I would imagine, yeah. If you get a weird feeling. That was always my thing, if I always just had this feeling like, I don't know if they cleaned that properly, then I skip it.

Give us some of the commonly, like, over skip. Like, people would be so shocked to know about some nail salon practices.

Oh.

So I told me one about paraffin. So you got to tell me. Tell the paraffin one at least.

Yeah, we'll start. We'll start with the most disgusting one. This is going to be my next episode in my Salon Secret series. So paraffin wax, this is more common than you think it is. It is disgusting. So, you know, when you go and you get a paraffin wax service, they take the bags out and they put the paraffin on your feet and then it hardens and they take the paraffin off. Now your feet are buttery, smooth and soft. Well, they take those paraffin bags, they take them to the back and there's like a big bucket that they have, and they open up the bucket and they peel the paraffin out of those bags, drop it in that bucket that is then remelted and reused.

Literally disgusting.

Yeah. And when I heard that people were doing this, I mean, I totally believed it. Like, I, you know, growing up, my parents, friends and stuff, I saw it with my own eyes and it's. It's just.

Negligence, ignorance, you name it, right? But I was like, okay, well, surely maybe these are just like the really hole in the wall type of chop shops like that you would find that.

I will tell you. I hired somebody that worked for me several years ago and told me that their salon that they came from. Did that. And it is like one of your nicer salons here in the Valley. And I was just like, oh, yeah, you gotta be kidding me. He was like, yeah, no, they. They definitely. They made me do it. And I was like, oh, my gosh.

Wow.

So.

So if I'm hearing you correctly, it might not be intentional, deliberate. We want to hurt people. It sounds like it's just ignorance. Like they don't know.

Yeah, they don't know. And you know, most of these salons are owned by Vietnamese people. That's what my background is. Like, my parents are Vietnamese. And you just. It's a group of people that came from a third world country that never had much. Like, it's an impoverished. Well back then, you know, a very impoverished country. And it comes from that. Right? It's that deep inner, like, let's preserve, let's save, let's, let's make this stretch further. It's perfectly good. Why would we throw it out type of mentality.

So it's coming from a place of being frugal, conservative, aware, versus like, we're harming people. That makes sense to me.

Yeah. Yeah.

What else don't we know that we need to know?

Secrets just shared about this too. Most places will keep name brand bottles that they're using right in front of you. Like if you love opi, if you like your C and D, anything that has a good brand, that a lot of customers follow the brand, and they will fill it with something like a gallon of something else that's completely off brand and like a third, a fourth of the price.

Wow. So you think you're getting the OPI or the. Even maybe the toxic free bottle of whatever, but they're filling it with something else or just reusing that same bottle.

Yep. They've even done this with polish itself because there was a period of time where women love certain brands that only wanted those brands.

Before. I get into actual chemicals in the products, because I want to, I want to dive into that. As far as the sanitation stuff, what are some appropriate questions that if someone is not in Arizona, they're not here. They can't come to your salon. They're not here. Although if they're visiting, they better go to your salon because they can hear how, how clean and amazing it is. What, what, what should they ask their salons? Like, what's an appropriate question to ask about cleanliness and these protocols?

Gosh, even if you wanted to do like a social experiment for yourself, because this is wild, but I'd say Easiest thing is to call them and they like don't know who you are. I can't see your face. But you just call them and ask, hey, you know, I'm looking to, to find a new salon. I just want to hear about how you guys sanitize your tools. What's your process?

Right. And now you might get the front desk gal that doesn't really know how to answer that, but they should have a manager or a lead of some sort call you back because these are such important questions. And if they don't call you back. Right. That kind of tells you something. Maybe it's not that important. If I had someone call me, I'd be like, ah, give me the phone. I can't wait to. Yeah. With this person.

So, so you're. So if I'm hearing you correctly, it's okay to like you call and ask like what are they doing? And if they gaslight you or brush it off or don't take it seriously, they probably don't care. Because if the salon really does care the way yours does, they would be happy to answer that question and share all the things they do.

Yeah, how do they.

Okay, that's good to know.

How do they clean the pedicure tubs? Those are like the two big things.

And although you all listening might go, well, some of those infections and things are rare. If it happens to you, it doesn't feel so rare.

Yeah.

So that, just keep that in mind. So if you do get a nasty infection and you lose a nail or a toe or like all that stuff is not. Doesn't feel so rare when it happens to you. Okay, let's talk about the actual products and like where we are. First of all, I want to back up a minute. Years ago there was no option for long lasting polishes. You would, you would get your nails done. It would last five to seven days maybe if you're really lucky, starts chipping off, peeling off. And then I remember when the very first thing that kind of came about was that fast drying hard gel. And that kind of evolved into now there's acrylics. Now there's like there was all these options. When you look at not regular polish. Let's talk about. Well actually let's start with regular polish. Let's start with regular polish. So we're going to kind of go to that. When you look at regular polish, somebody just gets a regular manicure, pedicure, they want regular polish. What do we need to be aware of ingredient wise in this? Theirs and those and is there Safer, cleaner options.

Yeah. So answering your first question, regular polish is one of the biggest offenders. I mean next to acrylics. Right. But regular polish is just filled with hormone disrupting, neurologically disrupting and cancer causing chemicals. Like these are just things that have been known. Toluene is a first ingredient, you think about that. And that is neurologically disruptive. Also harms your reproductive system. Formaldehyde is a big one. And resins, this is like a hardener in these products. It's very, very common. It's a known carcinogen. Also can impact respiratory issues. Like I think about like people I know that have like the pots and the things that have been going on since COVID with their respiratory, that's been an issue. They should really be looking into the products they're using on a day to day if it has this stuff. Diabutyl phthalate is another one found in every single polish. Endocrine disruptor, fertility issues.

And affects your ability to have babies, basically. So those are some really common ones. Hema, your favorite.

Hema is an irritant. Just it causes sensitivities and it can cause you to have reactions to that product physically on your skin.

Wow, okay, so are there true options for regular nail polish that don't have these things in there?

So I'm still doing the research on that myself. There are a couple brands that I love. But when I research something for my spa, I look at, okay, is it clean? Is it what it claims to be? Does this company even know what cleans mean? Are they going to hop on the buzzword trend like the way organic blew up 10 years ago? And then I'm like, okay, they're actually clean. They're really, you know, they mean business. They have chemists that work on stuff that knows what they're doing. Then I think about, well, what's the, how does it work? Because our clients aren't going to pay extra for clean polish that ships in two days. You know, I mean, right. You just don't have time for that. You're going to be like, okay, well what the hell did I pay that for?

And so finding this kind of unicorn that meets all of that is challenging. There are a couple brands that are actually clean. One space here actually in Arizona, and then the other one is based in Europe. So it's Dazzle Dry and Manicurist. And they're legitimately clean and they last long. But there's also the group of women that like, the longer look, what we call nail enhancements, like they like the look of gel, the longevity and how it actually stays on for weeks. And we're, we're getting pretty close to finding a product I really love with that. But that's in a more challenging sector. The Dazzle Dry and manicure more for your natural nails.

So when we talk about natural nails, when they say 5 free, 10 free, what does that mean? Does that mean like has 5, doesn't have 5 of the chemicals? Like what does that mean to say five or ten free?

Yeah. So there is a list of all of these harmful chemicals and then there's like your top five on that list. When it's five free, it's free of those top five. When it's 10 free then it's free of like the top 10. I mean products can go up to like 13, 14 free. Right. So like you just kind of think to yourself like what's important for me to, to not have exposure to. But the top five were like toluene, formaldehyd, camphor. I think Hema would be part of the 10 free list. Let me see, Dibutyl phthalate and then format formaldehyde resin. So those are the top five.

And I think Dazzle Dry is one of those that's listed as like 10 free or even higher I believe. Right.

Dazzle Dry is one of those. A big stickler in how they label their products because they're amazing but they don't list their self as anything free. But they are truly non toxic. But if you were to go in, I think it's somewhere like it's over 10 of the stuff that they don't have.

I'll tell you guys, when I, when I took everything off, Dazzle Dry was my first thing I started using again. And I will say I do like it if you're easy on your hands. So for me it would last a good five days. I think it would last really. But if you're constantly washing your hands and doing a lot, it just depends on your lifestyle. Like I know there's many people that say it lasts for them for like two weeks. For me I'm pretty hard on my hands so I get like 5 plus maybe taste. But for me I don't like that because then all next thing you know I'm like, I've got the chip nails and I like a little bit more structure to it. So a lot of people had asked me about Dazzle Dry so I think it's just unique for each person because I know you've said you've had clients in there that they have them for two weeks, and it's no issue. It's like, it looks great.

Yeah.

For me, I think it just.

It lasts three. I can go three weeks with it. It just looks like it's grown out, but it doesn't chip or peel at all. It is really different from people to people, but most people, when they switch to Dazzle Dry, love it. And again, unless they.

I do it on my toes.

Yeah.

Yeah, for my toes. It definitely lasts two to three weeks, for sure. It's just my hands that wasn't. Okay, let's talk about the structure now and in order of what's ideal. Like, people talk about the dip powder. I guess the main ones are dip, acrylic, hard gel, shellac. Let's talk about those.

Yeah. So that was one of the biggest myths that the nail industry started spreading when dip came out, was that dip was healthy for you. And even from the get go, we were, like, looking at the ingredients and looking at this thing being like, no, it's not. You know, and we always had customers that would come in and say, I heard dip's really healthy for you. And they would label it. They would market it as like, oh, it's got vitamins in there. So it actually will be like, add nutrients to your nail while you have them on. No, it doesn't work like that. Right. And dip powder is essentially acrylic powder, just in case anyone isn't aware.

Wow.

Okay. That's crazy, because a lot of these salons, they're sitting there, it literally says outside their salon, clean nails. We do dip or organic dip nail. So I knew there was something sketch about that. So I guess the only benefit to it is they're not using the UV light would really be what it's happening. Because they don't UV light with it, right?

No light with it.

Yeah, but there's. But it's still chemicals.

Yeah. It's just a matter of the difference between dip and acrylics is how it's applied. So acrylics uses a monomer, which is, like the worst offender. And that has. There's been a lot of regulations on that and things that can't be used anymore, like highly carcinogenic respiratory issues. Your hema is found in the monomer as well. It's that purple liquid that stinks really bad. I can't stand that smell. And that's what also causes, like, you know, you have, like, inside of a nail salon, if they're doing a lot of acrylics with that monitor or. Sorry. That monomer now you have your. It's called vocs. It's in the air, so it's like volatile organic components. But if you're breathing that in, that's also really not good for you. So you have to consider that for dip powder, the difference is now you're applying it with something different than a monomer. You're applying it with an adhesive. So, like super glue, basically. What's inside of glue? Well, you still have your formaldehyde. You still have your toluene in that glue.

Diabetelphile. Like, it's. It's. Those chemicals are still inside of that glue, which is what is adhering it to your nails.

Ugh.

Okay, so dip in acrylic. No bueno. Not. Not good. And that's why I don't. You don't even do dip in your salon. You don't have any dip in your sauna.

We do dip. We do.

No, I don't think you do.

Yeah, we do dip. Because some clients, it's what they know, they love it. We convert a lot of our dips over to builder gel and hard gel. Because as nail artists, I've never met any true, really talented nail artists that like working with dip. That's just been my experience.

You know what's funny? So what I noticed about Lana's salon at Pampered Soul is they. They don't say no to anything, but it's like. It's like they do the better options of each thing, and they slowly convert everyone to the cleaner. I've noticed that we do. It's like, sure, we'll do. And let me educate you about this. So that's kind of cool. And you find the better of the products for whatever the thing is that people want.

Yeah.

So, okay, so but for you personally, you don't love dip. You wouldn't do acrylic for you personally, Is that what I'm hearing correct?

Mm.

Okay, so then let's talk about gel. And the kind of the spectrum on gel. Like, where is it bad? Where is it good?

Where.

Where is the in between?

Yeah. So gel. It's the same thing as regular polishes with all of those listed ingredients that I have. Plus, it's got a couple more things in order for it to cure and harden on your nails. Right. There was that ingredient that recently got banned in Europe, tpo. That is a photo initiator that causes it to cure. And last, on your nails, it got banned for a reason. Now people are arguing that, oh, they only tested it on rats, not on humans. Well, the entire continent banned it. So there's got to be some implications of harm to your reproductive system, which is what they found in the rats.

So it's got some of those things for it to really last and the way that it chemically changes as it hardens on your nails. So there are gels out there that are starting to come out with your five free, seven free Hema free gels are pretty easy to find now as well. And for us, it's just a lot of trial and error of like, okay, let's try this product. How long is it lasting on this person? We have to bring in models who we know have challenges with polish retention, like you, and be like, we want to try this new product. It's supposed to. It's clean, but we don't know if it's going to last.

I currently have one on my nails and it's been great. It's been like. I don't even know. It's been. It's probably been. It's been over. I think it's been about almost two weeks and it's been great. I don't know, maybe I'm a little bit off on my time, but.

Yeah.

So I'm one of those guinea pigs right now. Where we did. What did we do on mine? What did we do? You did it. I said, I was like, I can't stand it. I need some type of gel. And you said, okay, I can't promise I that's going to last yet, but let's try. What did we do?

It's probably the cleanest builder gel, and they also make hard gels. Brand that I found. It's from a brand called Light Elegance. I've been hearing about them for years. Truth be told, I kind of shied away because they're pricier, of course. Right? You think about it. Yeah. But they're made and manufactured here in the usa. They're based out of Oregon and they make all their products there. So if you don't know something also about nail polishes and gel polishes, there's usually one giant place that makes them. I think there is like a hub in New Jersey and all of your polishes are made there. You buy a $40 Chanel nail polish, it's made at the same factory as the whatever Sally Hansen.

It's kind of like the fashion industry. Sometimes, like, you'll. It's like the same thing, but different price points, different labels.

Yep.

That's wild.

Yeah. Chanel polish is the same thing as Hally Hansen polish.

So so you think so? Okay, so hema free. So if you're gonna, like, have somebody looking for, like. Because I don't know where people are listening from and where they're gonna be looking. But you would say look for these. I'm assuming you would say look for things that are five listed at least, free of gradients, like Hema listed as things that are non acrylic. And you would also say, you would really have people question their dip in their acrylic. Is that accurate?

Yeah. Yeah. There's now cleaner products that can get you the same result.

That are even less damaging to the nails. So they're cleaner, as in better for your health, better for your endocrine system, better for all your organs. And they also could be less damaging to your nail beds itself. Acrylic, to me, it's highly damaging. It dries out your nails. I mean, these chemicals are sitting on there. And sometimes women are getting them filled forever and ever and ever, months on end. They don't take them off. So they're just always. That's right, your nails.

And you're constantly drilling. They drill their actual real nail. So your nail is porous. I mean, it's like. It's like your skin. So you're drilling it and then you're putting a chemical on top. It's instantly. And you guys, let me just. For people that are shaking their heads, like, again, the whole everything's toxic, I just want to let you know, like, I went down the toxic rabbit hole a couple years ago, and I don't claim to be 100 toxic free at all. Like, that is definitely not my. Not who I am. I'm coloring my hair. I'm definitely wearing makeup. I'm sure my makeup's got some kind of chemicals in it. I do the things I'm. I'm not. I just. But I am very serious about the toxic load. So it's picking and choosing. Like, pick and choose where you're gonna let some of these in. And I will tell you, when I did my explant a couple years ago now, and I went through this whole toxic cleanup, I did a. It's called a total tox test. And I'm not saying everyone should go do that. You don't necessarily have to, but it basically will show you what's coming out in your urine. So what is your body? What is coming out at high levels? And I had top of the list, super high levels of Hema. And I was like, what the heck is Hema? Why is this so prevalent in My body. And the number one culprit for that was gel nails. So that's kind of what started taking this off. Now, if you're going to say, well, what does it matter if it's showing up? Well, if you're not feeling great, especially most of my listeners, perimenopause, menopause, post menopause, if you're not feeling ideal and you're doing all the things you're like, I'm eating healthy, I'm moving my body, I'm even. Maybe you're doing, you know, your great supplements, or maybe you've even added hormone replacement. If your body is carrying a heavy toxic load, nothing is going to work. Right. So even, like, let's just take hormone replacement as an example. You add hormones, your body's already not great at detoxing, and now all of a sudden you're not feeling any better or things are getting worse. Maybe you felt better initially and now things are getting worse. You likely have slow detox pathways and a heavy toxic load of things. So then it gets really important. What else is going in our body? What's coming in? What are we breathing? What are we putting on our skin? Because the more toxic loads you have, the less your body is able to get rid of this stuff. It basically clogs up your system. You have a backup. So your liver, your kidneys, they can't do their job efficiently. So this might not sound like a big deal as its own thing, but as a toxic load, it becomes very, very important. And nails are that one thing that a lot of women, it's every week, every two weeks, they're getting that done, they're exposing and they're. It's a constant thing. So that's why I do think it's important to talk about it.

Yeah, totally agree with you. Everyone is different. And with some women, too, we find that they get to a point where the products they were typically always using, all of a sudden their body starts rejecting it. Like certain gels. Yeah. And, you know, like, women would be fine. And then all of a sudden, your cuticles start flaring up and we're like, oh, we have to find something else for you. You might need to switch to the dazzle drive something. Because your body. And even if it was fine for years and years and years, for some reason, right now your body is, like, defending itself or rejecting it or.

But I also think it's so wild, Lana, because some people are like, well, I don't have a reaction on my hands, but it doesn't always show up on your hands. It could show up as you're tired all the time or you, you've got a headache or like there could be something else. And it's like they're not even thinking about their nails. It's like, it's so. It's so. And I wasn't either. But you know, this is where like I stopped doing self tanner years ago. I was like, what the heck is in that? Like there's so many things. So I pick and choose. I'm like for me I'm coloring my hair. I'm definitely use eyelash glue. So I definitely. I don't go with fully non toxic makeup. I think some of it is. I do the best but it's not perfect. But I look at those other areas and I think it's very individual for people. But I wanted to do this episode because it's not just about the dangers in the salon itself.

The.

Oh, that's a whole nother topic that we got into at the beginning. That's important. But it's also these chemicals. Can we talk about nail polish remover for a minute and soak off stuff too? We didn't even get into that like acetone, all that stuff. What is that doing?

Yeah, acetone is not good for your system.

It is unfortunately a. It's a, it's a must ingredient. Right. Like we have to remove your stuff efficiently. There's nothing really anything else that can. That can soak it off. Now we have options for removals without acetone. We also have a non acetone polish remover that'll work on like dazzle dried and regular polishes. If somebody so chooses to do that. We try to really minimize our clients exposure to acetone like the shortest amount of time possible. So we do our trainings, our protocols based on. We're not going to let you sit there and soak in the bowl forever. If you do need to soak. We're going to do our best to make it as short as possible. But yeah, it's.

And then do you also. Do you notice a lot of the chop shops? Not yours, but you'll see a lot of the clinicians wearing masks. And they're not wearing masks because they're worried about a virus. They're wearing masks because of all the acrylics and the chemicals they're breathing in. I didn't realize that either before.

Yeah, I mean it's smart for them too if they're gonna be their faces in that all day long. Plus like I was mentioning that the VOCs it's the fumes in the space if they don't have proper ventilation. I'm so proud. Our space has never smelt like chemicals when you walk in. But we've all. We've all walked into that salon where it just like hits you the moment you walk in. And they're sitting in that all day, every day.

All right, where can people find you? Obviously her salon is called Pampered Soul in Scottsdale. So if you're in Scottsdale, and it's not necessarily. I mean, you could walk in, but I would only advise walking in, make an appointment, because they are. They do get booked up. And remember, keep in mind what I said earlier. You're going to have an incredible experience there. You're gonna have a clean experience there. They are really, really knowledgeable there. They're great. It is not going to be your cheapest manicure, pedicure. But understand why. I mean, you're. You're paying for all of this knowledge and all the protocols in place. And I recommend go treat yourself. Like, when I. When I call Lana or when I book, I'm always like, I want the works. Like, she just. She just knows. She adds on all the extras for me because I'm like, I need. I want all. I want the whole experience. I'm like, she's. She already knows. She's like, you want, like, the extra massage? And I'm like, yes, I want all the things. So I say, go have, like, treat yourself to, like, that whole experience if you're going to go there. And then where can they follow you? Lana, I know you've got two different accounts. Where do you want them to follow you if they want to learn more?

Follow Pampered Soul. We have a unique spelling, so it's P A M, P R, D, S O, U, L. So that's pamperedsoul on Instagram, our website. We just redid it. It's awesome. It's just pamperedsoul.com spelled the way that we spell it. And my personal account is just my name, Lana Ding.

And if you're going to your own salons outside of Scottsdale, I hope that you are better equipped now to ask. Ask some questions, at least know what to look for and possibly even change it up. Switch to. You can. You can also ask the owners of your salons to include or ask them about the. The more they get asked, the more they're likely to make a change. Thank you, Lana, so much.

Of course. So happy to be here.

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