Anyone here know how safe are those nail places, or how safe it is infectious-wise having a manicure / pedicure?
I would love to go again (that is when I can again handle someone touching me for that long), because believe it or not, doing my nails is a pain for me (oh how things have changed since Lyme; I never would have gone for all that "girlie" stuff before).
Anyway, one thing that has concerned me is the hygiene of using other people's manicure "tools". When I worked at an archive, I learnt that only Bleach really kills everything off...I see those UV sanitizers, but wonder how truly sterile the equipment is.
The last thing I want to do is infect anyone with this illness, and / or contract anything else...your thoughts?
(Nice to have a lighter topic for a change )
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
With Lyme, I have found I have chewed my nails down to my fingers. My hands look awful...
I, too, would like to have artificial nails put on, but I'm afraid to. I wore them for over 10 years but had them taken off...
Good question....
Posted by lou4656 (Member # 10300) on :
My nails were a mess after I got lyme. Not sure if lyme was the culprit, but my nails were so unattractive! Thin nails, splitting and peeling. Maybe it is a side effect of the abx. Who knows.
I have been getting my nails done (acrylic) at a nail salon and have had no trouble -- no infections or fungus. You have to go every two weeks.
But I am no longer hiding my hands.
Posted by wiserforit (Member # 9732) on :
Not to be a party pooper, but....
I wanted to say that for those of us with chemical sensitivities, nail salons and the chemical smells may be difficult! I found that even using nail polish remover at home made me feel lousy. The chemicals made my nails dry out and look worse. Drat!
Also, if you have any fungus/candida issues, you also might want to beware.
I'd love a hand massage and to have my nail buffed! The enamels and glues etc. are just too much for me.
less glamorously,
wiserforit
Posted by ByronSBell 2007 (Member # 11496) on :
I remember I went to go get a massage and the lady that does it works in a private room inside a nail salon, I thought I was going to die when i smelt all the chemicals in the air!!!
Now it is my senior prom tonight and I am going to see all my friends in my class there. Can't wait to smell all the perfume, hair shampoos, and calones... Posted by Vanilla (Member # 11155) on :
If they sterilize things it helps because some people have received horrible skin infections that went up their leg and made their legs look damaged and ugly for the rest of their lives. I saw this on the news so it is just something to be aware of.
Posted by lalalu (Member # 10854) on :
Methyl methacrylate (MMA) can rip nails off fingers, cause nerve problems and severe rashes - and over the long term hurt kidneys, livers and fetuses.
"It's being sold openly. You can buy it all over the place," said California beauty-industry chemist Douglas Schoon, who studied the problem.
MMA is found mostly at discount salons because it costs $20 to $60 a gallon, compared to about $200 for top-of-the-line, safer products.
Manicurists combine liquid MMA with a powder to build so-called sculptured, or acrylic, nails. It is also sometimes used in acrylic "wraps" of artificial nail tips.
A few months before i got lyme i had a pedicure done, and the girl wasnt paying attention and when she was triming the nail on my small toe, she cut me real deep.
I wont ever go back, I bought my own foot bath and I will do my own.
With lyme i am extra careful of what I do and what i expose myself to.
Posted by DolphinLady (Member # 6275) on :
I don't go anymore. For me its just not worth it. I firmly believe in lowering my toxic exposure as much as possible.
But its a personal choice. I'm lucky to have nice, strong nails. So its really not an issue for me.
Wishing everyone good health, D
Posted by charlie (Member # 25) on :
They keep closing those places down around here for health dept violations.
I hear you can get real bad infections from unsterilized crud off of other peoples' feet.
And btw, us guys aren't looking at your nails anyway....Charlie Posted by canbravelyme (Member # 9785) on :
Thank you so much, Charlie...ah...what are you guys looking at
I called the place where I have my haircut; there is an aesthetitian there, who charges only slightly more than those "Nail Places". She's agreed to Bleach the instruments before and after. Also, because it's a small place, there won't be any fumes, and I can bring my own incadescent light (fluorescents send me over the top).
The worst fumes I'll experience is from the nail polish on my toes, who are very excited I don't do the Acrylic nails thing because though I think I'd like to try it, I have to keep them short for my work. But they do look nice after a good manicure!
Best, in our efforts to look great despite it all!
canbravelyme.
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Sorry, to butt in. I haven't read all the responses here but needed to add this.
Nail Salons and Tattoo Parlors are the most likeliest places to get Hepatitis C.
If you are going to do this, make SURE all instruments used on you are sterilized. Autoclaved or whatever. Bringing your own or new instruments would be best.
All nail places are required by law to sterilized everything but I suspect not very many do. Which is why Charlie is seeing so many closed.
Please be very careful and have them give you a tour and show you their sterile procedures before letting them work on you. (Do not be embarrassed, if they are following the proper sterilization thingies, they would be proud and happy to show you. And it's your right ot know.)
If you were cut before and unsure of the sterile technique employed there I would get tested For Hep C and B.
Sorry to be a party pooper but just want you to know to be vigilant if you want to do this.
Posted by Just Julie (Member # 1119) on :
It sounds like you have reached your solution for this, but I can add a few things for those who are also wondering . . . I had artificial nails for about 6 months. I'm a perfectionist (ha) and in that time frame, I went to about 3-4 different salons, looking for either a better job done on my nails, or a place that wasn't crowded when a nail would need asap attention (popping off, or lifting off).
I have bitten my fingernails, on and off (mostly off) all of my life, I am now 44 yrs old, and I still bite them! Eewww, it's a drag having ugly nails/fingers.
In my effort to either cure my nail biting (so unlikely, but I tried!) or just have nice looking nails for awhile, I chose to overlook, or talk my self out of, the conditions of those few nail salons I chose to do business with. One salon, was brand new, from the ground up, and I thought that would be the most likely place I would NOT come away with a nail infection. It was new, clean, all the chemicals were probably fresh (being a new salon) and the nail instruments were not old, dull, or just beyond getting that clean anymore.
I would continually see conditions with nail tools that gave me pause. Not enough to quit completely, but enough of some one thing that made me think to change salons for the next fill, or repair.
Coming away from my whole 6 month experience of nail salon merry-go-rounding, I would at this point if I ever chose to try them again, buy my own nail tools, and somehow, try to find how to buy my own chemicals/ingredients! I would only use the salon as the "labor" part of the nails. Meaning, I'd bring my own tools every time, my own nail building chemicals, every time, my own nail polish, every time, and be very clear on my expectations of what I was looking for in a nail technician.
Where I live in Northern CA, almost 100% of the nail salons/shops have ladies who do the work, who do not speak English very well. I believe they are Vietnamese background. They either have one lady who can speak English to where you can understand it, and then the rest of the employees do not, just nod their head and make a few words intelligable when you are asking questions during the nail job. That may have something to do with the conditions of the nail instruments, and the extent of the tool sterilization processing that you see, or suspect. At this point, I wouldn't have nails done without the criteria that I came to after experiencing suspicious conditions in nail shops...I would not even have a manicure on my own nails without bringing my own tools and polish, and forget the pedicures! There is nothing you can do to avoid the footbath chairs that are in most of the salons here in Northern CA, no way to ensure that the salon is completely sterilizing the foot bath part of the chair completely, so not worth the risk to me! I'm a nurse, so Hep C is a very real liklihood for some clientele after using the footbaths . . . and you can be sure those nail salons are not going to be held accountable, they'll most likely fold up shop and open somewhere else if they get nailed (oh, lol, eh?) for this. Julie
Posted by lymeinhell (Member # 4622) on :
You can get really great looking nails without polish or chemicals. Why poison yourself needlessly when we all work so hard to detox??
I use a kit similar to this - the file is AMAZING....Your nails shine so much you'd think they were polished. Goodbye bumpy ridged weak nails...
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I don't do the Acrylic nails thing because though I think I'd like to try it, I have to keep them short for my work. But they do look nice after a good manicure!