The easiest and best way to get rid of nail polish from the fingers is to use a nail polish remover. To be precise, it is a liquid cleaning agent that cleans or removes nail polish from the fingers. Millions of women use this product and they may not even know of any other product that can remove nail polish. Of recent, these removers have found other uses as well, such as removing artificial nails and correcting errors in nail polish and nail art application. There are several brands available which gives us a wide variety to choose from. Have you ever wondered what its ingredients could be and how they work to remove nail polish from the fingernails? Let's find out.
Ingredients
The main and the most common ingredient is acetone. Its property of being a good solvent makes it the best organic compound for fingernail polish removal. It is also an active nail polish ingredient. Other ingredients include dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde or DMDM hydantoin, toluene, ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol, caprylic/capric triglyceride, benzophenone-3, butyl acetate, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) oil and fragrance. Of these, the ingredients that a remover contains would depend upon its brand and manufacturer. Some of them may also include natural ingredients like vitamin E, glycerin, aloe vera, etc. The nail polish removers that claim to be acetone-free may have other harmful chemicals like methane. These ingredients also make it a highly volatile liquid, that is, it evaporates quickly.
Working
As mentioned before, it contain organic solvents, such as acetone, which is capable of dissolving the nail polish applied on the fingernails. It decolorizes the nails of the polish without the occurrence of any chemical reaction. For precision's sake, I would like to put it this way; the nail polish is a hardened organic polymer and the nail polish remover is a liquid organic solvent. When the organic solvent comes in contact with the organic polymer, it dissolves the polymers. This takes place due to the solvent molecules pushing themselves between the polymer molecules. The organic solvent is applies on a cotton ball to remove the organic polymer which dissolves the polymer and solidifies it on the cotton ball.
Is it Safe to Use Acetone?
Whether or not it is safe to use acetone, has been a debatable issue. Most people use acetone as it is the best known solvent for nail polish. Some claim that using acetone removers causes various fingernail problems like it causes the nails to dry out faster and the nails lose their moisture content. It also causes weak fingernails and causes them to break faster. They do not really show any other kind of toxicity that can be hazardous to health. Other ingredients such as ethyl acetate and toluene may be poisonous and have several negative effects on human health.
There are certain things to keep in mind while using fingernail polish removers. They should be stored in air tight containers or bottles, else they would get evaporated. They are highly flammable and so should be kept away from heat and electrical appliances. Remember to wash your hands well after using it on your fingernails, especially if you are into the habit of nail biting.
