The beginning of my allergic reactions to nail products
This is something really close to my heart and one of the reasons I decided to become a qualified Nail Technician.
I have always been a nail biter. That bitter tasing stuff that you can put on your nails never worked for me and it is a habit, even to this day, that I have not been able to stop. I constantly pick and chew at the skin around my nails and my nails if I dont have enhancements on them.
In my early twenties, after a few years of appying glue on nails, I decided to teach myself how to apply acrylic nails. I found it pretty easy and I really enjoyed doing them on myself and did so for a number of years.
I stopped when I had my daughter as finding the time while looking after a young child was nearly impossible.
I stared going to various places to have my acrylics done. Some were qualified and others, well who knows! I continued this for about 15 years.
I then heard about this stuff called Shellac or Gel Polish and thought that maybe I could have natural nails and this so called wonder gel might give my nails a little strength and allow me to grown them out naturally.
I started looking on eBay to see how much it would cost and was genuinely surprised at how little I could set myself up with products and the necessary equipment. So I bought my first lamp and some polish from China and set to work.
I removed my acrylics by pulling and prying them off (this is totally the WRONG way to remove acrylics, at the time I did not know any better) and then I buffed my nails smooth. I then applied the gel polish.
The next day I noticed my fingers were a little swollen and OMG they were itchy. So itchy in fact it drove me mental...... nothing eased the itch. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had no idea what was going on. I mean I pretty well knew the polish had caused this reaction but I had no idea why..... maybe it would pass.
After a few days the swelling and itching had not subsided and there were all these little blisters forming on the skin around my nails. It was horrible. So I decided to remove the polish. Placing the cotton wool dipped in acetone on my fingers was just awful but it had to come off.
So I removed all the polish and after a few days the burning & itching feeling stared to disappear and the swelling and blisters started to diminish as well.
i decided to leave my nails bare and let them heal. After about 2-3 weeks I noticed that my hyponychium was starting to literally peel away. It would split just under the nail free edge and just peel back. In some cases in would crack and bleed. This took another few weeks to heal.
I had no idea a gel polish could cause this many issues but I was about to find out the real horror of it all.
I then decided I would go back to wearing acrylic nails and decided to buy some acrylic liquid and powder. I bought a really well known brand, one of the leaders in the nail industry and set about doing a set of acrylic nails for the first time in many years.
It was weird doing it after so many years but still enjoyable. I knew I needed lots of practice and let me tell you my file sure came in handy!
The next day I decided to paint my acrylics in the Gel Polish and see what happened. Sure enough a day later I had an allergic reaction! I assumed it was the Gel Polish so I set about filing it off. A few days later and the reaction was just as bad. It continued on for another few days, getting worse, until I decided that maybe I should take the acrylic enhancements off as well, so I did.
Once again my fingers cracked and bled and started to peel. So I left them alone and let them heal. It probably took 3-4 weeks in total.
I then decided I would apply acrylic nails again but this time there was no way I was going near the Gel Polish so that I did not get an allergic reaction.
OMG a few days after doing my acrylics I started to have a break out again!!!
Why the hell was this happening to me!?! I was so upset and annoyed!!!
So yet again I removed all the acrylics and allowed my hands to heal.
I then came to a horrible realisation that I may NEVER be able to have acrylic nails again if I was going to continue having allergic reactions to the products.
It was like the gel polish had set off some chain reaction in my body.
I know this is a first world problem but not being able to have nice nails just devastated me. And as a nail biter I knew not having the protection of enhancements would make it near impossible for me to have nice nails.
It was at this stage I started to think about doing a course and becoming qualified and maybe just maybe I could find out what was going on with these reactions.
Next - Becoming Qualified and my Allergy Journey