With princess parties, watching mummy and all the new makeup barbie heads and other toys like that, little girls really want to play with makeup. Yes they usually end up looking like the joker, but its cute and usually safe. But what about nail polish?
yes hunny you’re soo pretty *cringe*
Regular makeup we know has natural ingredients and if its for your face, the assumption is that its safe. But Nail polish lasts for days-weeks! We know its made up of harsh chemicals, but which ones? Is it safe?
The answer is yes: it is safe with a *but.
What is in nail polish? This basic formulation is expanded to include the following:
- Plasticizers to yield non-brittle films. Dibutylphthalate and camphor are typical plasticizers.
- Dyes and pigments. Representative compounds include chromium oxide greens, chromium hydroxide, ferric ferrocyanide, stannic oxide, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, carmine, ultramarine, and manganese violet.
- Opalescent pigments. The glittery/shimmer look in the color can be conferred by mica, bismuth oxychloride, natural pearls, and aluminum powder.
- Adhesive polymers ensure that the nitrocellulose adheres to the nail’s surface. One modifier used is tosylamide-formaldehyde resin.
- Thickening agents are added to maintain the sparkling particles in suspension while in the bottle. A typical thickener is stearalkonium hectorite.
- Ultraviolet stabilizers resist color changes when the dry film is exposed to sunlight. A typical stabilizer is benzophenone-1.
–from wikipedia, and colour coded by myself for safety through research in the “Consumers Dictionary to Cosmetic Ingredients”
Wow there seems to be a lot of orange(pretty safe) and red(not that safe) highligted in those ingredients? Why do we put this on our hands??!!
Well its on our hands, these chemicals are toxic if ingested. So unless you are that crazy lady from my strange addiction that drinks nail polish you should be safe.
Also they have a irritant capability if left on the skin and when in higher quantities(such as camphor over 30% which you only see in specified skin creams that need to be used with supervision by a esthetician or dermatologist).
Many brands now don’t even use formaldehyde or DBP(Dibutylphthalate) in their products anymore such as OPI, Zoya, China Glaze, Essie and more (for 3Free and 5free list click here)
only my Canadian audience born before 94 will get this
So adults can obviously handle these, and can understand that “don’t cha put it in your mouth” , but kids are so impatient! They want it now! Why isn’t it dry yet? Can I go play? Then your nice polish job is now all over their skin, clothes and not really on their nails.
Well that’s where your job as a parent comes in. You are watching your kid apply it, or are applying it yourself. You have to explain it takes a while to dry. Make the right call, if your child still sucks on their fingers or is a constant face toucher (like mine who I don’t even know gets food in their eyes and eyebrows), wiper… its not time for nail polish.
So what are your options then for your little one?
Well you can check out the 3free or 5free brands which are safe, look for a water based nail polish, get some from the toy asile, or look into these brands: hopscotch kids, piggy paint and others. But beware because its a kids product and a safety product, they are 8-13$ per bottle.. and really for those tiny tiny toes that the paint will wear off in a few days, its up to you.
I trust myself and my products that I can use regular nail polish on my kids nails.
Sweet Cherry Spa 