Why Fo 10-free? Part 2
In previous part we learned about nail anatomy, its composition and reasons why it is important to consider carefully what we expose our nails to. Now let us have a closer look of first 5 chemicals that...
Why Go 10-free? Nail Anatomy
We may overlook nails as something dead on tip of our fingers, something that grows as it pleases to and needs hardly any attention, maybe as something that can be decorated, for instance using our 10-free nail polish. But is it really that simple?
Part of the nail that we use to apply a nail polish to is called a nail plate. Commonly it is being reffered to as a nail. The nail plate is made of molecules of specific type of protein, called keratin, with many disulfid bonds and low levels of lipids. Nail plate, by its composition, does not resemble any other membrane in human body.
Nails may be perceived as impermeable barriers, but that is not true at all. In fact, nail plate is much more permeable that human skin, because it behaves like hydrophilic gel membrane, that absorbs water. Nails also naturally contain pores that allow water to penetrate the nail plate. You may have noticed that after soaking in water your nails change shape – they become flatter, maybe seem even a little bit thicker. That is because water penetrated into your nail plates and bonded with them, therefore changed the shape of your nails.
Nail anatomy
Actually, research shows that water in nail plate, or water based nail polish is increasing permeability of nail plate, because water bound in nail plate causes these pores to enlarge. Scientists are trying to use this characteristics of nail plate for development of topical medication for various nail diseases in order to improve treatment effectiveness.
You may think that water is not harmfull, so what is the big deal with it penetrating the nail plate. That is really true, water is not harmfull. Problem is that except for water, the nail plate absorbs also other substances to which it is exposed, just as it absorbs water. That is why it is important to take into consideration what we apply to our nails and substances we expose them to.
For this reason we brought to you 10-free nail polish that does not contain 10 most common chemicals, that are usually used in nail polishes. In the next chapter we will learn, why are these chemicals harmful.
