2. Anatomy of nail polish
Main ingredients
Nitrocellulose: Forms hard coat on nail
when polish dries
Resins & Plasticizers: dibenzoates, butyl
stearate
Give the polish & flexibility to help it resist
chipping and cracking
Solvents: Holds everything together, evenly
dispersed & gives liquid texture
Others
Ethyl acetate: Helps dry/set faster
Iron oxides: gives opaque finish
Mica: shimmery sparkly or frosted finish
4. Early method:
One common technique was to mix cleaned scraps of movie film and other
cellulose with alcohol and castor oil and leave the mixture to soak overnight in
a covered container. The mixture was then strained, coloured, and perfumed.
Though recognizable as nail polish, the product was far from what we have
available today.
Modern method:
The pigments are mixed with nitrocellulose and plasticizer using a "two-roll"
differential speed mill. This mill grinds the pigment between a pair of rollers
that are able to work with increasing speed as the pigment is ground down.
The goal is to produce fine dispersion of the colour. A variation of this mill is
the Banbury Mixer (used also in the production of rubber for rubber bands).
When properly and fully milled, the mixture is removed from the mill in sheet
form and then broken up into small chips for mixing with the solvent. The
mixing is performed in stainless steel kettles that can hold anywhere from 5 to
2,000 gallons. The kettles are jacketed. The temperature of the kettle, and
the rate of cooling, are controlled by both computers and technicians.
5.
6. Materials are mixed in computerized, closed kettles. At the end of the
process, the mix is cooled slightly before the addition of such other
materials as perfumes and moisturizers.
The mixture is then pumped into smaller, 55 gallon drums, and then
trucked to a production line. The finished nail polish is pumped into
explosion proof pumps, and then into smaller bottles suitable for the
retail market.
7. Nail paint remover is a chemical solution which typically contains
ethyl acetate or acetone as the primary ingredient.
COMPOSITION
Acetone (carbon, hydrogen,oxygen)
Ethyl acetate
Butyl acetate
Aloe vera
Glycerine
Cetyl acetate
Petroleum
Pthalic anhydride
8. Look for polishes labelled ‘5 free’ and avoid these
common toxins and irritants
Formaldehyde
Toluene The toxic trio
Dibutyl pthalate
Formaldehyde resins
Camphor
Nail polish manufacturing companies
Frost cosmetics, LLC
Quality cosmetics Corp.
Francia beauty group
Sage cosmetics, LLP
9. Colouring dyes:
As per the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, must test for health
risk, then approve and certify each dye that can be used in the
manufacture of nail polish. Failure to abide by this rule could result in
the FDA pursuing legal action against a manufacturer to seize their
inventory of nail polish that does not meet regulatory standards.
Worker protections:
Manufacturing employees must be trained and given proper protective
equipment when handling toxic chemicals. Air quality should be tested to
ensure that maximum federal levels of toluene of 200 parts per million
over an eight-hour period is not exceeded in the manufacturing plant to
protect workers.
Chemical additives:
The FDA has ruled that 50 percent of a nail polish mixture can be made
from toluene. The FDA allows 10 percent of a mixture to be made from
phthalates, which are used to harden the nail polish and make it less
brittle.