Fingernail Polish Remover

The easiest and best way to get rid of nail polish from the fingers is to use a fingernail 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 as efficiently as a fingernail polish remover. Of recent, fingernail polish 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 of fingernail polish removers available which gives us a wide variety to choose from. Have you ever wondered what the ingredients of fingernail polish removers could be and how they work to remove nail polish from the fingernails? Let’s find out.

Fingernail Polish Remover Ingredients

The main and the most common ingredient of fingernail polish removers 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 fingernail 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 fingernail polish 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 the fingernail polish remover a highly volatile liquid, that is, it evaporates quickly.

How does Nail Polish Remover Work?

As mentioned before, fingernail polish removers contain organic solvents, such as acetone, which is capable of dissolving the nail polish applied on the fingernails. The nail polish remover 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 Fingernail Polish Remover?

Whether or not it is safe to use acetone fingernail polish removers, has been a debatable issue. Most people use acetone fingernail polish removers as it is the best known solvent for nail polish. Some claim that using acetone nail polish 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. Acetone nail polish removers do not really show any other kind of toxicity that can be hazardous to health. Other ingredients in nail polish removers 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 fingernail polish remover on your fingernails, especially if you are into the habit of nail biting.