www.mrselsmore.com :: Being Greener: Saying no to nail varnish (and nail varnish remover)

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Now, I'm not a girl who has lotions and potions all over the place. In fact my 'beauty regime' (if you can call it that!) is extremely minimal. However, one of the things that I have donefairly regularly is to have painted toenails, especially in the summer. Strangely I have never really considered the environmental impact of painting my toenails.

Both nail varnish and nail varnish remover are chock-full of chemicals which are probably best not in too close contact with onself and which can cause health problems in the user and in the manufacturing workforce.

To remove it I used either nail varnish remover on cotton pads or and all-in-one cotton-pad pre-infused with remover. So I was either throwing away cotton-pads with nail varnish and nail varnish remover on them or the all-in-ones and filling up landfill sites. The all-in-one's of course are much worse in terms of being bad for the environment. Think about it: a whole manufacturing process designed, run and supplied just to provide you with a one-step process to remove your nail varnish. And all the packaging, which ultimately end up in landfill sites.

So, today I will be removing the nail varnish from my toes FOR THE LAST TIME.

Will I miss it? Yes, I like my toenails painted and it will take me time to get used to it.
Is there anything else you will miss? Yes. At Lotusphere '08 Libby, Liz & I had a wonderful time having our nails done in the Mandala Spa and i won't be able to do that again. Maybe I'll get to watch!
Apart from the obvious environment benefits what other benefits can you forsee? Two major ones - 1) it will save me money, no more spending on colours and removers and 2) I won't ever have to worry whether my nail varnish is chipped again!

Comments

1 - You could always use a marker pen, or how about crayons ?, wait a minute, better still, prittstick and some glitter ?

(works for me)

Coatsie

Posted by Coatsie At 19:55:04 On 24/06/2008 | - Website - |

2 - Ooh, yes I COULD get creative!
<thinks>Memories of boarding school and tipex being the best we could find to use. Ooh scary memories.</thinks>

Posted by T At 12:09:16 On 25/06/2008 | - Website - |

3 - Hey! You posted and didn't show up in my bloglines. How unfair. Is your RSS working?

Anyway - It's funny - I buy almost all organic-y, non-paraben stuff for hair and face, but didn't really think about this. Can I give this up? Maybe. We'll have to find other ways to bond at LS09.
Love,
L

Posted by Lib At 16:07:34 On 26/06/2008 | - Website - |

4 - Oh don't know hon. Will check it this evening and seei f it needs a-fixing. Thanks for the heads up.

Posted by T At 10:01:22 On 27/06/2008 | - Website - |

5 - Good for you, Chica! Pedicures have gone from a regular activity for me (every 4-6 weeks, no matter what) to a rare & wonderful treat. That seems to have coincided with moving away from Southern California <g>. But, wow, it would be tough to give them up altogether.

Have you tried nail buffers? I'm not sure if that's exactly what they're called (or if there's a different term for them in the UK), but they give nails a lovely sheen -- almost as if they had clear polish (varnish) on them. I have one for my fingernails because I'm incapable of keeping a manicure looking good for more than 30 seconds or so...

Posted by Liz Novak At 20:15:50 On 27/06/2008 | - Website - |

6 - By the way, happened to notice an ad in one of my yoga mags for acetone-free polish remover and eco-friendly (haven't checked them out yet) varnish (polish). May be a partial solution for me, although Liz is right that the buffing w/o polish is what I do for fingernails, so it's a possibility for the toesies, too.
:-) Thanks for keeping us on our toes for ourselves and the environment (pun noted and groaned at).

Posted by Libby At 19:08:04 On 30/06/2008 | - Website - |

7 - Hey chicas.

I used to have a nail buffer, but have mislaid it / lost it in a move / whatever and I have never replaced it. I shall have a think about getting a new one, although I would want to try and find one that is not plastic-based nad is more enviro-firendly etc. Will see what I can find.

I'm thinking that if I can cope with non-painted toes - and it is getting less odd to look at them unpainted - then I will go without totally. However eco-friendly the product is I am really trying to cut down on 'stuff' so I think I'm jst going to go natural - with maybe some buffing for shine!

Posted by T At 16:55:10 On 03/07/2008 | - Website - |