Your Stories: Illegal Acrylic Nails

It is a $4-billion-a-year industry ... women want beautiful nails. Acrylic tips are now more affordable than ever, with discount nail salons popping up on every corner. But you should know, you may pay a high price, for those bargains. The Nail Manufacturer's Association warns that salons that consistently charge less than $25 for a Full Set of acrylics are likely breaking the law and endangering your health. Why? Because they're likely using a dangerous product that they can get cheaply called Methyl Metha-crylate or MMA. It's banned in New York State, and the FDA has deemed MMA poisonous ... responsible for permanent nail loss, in thousands of women.

Donna Anderson, “A Perfect 10” Salon: "The strength of the product is incredible. It will not budge if you jam your nail and because of that strength, your nail doesn't flex." "It can literally lift the acrylic nail and natural nail right off the nail plate and I've seen it."

Studies show that in extreme cases prolonged exposure to MMA in fake nails can cause miscarriages, lesions on the kidneys and liver and respiratory problems.

How can you tell if a salon is using MMA? Be wary of deep discounts. Salons that can afford to charge, $25 or less for a Full Set of nails should send up the red flag. $40 would buy you about 9 1/2 OUNCES of a safe bonding liquid ... that same $40 will buy 2 GALLONS of MMA.
MMA has an unusually strong, strange odor.
And it is next to impossible to remove. If your nails take more than 30-minutes to soak off in acetone, it could be due to MMA.