Personal observations of Dr Kamila Borowczyk from the Department of Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Lodz, who, after approximately two months of regular use of hybrid nail polishes, observed that after removing another layer of hybrid polish, the scientist's nails became different – delicate, bending, paper-thin, and very dry, even cracked became the motivation for conducting research on the assessment of cysteine and methionine content, the most important amino acids that make up the nail plate.
Dr hab. Kamila Borowczyk conducted the first stage of her experiments using her own fingernails as the research material, then expanded the study to include 14 volunteers, who were regularly treated with hybrid polish and had their fingernails sampled. The research method chosen by a chemist from the team of Prof. dr hab. Rafał Głowacki was high-performance liquid chromatography, which has the advantage of requiring only a teardrop-sized sample for analysis. This was crucial because the sample wasn't always large enough – after all, nails grow at different rates.
The scientist wanted the steps of measuring nail thickness, applying base coat, colour coat, top coat and removing the old coat to be performed in a sterile and uniform way. Therefore, the procedure was performed by a single person who had completed the necessary training.
The research conducted by the team at the Department of Environmental Chemistry has proven that the use of hybrid nail polishes has a negative impact on the nail plate. From a chemical perspective, we observe that after six months of nail styling using UV radiation, the amount of the amino acids that make up the nail plate – the building blocks mentioned earlier – cysteine and methionine – significantly decreases.
In the case of the first compound, i.e. cysteine, the amount of this amino acid in the plates after six months of using hybrid varnishes decreased by 22%, and in the case of methionine by over 30%!
You can read more about the research conducted by Dr Kamila Borowczyk and the conclusions she reached here.
The material from Sunday's edition of Pytanie na śniadanie TVP can be seen at pytanienasniadanie.tvp.pl.
