Nail Salons in Sydney

Manicures and pedicures were once considered luxuries; you didn't often see ordinary homemakers and office workers in strappy sandals and blood red nails. In Sydney, you see it every day; the demand for pretty hands and feet is powerful. Greed in the market place is a real factor, too and the fact is that no matter where you go for a pedicure, you run risks to your health.

Demand creates supply. The nail service industry in Australia is not regulated and some unscrupulous salon owners are offering low wages to their workers, along with toxic chemicals and unsanitary conditions to their customers. The Workplace Authority Ombudsman is finally making a concentrated effort to evaluate conditions, both for workers and for customers, to ensure both fair working conditions and public health safety. A new day is dawning for Beauty Salon Sydney.

Even in the most upscale salons, persistent fungus has been found growing in the tubs that are used to soak the client's feet. Even there - where you are paying a hundred dollars or more for a pedicure - you can still get a fungus! So, do you really believe that a cheaper pedicure is going to be any safer than in the most elegant salon? No. And, if that's the case, really, why go to one of those places and put your health at risk like that? Go and have a really good reflexology treatment instead.

Another serious health concern is the type of nail hardening agents used in salons today. In particular, the substance methyl methacrylate (MMA), which was formerly used, is a very effective, very inexpensive acrylic nail hardener. Unfortunately, it has also been shown to be toxic both to the person applying it and to the customer. Its use in Australia has been banned in concentrations greater than 1% and a less toxic, alternative product, Ethyl methacrylate (EMA) is suggested in its stead.

Because it is cheap, and because until now there has been little oversight, some Australian nail providers use a 99% solution of illegal, toxic MMA in order to keep costs unrealistically low. Toxic chemicals, dirty tubs, and unsterilised tools go along with low prices.
That's why they call it dirt-cheap.

You are far better off doing your own pedicure; soaking in your own tub and scrubbing up with tools you know are clean. As for the foot-rub, well, that's what husbands/lovers/partners are for. ;)

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