Nail Biz MMA Lowdown

The Business of Nails
NAIL-BIZ by the Dragon

The Real Danger of MMA. Do you have the impression that MMA will kill you, will eat holes in you skin, or what? Well of course it is not a very friendly chemical, but then the same can be said of EMA.

You think you are any safer drinking a glass of EMA than drinking a glass of MMA.

Would it be any safer to take a bath in a tub of EMA than take a bath in a tub of MMA.

The point is to get a perspective on it. EMA is a dangerous chemical, it is LESS dangerous than MMA.

So in practical terms, the everyday major hazard of MMA is that it is so inflexible once a tech has achieved a good bond to the natural nail. And remember that the bond is not so much a matter of using MMA, but is the result of good prep work. In discount shops that prep work is primarily over etching the surface of the natural nail. Get it? They etch the natural nail too much .... and that over etching is the primary factor in why their nails lift so rarely ...... not that they use mma.

Ok so MMA does not like to flex and we achieved a solid bond, and the client catches her nail on the car door handle and falls and reaches out and the nail is hit ...... and the artificial nail not only comes off, it also rips off the client's natural nail. There you have it - the only problem with MMA nails that your client is going to give a hoot about.

MMA is methyl methacrylate. Federal authorities have advised that it not be used in the nail industry in its liquid form. Many state authorities have banned the use of liquid MMA in the nail services industry.
NOTE I SAID LIQUID FORM.

Monomer is the term used for liquid forms of acrylics.
Polymer is the term used for powder forms of acrylics.

MMA is used in its powder form (known as PMMA) in ALL nail enhancement polymers. The powders.
Usually as a powder mixture of MMA and EMA.
The average mix ratio of a polymer/powder is 70% PEMA (for what?, for flexibility) and 30% PMMA (for what?, for strength.)

So when we say NO MMA, we only mean no MMA in liquid form (monomer).

And what is EMA, it is ethyl methacrylate. And EMA has been declared okay by the FDA for use in its liquid form (monomers).

EMA is very widely used in all acrylic systems. Right. Traditional acrylics, odor free acrylics, gels and UV gels - all contain EMA.

What do many discounters do?

Some use 100% MMA liquid.
Most use a liquid that contains a portion of MMA mixed in with EMA.
And with the powders, some mix up a powder that contains an unusually high proportion of MMA to EMA.

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