Aromatherapy Nail Products... Do They Work?

It never ceases to amaze one how Aromatherapy is used to market a product. One of the newer appearances, likely frequently seen in salons, is Aromatherapy nail care products. These commercial products range from nail lacquers to cuticle oils. Why Aromatherapy and nail care? Well it is well known that a number of essential oils seem to invigorate nail growth and strength. Many people involved with essential oils on a regular basis find the need to cut their nails more frequently than normal. Oil in general is recommended by many manicurists to be applied twice a day to nails in order to keep them in tip-top shape. The inert properties of certain essential oils such as lemon seem to take this phenomenon to the next level. Lemon has long been used on the nails to promote growth but since essential oils are so much more concentrated, it may even speed the lemons effects. Especially since oil is able to work its way into the cell layers of the nails faster and better compared to water (which is found in lemon juice).

All of this has caused companies to want to jump on the bandwagon and create Aromatherapy based nail products. While some products might actually work, such as those created with myrrh (a long used resin in African nail treatments) and garlic, many are certain to fail. The ones apt to fail are usually easy to spot for those with some sort of an education concerning Aromatherapy. The general public clearly needs a bit of help. The first, major red flag is a product that uses an essential oil that doesn't exist and/or has nothing to do with nail care. An example would be a "raspberry" product that has shown up on the market, complete with a translucent red hue. The same would be true of grape, watermelon and lotus. These are clearly fragrance oils and not essential oils. Also who uses any of these botanicals for nail care? None of these have been shown to aid nail health or growth. Products that act as a base coat, nail lacquer, filler or top coat wouldn't be able to use pure essential oils as it would separate from the various chemicals. Hence why they use fragrance oils which can be in a base of alcohol and combine with paint. These products will do nothing differently that any regular nail polish can. The fragrance oils are also frequently used to cover the paint smell of certain products.

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