Our Mission Statement: CLEAN.
Our mission at Spruce is to provide GOOD. CLEAN. FUN. for our clients and staff. This post is Part Two of a series on our mission.
CLEAN is something we pride ourselves on. From our products to our practices, we work hard to maintain a safe, clean environment for clients and staff.
Clean Products: 5 Free or More.
Our nail polishes cannot be described as “natural” or “organic.” Polishes contain chemicals, but not all chemicals are toxic, and our polishes are all 5 Free or more. “5 Free” is a term used to describe products that are free of five major toxins in the beauty industry: formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, DBP (dibutyl phthalate), camphor, and toluene. All polishes must meet this standard for us to open them in the shop, and several of our products are actually 7 to 10 Free.
These chemicals are considered toxic because they are carcinogenic, can cause permanent dermatitis (skin inflammation and irritation), nausea, dizziness, and/or headaches, can cause birth defects and hormonal health issues, and/or can cause yellow nail syndrome. While some of these chemicals may only be toxic in heavy doses (such as camphor, which is also present in many remedies for the common cold) and thus may not irritate clients who are only occasionally exposed to them, it’s important to us that we make the safest choices for both our clients and our staff.
Clean Products: Cruelty-Free.
We love offering safe products in our shop, and we believe that science has allowed our industry to progress to the point where testing on animals is unnecessary and cruel. All of the products we use and offer are cruelty-free, which means they have never been tested on animals. In addition, our products that do not contain honey are vegan.
Clean Practices: LED Lights Over UV Lights
Gel polish cures under a light instead of air-drying. The light stimulates photoreceptors in the polish that causes bonds to form and harden, resulting in a smooth, strong polish that can last weeks without chipping. Some salons use UV lights to cure the polish because the UV lights are less expensive and are very effective at curing polish. UV light is the same light from the sun that can cause skin and eye damage, and some salons actually offer fingerless gloves in an effort to protect the skin from the UV light, as we know now that it can have damaging effects. We’ve chosen to use LED lights instead, because they are just as effective (and faster!) at curing gel, without the added risk of damaging skin.
Clean Practices: Our Sanitation and Sterilization Process.
We try to be as transparent as possible about our cleaning process. Spruce Nail Shop disinfects and sterilizes anything that is reused, and we achieve that using strong and safe disinfectants for our materials, plus the use of an autoclave for our sterilizing our metal implements. Our autoclave is medical-grade and is the same machine that can be found in a dentist’s office.
All of our staff are Barbicide certified and we are dedicated to maintaining the healthiest environment for everyone in our Spruce community.