You walk into a nail salon and you can just smell the chemicals in the air. Can the products that make your nails colorful, chip-resistant and quick to dry also be toxic for you? That's a question that a lot of people ask, says Dr. Jay Shah, a urologic oncologist at Stanford Medicine.
While a growing body of medical research shows that chemicals in your environment can slightly increase your risk of getting cancer, it's unlikely that occasional exposure, like getting your nails or your hair done, will do much harm, Shah says. It may be a different story for the manicurists who are exposed to the chemicals on a daily basis. Hairdressers too face health risks. “Hairdressers who handle a lot of hair dyes are…historically known to have a higher risk of developing bladder cancer, ” says Dr. Shah.
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