Research is still inconclusive regarding a link between chemicals used in the salon and certain birth defects, but don't take chances.
Experts agree that using commonsense precautions substantially reduces any potential risks.
There are very few times in a woman's life when she thinks more about her health than when she is pregnant. Most women are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices to ensure that their children will have every benefit a mother can provide. Unfortunately, little is known definitively about the effect of chemicals at the low levels of exposure typical in a salon environment. For example, there have been studies done on laboratory animals that have linked some salon chemicals with birth defects or other abnormalities, but the levels that the lab animals were exposed to were hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of times higher than what a nail technician is exposed to working in the salon. Long-term overexposure to toluene has been associated with mental retardation and physical deformities similar to those that can be caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy.