A Little Accountability, Please

That's all I'm sayin'.

So those of you who subscribe to the mailing list at BeautyTech are already painfully aware Dr. Oz apparently harbors some personal resentment toward some of the most popular services and products used in our biz. For anyone who hasn't seen it, you might want to check it out: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/how-manicures-affect-your-health

Now I get to anticipate all the joy of a potential aneurism from the amount of ranting I'm sure to be doing over the next few months as this piece of sensationalistic TV makes its way to my clientele.

My first reaction is to wonder if there isn't somebody on Dr. Oz's staff who is responsible for fact-checking. You know, making sure that he doesn't go on national TV and make an ass of himself? Maybe, maybe not. But a quick Internet search to find that link revealed that maybe, just maybe, the doctor just plain hates nails. Or maybe he's one of those "everything's a chemical and chemicals are bad" people. Which would be really disappointing. I'm used to Americans not having a love or understanding of basic chemistry. Science just isn't a priority in our school systems or in our culture. But Doctor Oz IS AN ACTUAL DOCTOR! I mean, he's a cardiothoracic surgeon. Ummm, "cardio," that's the heart. Oh! A HEART surgeon! Well! That totally explains how he's an expert on nails then! I mean, a heart doctor is almost the same thing as a dermatologist, isn't it? And a dermatologist is almost the same thing as a nail tech, and a nail tech is almost the same thing as a hairstylist and hairstylist is almost the same thing as a dog groomer and a dog groomer is almost the same thing as zoo keeper and a zoo keeper is almost the same thing as a ...

What? What were you just saying? Something about "false analogy"? Maybe I heard "exaggerating" ?

Yeah. Well, that's kinda my point.

Look. Some people are just opposed to any sort of personal care/beauty regime that involves altering what the good lord gave ya. (Or wherever you believe it came from.) They don't like hair dye or nail polish or breast implants. That's a personal choice and I don't really care if you go around spouting that you, personally, are opposed to such things. But Dr. Oz has a friend in Oprah, and for reasons I have yet to comprehend, the world hangs on Oprah's word. So Dr. Oz has a fancy TV show now and he gets to go on TV and dump a piece of Styrofoam into a beaker of acetone and then make some outrageous claim that that's what happens to your nails. And apparently he has no responsibility to back that up with any proof, evidence, facts, etc.

Ever put a sugar cube in a glass of water? Yikes! Maybe water is dissolving my nails too? I should stop showering.

For the record, acetone has been used safely in salon services for a very long time. Here's a great excerpt from Doug Schoon's book, “Nail Structure and Product Chemistry,” which really should be mandatory reading for anyone in this industry:

Meanwhile I intend to continue using acetone. Until people's nails are made of Styrofoam, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be OK.