Knowledge about the UV curing process
Everything we move in, are exposed to and touch is chemistry. The glass of water we drink from is made of one chemical structure, just as the water that is down in the glass is made of another chemical structure. The same applies to our nail products. Whether it is Gel Polish, Builder Gel, Polygel or something completely different, they each have their own chemical structure and can behave differently. When working with nail products, whether privately or professionally, it is therefore interesting to know a little about how the chemistry works.
A liquid nail product consists of a lot of different molecules, including monomers (very small molecules) and oligomers (slightly larger compound molecules). When these molecules are to meet and form a hardened product, the product must have what are called photoinitiators added to it. The chemical process starts with the photoinitiators in the uncured product being exposed to UV light. When this happens, the photoinitiators are activated, which then release energy in the form of free radicals. The free radicals then take care of binding all the free-standing molecules (the monomers and oligomers) into one polymer. As this happens, the product changes from liquid to solid form.
If you go a little deeper into the chemistry, you will see that the photoinitiators are not activated by any form of UV light. The different photoinitiators that are added to nail products can have different UV requirements in terms of watts and wavelengths (nm/nanometer). It is therefore important to make sure that your UV lamp can deliver exactly the type of UV light that your nail products require. The UV lamps from The Gel Collection emit UV light at a minimum of 48W and double wavelength of 365+405 nm. This is precisely what the nail products from The Gel Collection, and indeed the vast majority of all other UV-curing products on the market, require.
Facts
When the energy from the photoinitiators is released, heat can occur in the product, which can be felt as a burning sensation in the nails. Although it may hurt, it is neither dangerous nor harmful. Always remove your hands from the UV lamp if it burns, or use Low Heat Mode, which over 90 seconds gradually increases the effectiveness of the UV light and therefore ensures gentler curing.
