Nail Polish Facts

Clear, fire engine red, passionate purple, midnight blue - these are all names of nail polish colors. You can find nail polish just about everywhere from salons to your local mega marts and there are just as many producers from Maybelline to Cover Girl who produce similar colors under different names. But did you ever stop to consider the origins of nail polish or some other interesting tidbit about nails in general? This article offers ten polished tidbits you can ponder while getting a manicure or painting your nails at home.

1. During the Ming Dynasty, nail polish was made from a combination of beeswax, egg whites, gelatin, vegetables dyes and Arabic gum and then applied to nails of the higher class (Source: About.com).

2. You can thank the automobile industry for today's nail polish formula. Nail polish today is refined car paint (Source: About.com).

3. You can reuse empty nail polish bottles. Made sure they are clean and you can fill them with vegetable oil. Use this on your cuticles to keep them soft and healthy (Source: Wacky Uses).

4. You can repair small pock marks in glass, be it a window or a windshield. Fill the pock mark with a few drops of clear nail polish and allow to dry. Continue until pock mark is full. This also works well with wooden floors (Source: Wacky Uses).

5. There is no scientific evidenced that applying nail polish with hardeners or gelatin has any benefit to obtain stronger nails. The polish will only make the nail hard and inflexible, thus actually making the nail susceptible to breaking (Source: Third Age).

6. Dark nail polish, such as brown, reds, purple and black, will stain the nail. When the polish is removed, it will leave a yellowed discolored nail. The discoloration will fade over time unless the same color is continually reapplied (Source: Third Age).

7. The French royalty in the eighteenth century had their courtiers have their nails done; this is how we came to the term "French Manicure". The purpose behind this action was to have their hands appear soft and elegant as rough hands with ragged nails were a sign of a lower class (Source: World Village).

8. Nails grow faster: (a) when they are cut often; (b) they grow faster on the middle nail and slowest on the thumb; (c) on younger people than older; and (d) in warmer climates and during the day (Source: Sakura Nail Art).

9. In September 2007, Jill Brent noticed a small dent on her car and decided to paint it over with nail polish, which slowly became an obsession. By October 2007, her car was a complete patchwork of colors and shapes - a quilt. She estimated that she used about 250 bottles of nail polish, most of it donated. Children love the look of her car while adults just give her a curious glance (Source: Brentwood International).

10. Painted nails were not always culturally acceptable. During the 1950s, bright colors (such as red) were considered promiscuous and all nail polish had to be removed on Sunday before church services (Source: World Village).