Naked Toe Nails

I have painted my toe nails since I started running competitively (since I was a freshman in high school). I have some pretty ugly runner's feet and have long had weird or missing toe nails. Sometimes when a toe nail would fall off, I would paint one on with multiple layers of nail polish and no one would be wiser. I would occasionally go the winter months without polish on my nails, but for at least 9 months out of the year there would be some color on there.

Post chemo, I sill had black spots in my fingernails even a year after treatment; for almost an entire year I painted my finger nails too. During this year, I was investigating all of my food sources looking for potential causes of harm, looking at sunscreens and lotions, handwashes and toothpaste. It never occurred to me to look down at my nails.

Last October, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Duke University released a study using 26 women (small number, would have like to see more than 30) on chemicals in nail polish. In particular, the study was looking at Triphenyl Phosphate (TPHP). TPHP is suspected to be an endocrine disruptor. This study tested the urine of the 26 woman after they painted their nails and found an increase in the TPHP levels within half a day. That is a pretty short turn around to be able to find it in the human body. TPHP is also the same chemical used as a fire retardant and is used more in polishes that are chip resistant.

The EWG compiled a list of all the nail polishes that contain TPHP here. Knowing that there are possible endocrine disruptors in cosmetics does give me further pause before I put anything on (which is a very rare occasion anyways). Knowing that I was spending a week on vacation where I spend most of my time in bare feet, I let my feet stay ugly. I threw out all 24 bottles of nail polish prior to vacation. It freed up a whole drawer. Maybe busted runner's feet will become the next big thing for summer? A girl can dream. But, for now they will stay unpainted.