Europe’s gel nail ban has sparked reformulations and exposed how women disproportionately absorb chemical risks in beauty. Here’s what it means for consumers, salon workers, and the future of luxury
The promise of a gel manicure has always been pretty straightforward: weeks of chip-free color, a mirror-like gloss that withstands typing, travel, and everything in between. Under the cool glow of an LED lamp, polish transforms into a hardened shell, turning a small ritual into a dependable luxury. But that’s all changing in Europe.
Earlier this week, the European Union placed new boundaries on that ritual. Regulators banned trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide — better known as TPO — a photoinitiator central to many gel formulas. The move was framed as a precaution, but its ripple effects extend to cultural expectations of beauty and the way women disproportionately absorb chemical risks.
Why gel polish came under fire
TPO is a chemical that makes gel polish cure quickly under UV or LED light. In 2024, it was reclassified in Europe as a Category 1B substance, meaning regulators consider it carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction. That classification triggered an automatic ban under EU law.
For consumers in Europe, the ban meant an immediate shift: no sell-through period, no grace for salons to use leftover stock. In the United States, however, the same ingredient remains in more than a hundred registered formulas. The U.S. relies on risk assessment, not hazard classification, meaning chemicals are not banned unless clear and direct harm to humans has been demonstrated. The split underscores two philosophies: one that removes potential hazards before evidence mounts, and one that waits until risks are proven in people.
“The EU takes a very proactive stance, whereas [in the U.S.], we tend to really look for more robust data before we decide to pull something off of the market,” Michelle Henry, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, told InStyle.
The debate about gel polish often centers on the individual client. Does an occasional manicure carry real danger? For the woman sitting across the table, the question is harder to ignore. Nail technicians — disproportionately women, often immigrants — spend their days inhaling vapors and dust, with hands exposed to solvents and curing lamps. OSHA has warned that salon products may contain chemicals that can affect worker health, and studies have linked long-term exposure to higher rates of respiratory issues, skin conditions, and reproductive concerns.
The most common health risks of TPO are allergic skin reactions and irritation. But, prolonged exposure to multiple chemicals in salon environments is what compounds risk over time. That cumulative effect makes the EU’s decision resonate less as overcaution and more as acknowledgment of whose bodies are consistently asked to bear the burden.
The chemical era
The imbalance shows up well beyond nail salons. According to the Environmental Working Group, women use an average of six body care products daily — three for skin care, two for cosmetics, one for hair care, and one for baby care. About ten percent of adults use more than 25 products every day. On average, most women are absorbing more than 100 different types of chemicals, some toxic, through their personal care routines daily.
One of the biggest offenders is fragrance, an umbrella term that can hide up to 4,000 different chemicals, some of which may be hormone-disrupting. And while many companies have phased out harmful chemicals, they’re still widespread.
In 2022, National Institutes of Health researchers reported that women who frequently used chemical hair straighteners had higher incident rates of uterine cancer than women who never used them. As the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences summarized the finding: “We estimated that 1.64 percent of women who never used hair straighteners would develop uterine cancer by the age of 70; but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05 percent,” said Alexandra White, Ph.D., the study’s senior author. The paper, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, helped catalyze a wave of lawsuits consolidated in federal multidistrict litigation.
Other recalls underscore how routinely women encounter chemical hazards. In 2021, Johnson & Johnson recalled certain Neutrogena and Aveeno sunscreens after detecting benzene in samples. Months later, Procter & Gamble and then Unilever pulled aerosol hair products — including dry shampoos under Dove, Nexxus, and TRESemmé — for the same contaminant. Each time, the products affected were marketed primarily to women. Each time, consumers learned about risks only after shelves were stocked.
Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based powders have been the subject of tens of thousands of ovarian cancer lawsuits. In April 2025, a U.S. judge rejected the company’s latest plan to resolve those claims through bankruptcy. The company has since reformulated to cornstarch-based powder, but litigation continues, underscoring how women’s trust and health is often sacrificed for profit.
Safer shine, shifting culture
The EU’s ban has not ended gel manicures. Instead, it has accelerated reformulation. France’s Manucurist had already removed TPO from its formulas, a move founder Gaëlle Lebrat-Personnaz described as “a victory.” Other brands quickly followed. Consumers who enjoy gel manicures do not need to abandon them entirely. Real Simple reported that many polishes “are now made without [TPO]. At the salon, simply ask for a TPO-free formula; options include brands like Manucurist, Aprés Nails, and OPI’s Intelli-Gel system.”
So should you cancel your next gel appointment? That is a judgment call. Experts say there are indeed risks, but in most cases, the harm is minimal. And you have options in the TPO-free formulas. Still, if you care about your nail tech, it’s not an easy question to answer.
“The EU takes a very proactive stance,” says Michelle Henry, MD, a board-certified dermatologist. But here in the U.S. “we tend to really look for more robust data before we decide to pull something off of the market,” she says.
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