WHAT ARE HEAT SPIKES? AKA EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS | HEAT WHEN CURING GEL | BURNING SENSATION WHEN GEL IS CURING

What are heat spikes? Head Chemist & Co-Owner of Light Elegance, Jim McConnell, shares some important scientific facts with NAILPRO Magazine below. 

"Heat spikes are scientifically called exothermic reactions. (Exothermic literally means ‘to give off heat.’) The total amount of heat that’s generated is directly related to the number of bonds that are formed during the polymerization reaction. Each bond that is formed will generate a specific amount of heat. The more bonds that are formed, the more heat is generated.

Here are a few tricks to reduce clients’ discomfort:

• Use less gel. The more gel that’s applied to the nail, the more heat is generated and thus an increase in the heat experienced by your client. A thinner layer of gel will result in less heat.
• Use an LED lamp that has a setting for hard gels. These lamps have less output and will reduce the amount of heat experienced by your client.
• Use a gel that generates less heat. This is achieved by altering the resins and photoinitiators in the gel so that less heat is experienced. These gels are often softer and more flexible.

Every gel client knows of them and fears them: heat spikes.
Here, three scientists and one veteran nail tech explain what they are, why they happen and what to do about them." - NAILPRO Magazine

In our Chemist Corner series on YouTube, Jim McConnell has shared several videos explaining Exothermic Reactions in depth, how to mitigate them for your clients and what you can do to prevent them.

Check out this video below to learn more! 

https://youtu.be/is6-si5cNAo