5 Must-Have Features in a Acetone

You probably know it best as a nail polish remover, but acetone's uses don't stop there. A versatile and inexpensive chemical, there are quite a few ways that acetone can work in your home beyond wiping away nail polish. It is effective for a variety of cleaning purposes, including removing scuff marks, de-sticking superglue, and dissolving sticker residue.

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Also called propanone, this naturally occurring or synthetically created ketone is widely used in many industries, including manufacturing, chemistry, health and beauty products, and even as a food additive.

However, there are a few precautions. Acetone is highly flammable, so it should never be used near a flame or heat source. It can irritate the lungs and mucus membranes, so it should always be used with good ventilation, and it can dry or crack your skin, so wear gloves while handling it. When using any strong chemical, first test an inconspicuous spot with a tiny bit of the substance to be sure there is no undesired effect. 

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If there are ugly black scuff marks on your tile, concrete, or laminate floor, just pour a couple of teaspoons of acetone onto a clean rag or paper towel, and wipe the offending marks away. Then go over the area with a clean rag dampened in water to remove any lingering acetone residue. Don't try this on a wood floor, however, as acetone can remove the finish and leave permanent marks on wood. When finished, either toss your acetone-dampened rag, or let it dry and then wash it as usual.

If your favorite ceramic or glass mug has brown coffee or tea stains that don't remove with regular washing, acetone can help rescue the stains from the mug. Just pour a teaspoon or two of acetone into the mug, rub it over the stained areas with a sponge or rag, and then wash the mug as usual. It will look fresh and clean again. Either toss the sponge or rag afterwards, or allow it to dry and then rinse thoroughly with clean water.

If you accidentally ran an ink pen across your favorite shirt and there's a blue streak marring the fabric, acetone can help. Just reach for a bottle of acetone-based nail polish remover, mix one part acetone to two parts water, use a cotton ball or cloth to dab the solution on the ink stain until it disappears, and then wash the garment as usual.

While acetone safely can be used to treat most sturdy fabrics, such as cotton, polyester, wool, and most synthetics, it should not be used on acetate, triacetate, modacrylic, or very delicate fabrics such as silk. As a precaution, however, it's always a good idea to first test an inconspicuous spot before proceeding with any new cleaning treatment.

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Whether the plastic bread bag accidentally touched the hot toaster, or you left your plastic-handled spatula resting on the edge of a hot pan, melted plastic is not an uncommon occurrence in the kitchen. But thanks to acetone's ability to melt many plastics, you can use the solvent to clean away the mess. First, be sure the pan, toaster, or other metal item is completely cool and unplugged. Then, use a rag to wipe the melted plastic with acetone until the plastic begins to loosen. Continue until the mess is gone, and then use clean water to rinse the spot thoroughly before drying it with a clean towel.

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Ever since modern nail polish came to market, there has been a need to remove it. Pure acetone was used as far back as , and formulated polish removers were launched in the late s and early '30s. It's difficult to find ingredient information on these early removers, but the marketing of 'oily' polish removers in the s suggests that they were acetone-based and, therefore, there was a need to counteract acetone's drying effect. Having overcome this drawback, acetone-based removers have dominated the market ever since.

Liquid-and-powder acrylics emerged in when a dentist repaired his injured thumbnail with denture acrylic. Later, UV-cured dental acrylic gels were adapted for the nail industry. These products also needed removal, and, again, acetone was the remover of choice, as it's able to dissolve acrylic resins.

What is Acetone?

Acetone is a small molecule composed of a three-carbon chain. The end carbons each link to three hydrogen atoms. The middle carbon is linked to an oxygen atom by a 'double bond' (they share two pairs of electrons, not just one); this combination is called a 'carbonyl' group. A carbonyl flanked by other carbons is called a 'ketone,' and acetone is the smallest of all ketones. (There'll be a quiz on Friday.)

Plainly speaking, acetone is a chemical that nail professionals rely on in their business to remove everything from lacquer to gel polish to acrylic. But interestingly enough, acetone is also produced in your body whenever you burn fat'during sleep, fasting, endurance exercise or ketogenic dieting. Since acetone is a normal part of your biochemistry, exposure to small amounts of it does no harm.

Acetone in Nail Services

Nail polish is made primarily of resins dissolved in solvents (along with colorants and other modifiers), so they can be spread as liquids onto the nail. After the product is applied, the solvents evaporate, leaving the tough resin coating behind. So, to remove the nail lacquer, it's only necessary to redissolve the resins, which is how acetone works.

Unlike polish, liquid-and-powder systems, UV gels and dipping powder systems don't simply deposit pre-existing resins on the nail. Instead, a curing ('polymerization') reaction creates new, much larger resin molecules. In most cases, the reaction causes chemical cross-linking, resulting in a molecular 'mesh' or 'network.' Crosslinking impacts acetone's efficacy. For example, soft gel color can be soaked off in 5-10 minutes because it's not highly crosslinked. But hard sculpting gels are more crosslinked to retain their structure, so it takes longer for acetone to penetrate the tight mesh of cross-linked polymer and soften the enhancement.

Non-Acetone Removers

Acetone-based removers are a 'mature' technology. In other words, they've been around for a very long time, so adding moisturizers, color, herbal essences and various fragrances to make the product more attractive has already been introduced. As a result, there's little room to truly innovate. However, there is one innovation that everyone seems to want: To replicate acetone's efficacy without using acetone. Unfortunately, that product does not yet exist. The closest thing we have are called 'non-acetone' removers.

Non-acetone removers fall into two categories: solvent-based and nonvolatile. Solvent-based non-acetone removers include ethyl acetate and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). They're more effective on polish than on acrylics'which makes non-acetone remover ideal for changing the polish color on enhancements. In the short time it takes to remove the polish,the sculpted acrylic underneath is little affected.

For the full article (and must-have removal products!) check out Nailpro's January/February digital magazine.