Builder Gel / BIAB

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Manicures and pedicures are safe throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding, gel included — UV/LED nail lamp exposure is tiny and localised to your hands or feet. Two things are worth getting right. Ask for good ventilation, because fumes from acrylic products and standard polish are the real concern. And choose a '3-free' or '10-free' polish, which leaves out formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Pedicures are particularly welcome in the third trimester, when reaching your own feet becomes difficult.

Sources: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · NHS

Manicures and pedicures are safe throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding, gel included — UV/LED nail lamp exposure is tiny and localised to your hands or feet. Two things are worth getting right. Ask for good ventilation, because fumes from acrylic products and standard polish are the real concern. And choose a '3-free' or '10-free' polish, which leaves out formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Pedicures are particularly welcome in the third trimester, when reaching your own feet becomes difficult.

Sources: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · NHS

Manicures and pedicures are safe throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding, gel included — UV/LED nail lamp exposure is tiny and localised to your hands or feet. Two things are worth getting right. Ask for good ventilation, because fumes from acrylic products and standard polish are the real concern. And choose a '3-free' or '10-free' polish, which leaves out formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Pedicures are particularly welcome in the third trimester, when reaching your own feet becomes difficult.

Sources: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · NHS

Manicures and pedicures are safe throughout pregnancy and while breastfeeding, gel included — UV/LED nail lamp exposure is tiny and localised to your hands or feet. Two things are worth getting right. Ask for good ventilation, because fumes from acrylic products and standard polish are the real concern. And choose a '3-free' or '10-free' polish, which leaves out formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene and camphor. Pedicures are particularly welcome in the third trimester, when reaching your own feet becomes difficult.

Sources: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · NHS

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is an acute medical emergency, or a very recent one, and while you are in that phase your circulation is unstable. No elective beauty treatment is appropriate: the risk of setting off a second event — a clot moving, a re-bleed, a blood-pressure spike — outweighs any benefit a treatment could give you. There is a published case of a fatal pulmonary embolism after a leg massage in an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The right place for you while this is acute is under active medical care, not in a salon.

Sources: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · British Heart Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is an acute medical emergency, or a very recent one, and while you are in that phase your circulation is unstable. No elective beauty treatment is appropriate: the risk of setting off a second event — a clot moving, a re-bleed, a blood-pressure spike — outweighs any benefit a treatment could give you. There is a published case of a fatal pulmonary embolism after a leg massage in an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The right place for you while this is acute is under active medical care, not in a salon.

Sources: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · British Heart Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is an acute medical emergency, or a very recent one, and while you are in that phase your circulation is unstable. No elective beauty treatment is appropriate: the risk of setting off a second event — a clot moving, a re-bleed, a blood-pressure spike — outweighs any benefit a treatment could give you. There is a published case of a fatal pulmonary embolism after a leg massage in an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The right place for you while this is acute is under active medical care, not in a salon.

Sources: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · British Heart Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is an acute medical emergency, or a very recent one, and while you are in that phase your circulation is unstable. No elective beauty treatment is appropriate: the risk of setting off a second event — a clot moving, a re-bleed, a blood-pressure spike — outweighs any benefit a treatment could give you. There is a published case of a fatal pulmonary embolism after a leg massage in an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The right place for you while this is acute is under active medical care, not in a salon.

Sources: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · British Heart Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is an acute medical emergency, or a very recent one, and while you are in that phase your circulation is unstable. No elective beauty treatment is appropriate: the risk of setting off a second event — a clot moving, a re-bleed, a blood-pressure spike — outweighs any benefit a treatment could give you. There is a published case of a fatal pulmonary embolism after a leg massage in an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis. The right place for you while this is acute is under active medical care, not in a salon.

Sources: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · British Heart Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

If a mole or a pigmented patch is asymmetrical, has an uneven border, more than one colour, or has changed in any way, it needs a doctor's eyes on it before anything cosmetic happens over it. See your GP: there is an urgent referral pathway in the UK for a suspected melanoma, and you should be seen within about a fortnight of that referral. The treatment can wait. This is also the moment to say that beauty professionals are often the first to spot a change, and being told to get something checked is not an overreaction.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Skin that has not finished healing needs to be left alone. Treating over a new tattoo, a wound that has not closed, or an area that has just had laser or a peel risks infection, patchy pigment and scarring — and, with a new tattoo, pulling the ink about before it has settled. Away from the affected area, treatments carry on as normal. How long you wait depends on what happened and how deep it went, so ask the person who did it.

Sources: American Academy of Dermatology

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Skin that has not finished healing needs to be left alone. Treating over a new tattoo, a wound that has not closed, or an area that has just had laser or a peel risks infection, patchy pigment and scarring — and, with a new tattoo, pulling the ink about before it has settled. Away from the affected area, treatments carry on as normal. How long you wait depends on what happened and how deep it went, so ask the person who did it.

Sources: American Academy of Dermatology

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Skin that has not finished healing needs to be left alone. Treating over a new tattoo, a wound that has not closed, or an area that has just had laser or a peel risks infection, patchy pigment and scarring — and, with a new tattoo, pulling the ink about before it has settled. Away from the affected area, treatments carry on as normal. How long you wait depends on what happened and how deep it went, so ask the person who did it.

Sources: American Academy of Dermatology

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Skin that has not finished healing needs to be left alone. Treating over a new tattoo, a wound that has not closed, or an area that has just had laser or a peel risks infection, patchy pigment and scarring — and, with a new tattoo, pulling the ink about before it has settled. Away from the affected area, treatments carry on as normal. How long you wait depends on what happened and how deep it went, so ask the person who did it.

Sources: American Academy of Dermatology

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Sources: JAMA Dermatology · Peer-reviewed dermatology (PMC)

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Sources: American Academy of Dermatology · British Association of Dermatologists · National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is a bacterial infection, and it needs antibiotics from a GP rather than anything a salon can do. Treating over or around it spreads the bacteria across your own skin and onto towels and tools, makes the infection worse, and — with anything that breaks the skin, such as microneedling or electrolysis — risks pushing the infection deeper, which is how a skin infection turns into a serious one. That is why the answer covers the rest of you too, not just the infected patch. Book back in once you have finished the course and the skin has healed. Nobody will think anything of it.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · NICE · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

You are unwell and you are infectious, and a treatment room is a small space with someone leaning over you for an hour. Going in while you have symptoms passes it to your therapist and to whoever is booked in after you. It is also a miserable way to spend an appointment you have paid for: you cannot lie still through a facial with a cough, or face down on a massage couch feeling sick. Move the booking to once you have been free of symptoms for a couple of days. A good salon would far rather rebook you than have you turn up poorly.

Sources: NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · UKHSA

This is a bacterial infection, and it needs antibiotics from a GP rather than anything a salon can do. Treating over or around it spreads the bacteria across your own skin and onto towels and tools, makes the infection worse, and — with anything that breaks the skin, such as microneedling or electrolysis — risks pushing the infection deeper, which is how a skin infection turns into a serious one. That is why the answer covers the rest of you too, not just the infected patch. Book back in once you have finished the course and the skin has healed. Nobody will think anything of it.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · NICE · UKHSA

Chickenpox is about as contagious as an infection gets: it travels through the air as well as by touching the spots, so one person with it in a salon can expose everyone who comes through afterwards. That matters most for anyone pregnant in the first half of their pregnancy, for whom exposure carries a risk to the baby. Stay home until every spot has crusted over, then book back in.

Sources: NHS · Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

You are unwell and you are infectious, and a treatment room is a small space with someone leaning over you for an hour. Going in while you have symptoms passes it to your therapist and to whoever is booked in after you. It is also a miserable way to spend an appointment you have paid for: you cannot lie still through a facial with a cough, or face down on a massage couch feeling sick. Move the booking to once you have been free of symptoms for a couple of days. A good salon would far rather rebook you than have you turn up poorly.

Sources: NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is a bacterial infection, and it needs antibiotics from a GP rather than anything a salon can do. Treating over or around it spreads the bacteria across your own skin and onto towels and tools, makes the infection worse, and — with anything that breaks the skin, such as microneedling or electrolysis — risks pushing the infection deeper, which is how a skin infection turns into a serious one. That is why the answer covers the rest of you too, not just the infected patch. Book back in once you have finished the course and the skin has healed. Nobody will think anything of it.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · NICE · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

You are unwell and you are infectious, and a treatment room is a small space with someone leaning over you for an hour. Going in while you have symptoms passes it to your therapist and to whoever is booked in after you. It is also a miserable way to spend an appointment you have paid for: you cannot lie still through a facial with a cough, or face down on a massage couch feeling sick. Move the booking to once you have been free of symptoms for a couple of days. A good salon would far rather rebook you than have you turn up poorly.

Sources: NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Every treatment is open to you, done exactly the way it is done for anybody else. That is the whole point of universal precautions, the principle salons have worked to since 1985: every person's blood is handled as though it could carry an infection, so nobody's safety depends on what anyone has disclosed. With single-use needles, proper sterilisation and gloves, the risk of passing anything on is essentially zero. In the UK the Equality Act 2010 makes HIV a protected disability from the day you are diagnosed, so refusing you a service because of your status is against the law. Modern treatment brings HIV to an undetectable viral load, which means untransmittable, and hepatitis B and C are treatable and often curable. Telling your technician is entirely your choice — it helps only with practical things, such as local anaesthetic and appointment timing around your medication.

Sources: CDC · NHS · National AIDS Trust · StatPearls / NCBI · UK Parliament

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Every treatment is open to you, done exactly the way it is done for anybody else. That is the whole point of universal precautions, the principle salons have worked to since 1985: every person's blood is handled as though it could carry an infection, so nobody's safety depends on what anyone has disclosed. With single-use needles, proper sterilisation and gloves, the risk of passing anything on is essentially zero. In the UK the Equality Act 2010 makes HIV a protected disability from the day you are diagnosed, so refusing you a service because of your status is against the law. Modern treatment brings HIV to an undetectable viral load, which means untransmittable, and hepatitis B and C are treatable and often curable. Telling your technician is entirely your choice — it helps only with practical things, such as local anaesthetic and appointment timing around your medication.

Sources: CDC · NHS · National AIDS Trust · StatPearls / NCBI · UK Parliament

Every treatment is open to you, done exactly the way it is done for anybody else. That is the whole point of universal precautions, the principle salons have worked to since 1985: every person's blood is handled as though it could carry an infection, so nobody's safety depends on what anyone has disclosed. With single-use needles, proper sterilisation and gloves, the risk of passing anything on is essentially zero. In the UK the Equality Act 2010 makes HIV a protected disability from the day you are diagnosed, so refusing you a service because of your status is against the law. Modern treatment brings HIV to an undetectable viral load, which means untransmittable, and hepatitis B and C are treatable and often curable. Telling your technician is entirely your choice — it helps only with practical things, such as local anaesthetic and appointment timing around your medication.

Sources: CDC · NHS · National AIDS Trust · StatPearls / NCBI · UK Parliament

This is a bacterial infection, and it needs antibiotics from a GP rather than anything a salon can do. Treating over or around it spreads the bacteria across your own skin and onto towels and tools, makes the infection worse, and — with anything that breaks the skin, such as microneedling or electrolysis — risks pushing the infection deeper, which is how a skin infection turns into a serious one. That is why the answer covers the rest of you too, not just the infected patch. Book back in once you have finished the course and the skin has healed. Nobody will think anything of it.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · NICE · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

This is a bacterial infection, and it needs antibiotics from a GP rather than anything a salon can do. Treating over or around it spreads the bacteria across your own skin and onto towels and tools, makes the infection worse, and — with anything that breaks the skin, such as microneedling or electrolysis — risks pushing the infection deeper, which is how a skin infection turns into a serious one. That is why the answer covers the rest of you too, not just the infected patch. Book back in once you have finished the course and the skin has healed. Nobody will think anything of it.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · NICE · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Covering a fungal nail with polish, gel or acrylic traps moisture underneath, which is exactly what the fungus wants. Within weeks the infection is noticeably worse: the nail thickens, discolours, starts to hurt and can lift away from the nail bed. Covering it up is the single most common mistake made with fungal nails, and it costs you months. Treat it instead — your GP can prescribe terbinafine tablets, and amorolfine nail lacquer is available from a pharmacy. It takes six months to a year because that is how long a nail takes to grow out. Unaffected nails can be done as usual.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · NICE

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Shingles is the chickenpox virus waking up again, and while the blisters are open the fluid in them can give chickenpox to anyone who has never had it or been vaccinated — including the person treating you and everyone in the room. The rash itself is painful and fragile, and shingles on the face can involve the eye, which is an urgent matter for a doctor rather than a salon. Everything waits until every blister has crusted over and healed. Rest is genuinely the treatment here.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · NHS · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Once you have completed the full course of TB antibiotics you are not infectious, and every treatment is open to you on the same terms as anyone else. There is nothing to declare and nothing that needs adapting.

Sources: NHS · NICE · UKHSA · UKHSA

Active TB in the lungs spreads through the air, which makes an hour in a treatment room exactly the wrong place to be. If you have active TB you should be under a specialist team, and the first stretch of treatment is about getting you to the point where you are no longer infectious. Beauty treatments wait until your TB team confirms you are not. Once you have completed your course, everything is open to you again.

Sources: NHS · NICE · UKHSA · UKHSA

You are unwell and you are infectious, and a treatment room is a small space with someone leaning over you for an hour. Going in while you have symptoms passes it to your therapist and to whoever is booked in after you. It is also a miserable way to spend an appointment you have paid for: you cannot lie still through a facial with a cough, or face down on a massage couch feeling sick. Move the booking to once you have been free of symptoms for a couple of days. A good salon would far rather rebook you than have you turn up poorly.

Sources: NHS · NHS · NHS · NHS · UKHSA

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Warts and verrucas are caused by HPV, which usually needs broken skin to pass on — so this is a local restriction, not a reason to cancel. Nothing should work directly over the wart: no files, no blades, no wax, nothing that could nick it and spread the virus across your own skin or onto the tools. A good technician will work around it, or file it last with a disposable file that goes straight in the bin. Away from the wart, treatments carry on as normal. Most warts clear up on their own within a year or two, and salicylic acid from the pharmacy is the standard way to speed that along.

Sources: NHS Scotland (Scottish Dermatology Society) · NICE · Primary Care Dermatology Society

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

An autoimmune diagnosis on its own is not a reason to go without beauty treatments. When your condition is in remission and you are on no medication or on hydroxychloroquine alone, the ordinary things — facials, manicures, pedicures, waxing and other hair removal, massage, lash and brow treatments — are as safe for you as for anyone else. What restricts treatments is active disease and immune-suppressing medication, not the label on your notes. A great many people with controlled rheumatoid arthritis, mild lupus or inflammatory bowel disease in remission have been told the opposite, and have gone years avoiding things they could have enjoyed. If your condition flares, reassess. If you have lupus, the light and laser guidance still applies to you even in remission. Otherwise: book it.

Sources: EULAR (European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology) · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Autoimmune blistering diseases make the skin extraordinarily fragile — in pemphigus, gentle sideways pressure on normal-looking skin is enough to lift it and start a new blister. Beauty treatments in that situation can set off a flare, cause painful blistering, let infection in and make the disease itself worse, and that is true of gentle treatments as much as strong ones. These conditions are looked after by dermatology and immunology teams, and most people are on high-dose steroids and other immune-suppressing medicines at the same time, which adds infection risk on top. Treatments wait until the disease is in stable remission and your dermatologist has said yes. Nothing about this is contagious — it is about protecting your skin, not anyone else's.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · International Pemphigus and Pemphigoid Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Autoimmune blistering diseases make the skin extraordinarily fragile — in pemphigus, gentle sideways pressure on normal-looking skin is enough to lift it and start a new blister. Beauty treatments in that situation can set off a flare, cause painful blistering, let infection in and make the disease itself worse, and that is true of gentle treatments as much as strong ones. These conditions are looked after by dermatology and immunology teams, and most people are on high-dose steroids and other immune-suppressing medicines at the same time, which adds infection risk on top. Treatments wait until the disease is in stable remission and your dermatologist has said yes. Nothing about this is contagious — it is about protecting your skin, not anyone else's.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · International Pemphigus and Pemphigoid Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

The lamp that cures gel and builder-gel nails puts UV light onto your hands, and with lupus that matters more than it would for most people. Some people with lupus have gel nails done for years with no trouble; others find their skin reacts. If you want to keep having them, UV-protective gloves with the fingertips cut out are a genuine option, and a good technician will have no problem with you wearing them. Watch how your skin responds over the first few appointments rather than assuming either way.

Sources: Archives of Dermatology · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · Lupus Foundation of America · PubMed Central (peer-reviewed case report)

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

The lamp that cures gel and builder-gel nails puts UV light onto your hands, and with lupus that matters more than it would for most people. Some people with lupus have gel nails done for years with no trouble; others find their skin reacts. If you want to keep having them, UV-protective gloves with the fingertips cut out are a genuine option, and a good technician will have no problem with you wearing them. Watch how your skin responds over the first few appointments rather than assuming either way.

Sources: Archives of Dermatology · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · Lupus Foundation of America · PubMed Central (peer-reviewed case report)

The lamp that cures gel and builder-gel nails puts UV light onto your hands, and with lupus that matters more than it would for most people. Some people with lupus have gel nails done for years with no trouble; others find their skin reacts. If you want to keep having them, UV-protective gloves with the fingertips cut out are a genuine option, and a good technician will have no problem with you wearing them. Watch how your skin responds over the first few appointments rather than assuming either way.

Sources: Archives of Dermatology · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · Lupus Foundation of America · PubMed Central (peer-reviewed case report)

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Autoimmune blistering diseases make the skin extraordinarily fragile — in pemphigus, gentle sideways pressure on normal-looking skin is enough to lift it and start a new blister. Beauty treatments in that situation can set off a flare, cause painful blistering, let infection in and make the disease itself worse, and that is true of gentle treatments as much as strong ones. These conditions are looked after by dermatology and immunology teams, and most people are on high-dose steroids and other immune-suppressing medicines at the same time, which adds infection risk on top. Treatments wait until the disease is in stable remission and your dermatologist has said yes. Nothing about this is contagious — it is about protecting your skin, not anyone else's.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · International Pemphigus and Pemphigoid Foundation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

The lamp that cures gel and builder-gel nails puts UV light onto your hands, and with lupus that matters more than it would for most people. Some people with lupus have gel nails done for years with no trouble; others find their skin reacts. If you want to keep having them, UV-protective gloves with the fingertips cut out are a genuine option, and a good technician will have no problem with you wearing them. Watch how your skin responds over the first few appointments rather than assuming either way.

Sources: Archives of Dermatology · Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · Lupus Foundation of America · PubMed Central (peer-reviewed case report)

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Beau's lines are horizontal grooves that record a time when the nail stopped growing properly — a bad illness, a high fever, chemotherapy, an injury to that finger, or a Raynaud's episode. The groove is a record of something that has already passed, not a problem in itself, and there is nothing about it that makes a manicure or pedicure unsafe. Gentle buffing is fine. The one thing worth doing: if the lines are across several nails and you cannot think what caused them, mention it to your GP.

Sources: American Family Physician · MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Brittle nails and long-wear enhancements are a cycle worth understanding before you book. It is rarely the product that does the damage — it is the removal: acetone soaking dries the nail plate out, and filing takes surface off a nail that is already thin. Do that every three weeks and brittleness gets worse, which makes the next set feel more necessary. Builder gel applied properly can actually splint a weak nail, so this is not a no; it depends on your technician's technique and on how often you go back. Stretch the gap between appointments, insist on gentle removal, and ask about nail strengthening instead if your nails are struggling.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society · PubMed Central

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Clubbing — fingertips that have broadened and nails that curve down over them — does not stop you having your nails done, and nothing about the treatment makes it worse. What matters is what it means. Clubbing is one of the oldest recognised signs in medicine and it points at something systemic: lung disease including lung cancer, a heart condition present from birth, inflammatory bowel disease, or cirrhosis of the liver. If you have only recently noticed it, see your GP soon and say the word "clubbing" — it is a sign they will take seriously. If it has been there for years and someone is already looking after the cause, there is nothing new to do.

Sources: American Family Physician · Indian Journal of Dermatology · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

A brown or black stripe running lengthwise down a nail needs a doctor to look at it before anything goes over it. Most stripes are harmless — a mole in the nail matrix, or the natural pigmentation that is common in darker skin tones, or a side effect of a medicine such as chemotherapy or an antimalarial. But some are subungual melanoma, a cancer that starts under the nail, and it is deadly when it is found late. Polish over the top of it delays that diagnosis by months or years. Ask your GP for an urgent referral — the NHS pathway means being seen within two weeks. The things that make a stripe more worrying: it appeared in adulthood, it is brown or black, it is changing or widening, it is on a thumb, big toe or index finger, the pigment has spread onto the skin around the nail, or melanoma runs in your family. Your other nails can be treated as normal in the meantime.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Peer-reviewed (Levit et al.) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nail biting is a body-focused repetitive behaviour, related to hair pulling, and it is not something you are doing wrong. Enhancements sit in an unusual place here, because for a lot of people they genuinely help: a set of acrylics or builder gel is a physical barrier and a constant reminder, and plenty of people stop biting while they have them on. The caution is about what happens when they come off — the urge is usually still there, and the nails underneath are often weaker than they were. Treat them as one part of the plan rather than the whole of it. If the biting is severe or distressing, habit-reversal training and CBT are what the evidence supports, and BFRB UK is a good place to start.

Sources: BFRB UK (TLC Foundation)

While there is broken skin around your nails — raw edges, an open wound, or a nail fold that is red, swollen and sore — enhancements wait. Product and preparation on damaged skin hurts, and a nail fold that is already inflamed is the wrong place to seal anything in. This is a short pause, not a refusal: once the skin has healed over, the caution version of this advice applies and enhancements are back on the table.

Sources: BFRB UK (TLC Foundation)

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

A nail that has lifted away from its bed has a gap underneath it, and covering that gap with gel, acrylic or a press-on traps moisture and debris in exactly the warm, dark space where bacteria and fungus grow. It also hides the problem: lifting can be the first sign of an overactive thyroid, of psoriasis, or of a reaction to a medicine you are taking, and none of that gets investigated while it is under a coating. This applies to the affected nails only — your other nails can be treated as normal. See your GP about the lifting first, then come back to enhancements once the cause is known and the nail has grown out.

Sources: American Family Physician · MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nail pterygium is a wing of skin that has grown forward into the nail bed, usually because of lichen planus, sometimes after an injury or with lupus. The critical thing to know: it cannot be pushed back and it must not be cut. Trying makes it bleed and makes the damage permanent. Gentle polish over the nail is fine — what you need is a technician who will leave the cuticle area alone rather than working it, so say what it is when you book. If nobody has identified it yet, see your GP or a dermatologist, because the underlying cause is treatable and the earlier it is treated the more nail you keep.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Nothing about this nail finding restricts a manicure, a pedicure or a set of enhancements. Most people's nails are healthy, and most nail changes are cosmetic or a record of something that has already passed — a page that only ever listed problems would leave you more worried than you need to be. Have the treatment. The general advice that applies to everyone still applies to you: give your nails a break between sets, ask for gentle removal rather than filing or picking, and see your GP if a change appears on several nails at once and you cannot account for it.

Sources: MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Primary Care Dermatology Society

Yellow nail syndrome does not restrict a manicure or pedicure at all, and polish covers the colour perfectly well if that is what is bothering you. The reason it has its own page is what comes with it: it is a rare triad of thickened yellow nails, swelling from fluid retention — usually in the legs — and a long-term chest problem such as bronchiectasis. If you have the nails and either of the other two, tell your GP you have all three together, because the combination is the diagnosis. Worth knowing too: yellow, thickened nails are far more often a fungal infection, which is common and treatable. Yellow nail syndrome affects several nails at once as part of the wider picture.

Sources: Asthma + Lung UK · MSD Manual (Professional Version) · Orphanet · Primary Care Dermatology Society

A high temperature means the appointment gets rescheduled, for two reasons. The first is other people: a fever usually means an infection, and an infection you can pass on does not belong in a room where someone leans over your face for an hour and then treats the next person. The second is you — your body is busy, you will tolerate the treatment badly, and lying still while you feel awful is nobody's idea of a treat. Phone ahead rather than turning up: most salons will move you without a cancellation fee if you tell them why, and the ones worth going to would far rather you did.

Sources: General Medical Council (UK) · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

If you have been drinking, the appointment should be rescheduled, and a salon that says so is protecting you rather than judging you. Consent has to be informed to count, and alcohol takes that away — which matters most for the treatments you cannot undo: nobody should wake up to permanent makeup or filler they agreed to after a couple of drinks. There is a physical reason too. Alcohol thins the blood and dilates your vessels, so you bruise and bleed more, and anything involving a needle marks worse. Come back another day, sober, and you will get a better result and a decision you still agree with next week.

Sources: General Medical Council (UK) · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Sources: Epilepsy Action · Epilepsy Society · International League Against Epilepsy · NHS

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Sources: British Thyroid Foundation · NHS · NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Menopause restricts nothing. It is not an illness and it is not a contraindication — the average age in the UK is 51, perimenopause can start in your late thirties, and every treatment on this site stays open to you. What changes is the skin, the hair and the nails you bring to the appointment: drier, thinner, less collagen, more shedding, and sometimes the first pigmentation you have ever had. So the useful adjustments are small ones. Shorter, cooler facials if hot flushes are part of your day. Gentler exfoliation on skin that has thinned. Extra moisture, everywhere. And if you have started on HRT, say so — it changes two small things worth knowing about.

Sources: British Menopause Society · NHS · NICE · The Menopause Charity

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have a draft answer for this, but we are still checking it against a source we trust. We would rather show you nothing than something we cannot stand behind. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Sources: Epilepsy Action · Epilepsy Society · International League Against Epilepsy · NHS

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

If you already react to things, the answer here is almost always the same one: patch test, 48 hours before, every time you meet a product for the first time. Reactions to salon products run from a bit of redness to anaphylaxis, and the ingredients that cause most of them are predictable — PPD in hair and brow dyes, the preservatives in creams, the cyanoacrylate in lash glue, latex in gloves, nickel in tools, fragrance in almost everything, and formaldehyde releasers in some nail products. Two things people get wrong. A patch test is not a formality to be waived because you are in a hurry, and having had something before does not make you safe: sensitisation builds with exposure, which is why lash adhesive should be retested every six to twelve months and why people react to a dye they have used for years. Tell your therapist exactly what you react to, and take an allergy history seriously enough to say it out loud before, not after.

Sources: British Association of Dermatologists · British Contact Dermatitis Society · UK legislation

Badly dehydrated is not the state to have a treatment in, and it is worth rescheduling rather than pushing through. Dehydration drops your blood pressure, which makes fainting much more likely when you have been lying still and then sit up quickly, or when a treatment involves heat, pain or the sight of a needle. Your skin also heals less well when there is not enough fluid in it, so anything that relies on recovery gives a worse result. Drink, eat, rest, and rebook for a day when you feel like yourself.

Sources: General Medical Council (UK) · UK legislation

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

An underactive thyroid is not a barrier to any beauty treatment. What it does is change the material your therapist is working with: skin is drier, nails are more brittle and split more easily, hair sheds more and grows back slowly, and you feel the cold and tire faster than other people in the room. So ask for the gentle version of everything — no aggressive filing, no harsh removal, plenty of moisturiser, and a shorter appointment if sitting still for two hours is a lot at the moment. One thing worth knowing: if your hair has started shedding all over and your nails have turned brittle and you have not had your thyroid checked, ask your GP for a blood test. Beauty professionals notice this pattern long before anyone else does.

Sources: British Thyroid Foundation · NHS · NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

There is no medical reason body size changes what treatments are open to you. What it changes is whether the salon is set up for you, and that is worth checking before you arrive rather than discovering on the day: treatment couches carry a weight rating, gowns and robes come in a range of sizes, and headrests and armrests fit some bodies better than others. A good salon answers that question straightforwardly and has the answer ready. How you are spoken to while they answer it tells you the rest.

Sources: NHS · UK Obesity Federation

The light-sensitive porphyrias react to light itself, not just to UV — visible light is enough to cause pain, blistering and scarring, and in erythropoietic protoporphyria the burning starts almost immediately on exposure. IPL and laser concentrate exactly what your skin cannot handle. This includes the small UV and LED lamps used to cure gel nails, which people rarely think of as a light treatment. If you have never been diagnosed but light has always hurt your skin in a way other people do not describe, that is worth raising with a doctor.

Sources: British Porphyria Association · European Porphyria Network · NHS · UK Porphyria Service (NHS Highly Specialised Services)

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Avoid over the affected area — other areas are fine.

Nothing goes over or near the surgical site while it is still healing — no wax, no heat, no needles, no products worked into the skin there. Away from the site the picture is different, and plenty of treatments are reasonable once you are past the first week or two of recovery. Because we cannot know where you were operated on, treat this as a restriction on the area itself rather than on the treatment everywhere, and get your surgeon to confirm when the site is closed and settled.

Sources: British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons · NHS · Royal College of Surgeons of England

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.

Being disabled is not a contraindication. The treatment itself is usually exactly the same treatment; what has to change is the room, the communication and the equipment — a step-free entrance, an adjustable couch, help transferring, a description of what is about to happen if you cannot see it, writing or BSL if you cannot hear it, plain language and a longer consultation if that is what works for you. Making those adjustments is a legal duty on the salon under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended in Northern Ireland. It is not a favour, and you do not have to ask for it as one.

Sources: Equality and Human Rights Commission · Mencap · RNIB · RNID · Scope · UK Parliament · UK Parliament (legislation.gov.uk)

Being disabled is not a contraindication. The treatment itself is usually exactly the same treatment; what has to change is the room, the communication and the equipment — a step-free entrance, an adjustable couch, help transferring, a description of what is about to happen if you cannot see it, writing or BSL if you cannot hear it, plain language and a longer consultation if that is what works for you. Making those adjustments is a legal duty on the salon under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended in Northern Ireland. It is not a favour, and you do not have to ask for it as one.

Sources: Equality and Human Rights Commission · Mencap · RNIB · RNID · Scope · UK Parliament · UK Parliament (legislation.gov.uk)

We have not found a source we trust for this combination yet. Rather than guess, we leave it blank. Ask your practitioner and your own doctor before you book.