UA-145931898-1

Professional Shellac Manicures in Oslo - Find Your Perfect Salon Now!

Comments · 346 Views

Lac naturally has a red-orange tint that is somewhat removed during the refining process. Still, the final shellac product is not entirely clear and must be mixed with sodium hypochlorite—pure bleach—to remove residual color. The resulting white powder is preferred for cosmetics over t

Shellac is a natural glue and clear coating. It was previously used in dentistry to make dentures and other products, and also as a coating on drug tablets. It's not often used for these purposes anymore because it ages overtime.

 

People sometimes use shellac for tooth sensitivity and other conditions, but there's no good scientific evidence to support these uses.

 

Don't confuse medicinal shellac with shellac wood finishes, which are poisonous.

Lac is secreted by female lac bugs, most commonly of the species Kerria lacca. The bugs are actually parasitical and can be hosted by more than 300 species of trees throughout India, Thailand, China, and Mexico.2 Among these trees are those in the pea family, Indian jujubes, soapberries, hibiscus species, and the Barbados nut. Today, about 90% of lac comes from palash (Butea monosperma), ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), and kusum (Schleichera) trees.3

 

The lac bugs suck sap from the bark, knowingly feeding to death, while simultaneously laying up to 1,000 eggs over a five-week period.4 The sap undergoes a chemical transformation in their bodies so that when it's secreted, it hardens on contact with the air and creates a protective shell around the eggs. That hard shell is what's harvested to make shellac.

 

Plantation workers cut off entire chunks of branches coated in the stuff—the branches are a product themselves, called sticklac—and send them to refineries to be scraped off, ground down, and screened to remove dead insects and wood debris.

 

After rinsing, drying, being melted into a liquid, and drying again, the amorphous substance is liquified using a solvent (usually ethyl alcohol).

 

Lac naturally has a red-orange tint that is somewhat removed during the refining process. Still, the final shellac product is not entirely clear and must be mixed with sodium hypochlorite—pure bleach—to remove residual color. The resulting white powder is preferred for cosmetics over the original red-orange lac.

 

Environmental Impact

The environmental impact of lac manufacturing has been compared to that of silk. It's what happens after the lac is harvested that has the greatest effects.

 

The ethyl alcohol often used to liquify shellac is considered a volatile organic compound.5 VOCs are bad for the environment because they act as greenhouse gases, and the production of ethanol—in particular—has been linked to large-scale habitat destruction.6

 

Is Shellac Vegan?

Traditional shellac is not considered vegan as it exploits lac bugs for their lacquer-like secretions.

 

However, the glossiness of shellac is sometimes replicated through chemical processes and still marketed as shellac even though it doesn't come from insects. For instance, the nail polish brand CND has patented a gel-polish hybrid called shellac that's inspired by the shine and resiliency of the natural resin but is instead made of solvents, monomers, and polymers.

Visit here:- shellac i oslo

Comments