Saman Ali

Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM — Nail polish or nail color is a fashion statement. Women all over the world have been painting their nails for over 5,000 years.

According to the nail color history, Indian women were the first to color their nails using “Henna;” the color was deep red and stayed for a long time.

Later Chinese women started painting their nails. But only a few privileged ones were allowed to do it. Chinese only let females of high social status to color their nails as it was a symbol to show wealth. They used bees’ wax, Arabic gum mixed with roses or orchids to get the right color.

Egyptian queens Nefertiti and Cleopatra always used red color on their nails. They thought that bright crimson red showed more power and confidence. Anyone who copied them was punished. Later these two most beautiful and powerful queens allowed common women to use paler shades.

Nefertiti and Cleopatra both used Henna.

It is interesting to know that nail polish became popular in the 1920s when people started buying cars. Everyone wanted to buy a shiny bright-colored car and this gave an idea to a small French cosmetics company to use the base of car paint for nail enamel.

The first modern nail polish was launched in 1932 by Revlon. Later with the advent of colored motion pictures — posters of Rita Hayworth wearing a bright red lipstick and bright red nail polish became popular — common women became interested in painting their nails too.

Muslim women all over the world like other fashion conscious women want to color their nails. But the fact that the chemical used in the enamel does not let water pass through during shower or while performing “Wudu” to permeate has stopped many from painting their nails.

The nail color hardens on the surface and water cannot reach the nail bed. It is imperative that you remove the color before you perform Wudu for Salah.  Muslim women paint their nails after the last Salah to go to a party and remove it before Fajr prayers. This is not easy as sometimes the remover is finished and you are stuck with hard enamel on your nails. In the year 2009, a European cosmetics company Inglot launched breathable nail polish called O2M (Oxygen and Moisture).

It is said that Inglot used a polymer similar to the one used in contact lenses. It allows nails to get the water and moisture.

The maker was a polish pharmacist famous for inventing the video head cleaner. He later started his own cosmetics company at the end of the Cold War.

The rush to buy O2M in Islamic countries started in November, 2012 when an Islamic scholar Sheikh Mustafa Omar, Director of Education and Outreach at the Islamic Institute of Orange County, US, decided to do research on O2M and wrote about the experiment in his blog.

He performed a test with one of his students using coffee filters. When he used O2M in a coffee filter, the water went through. He declared that Muslim women can paint their nails with O2M as it allows water to reach the nail bed.

Sheherbano, a working mother, is not sure about using the breathable nail paint. “To me my prayers are more important than painting my nails. I would always have this fear that may be I am doing something wrong. So I would rather stay away from it,” she said.

Rana is a teenager who is very fond of colors and is usually seen in Dhahran shopping mall buying and trying different brands of cosmetics.

She has used O2M and is quite happy with the result. “I can flaunt my nails everyday without feeling guilty,” she said.

“I am skeptical, I have been to the shop, opened and tried a few colors but I always come out without buying any. I find Henna better,” said Salma, a mother of three girls.

Young girls throng to this particular brand’s outlets in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Another interesting fact surrounding O2M is that many western women are also using it. They believe that unlike other nail colors which harm their nails and damage them, O2M is safe to use.

Nails can breathe through and can grow normally without becoming weak or gray.  The moisture and air is reaching their nails. Unfortunately, the maker himself died in February 2013, at the age of 57. A chemist and entrepreneur, he did not live enough to see how he revolutionized the world of glamor and color for many Muslim females in the years to come.

There are1.6 billion Muslims all over the world and many Muslim women are eager to give O2M a try.