Two hours into a set of enhancements in a guest cabin, the stew doing turndown next door gets a headache and the chief mate asks why the whole starboard passage smells of solvent. The AC is recirculating your workspace through the entire accommodation. This is not a cosmetic problem. It is a crew health and fire problem, and it is yours.
The Products You Actually Handle
| Product | Hazard |
|---|---|
| Acetone | Highly flammable; vapour irritates eyes, nose and lungs; dries skin badly |
| Monomer (EMA) | Strong vapour; irritant; sensitiser; flammable |
| Nail dust | Fine respirable particulate from filing — wear a mask, use extraction |
| Cyanoacrylate adhesives | Fumes irritate eyes and airways; bonds skin instantly |
| Isopropyl alcohol | Flammable |
| Aerosols (hairspray, setting spray) | Flammable, pressurised |
| Tints / PPD | Potent sensitiser (see the patch-test lesson) |
The Yacht Problem
A yacht is a small sealed space with recirculating air conditioning. Vapour and dust do not stay in your treatment area — they reach guest cabins, crew mess and the bridge. Exposure that a busy salon ashore would dilute through open doors and proper extraction simply builds up onboard. Long-term exposure to solvent vapour and nail dust is a genuine occupational health issue for you and for the crew who live in that air.
- Ventilate: open a hatch or port where sea state allows.
- Use local extraction (a dust-extraction table or a fan drawing away from your breathing zone) if you do any filing.
- Wear a mask for filing and dust work; gloves for solvent work.
- Keep everything capped. An open acetone bottle evaporates continuously.
- Take breaks in fresh air. Headaches, dizziness and nausea are exposure symptoms — not "just a long day."
- If you cannot ventilate, change the treatment. Decline the acrylics; do the manicure.
Fire
Acetone, alcohol and aerosols are flammable. No candles, no naked flames, no hot appliances near open solvent. Aerosol cans must not be stowed near heat. Declare your flammables to the captain or ETO and stow them where the vessel's safety management system says they go — not in a guest cabin drawer.
COSHH and Safety Data Sheets
Under a COSHH-style regime you must know what you are using and what it can do:
- Obtain the safety data sheet (SDS) for every product you carry.
- Keep the SDS file accessible onboard — the medical officer needs it if someone reacts, and the captain needs it for the vessel's chemical inventory.
- Read the sections that matter: hazards, first aid, fire, handling and storage, exposure controls, disposal.
- Keep products in original labelled containers. Never decant acetone into an unlabelled bottle.
Storage in Motion
Upright, capped, latched, in a lipped locker, away from heat, secured for sea. A bottle of acetone loose on a shelf during a passage is a spill on the interior and a fire risk at the same time.
Onboard Notes
- The AC recirculates. Your vapour is everyone's vapour.
- Mask for dust, gloves for solvent, caps on bottles, hatch open.
- Headache or dizziness means exposure. Stop and get air.
- SDS for everything, kept accessible. Flammables declared and stowed properly.
- Cannot ventilate? Change the treatment.
- Preparatory study only. Nothing here qualifies you to treat a guest. Beauty and nail work requires an accredited vocational qualification and professional insurance.