As Europe's ban on a common chemical in gel nail polish goes into effect, should you start skipping the salon?

The European Union instituted a ban on trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide (TPO) starting Sept. 1, 2025 — meaning that gel nail polishes with TPO can no longer be sold or used by nail technicians in Europe. Salons will even have to dispose of existing polishes containing TPO, cosmetic chemist and nail industry expert Doug Schoon said in a statement shared with TODAY.com.

But gel nail polishes containing TPO are still available in the U.S., and it's unlikely that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will ban them at the federal level, cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos tells TODAY.com. That's because the European Union takes a different approach from the U.S. when it come

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