18 April 2013

BEIRUT: A large sign advertising halal nail polish hangs in the window of the Inglot beauty shop on Hamra’s main street.

The international cosmetics company, which opened a branch in Lebanon over a year ago, was the first to make use of water-permeable technology in nail enamel, which resulted in the O2M breathable nail polish collection.

Inglot developed the product around three years ago. But over the past six months, the company and Islamic scholars have sought to prove O2M is the first nail polish that can be worn during Muslim prayer.

As a result the nail polish has become a best seller in Inglot’s branches here and across the Middle East, according to the manager of the Hamra store, Maha Morley-Kirk. “It’s been tremendously popular across the Middle East,” she said. “We get people who can’t believe it, they’re so grateful, they’re in absolute bewilderment.”

The product comes in 68 different colors, including metallics, mattes and neutrals. This summer collection includes bright oranges and pinks, as well as cobalt, moss green and sky blue.

On the branch’s Facebook page, people have posted comments asking if bottles can be shipped to Egypt. And the store sometimes gets customers who stock up, buying 10, 20 or 30 bottles at a time, Morley-Kirk said.

Even local beauty salons have requested the O2M polishes from Inglot because clients were asking specifically for this product.

Inglot and several Islamic religious scholars deemed the polish halal because it allows water to seep through the enamel and touch the natural nail. This is essential for the woudou – a ritual washing that requires Muslims to clean their arms, hands and faces before performing prayers.

Many Islamic scholars believe anything that prevents water from touching those body parts, whether a piece of wax or dried paint, must be removed. That means women must remove any waterproof cosmetics.

But O2M uses the same chemical compound found in contact lenses, which allows water and oxygen to permeate the surface of the polish.

Claims that O2M is halal have been based on thorough research, in part by Islamic scholars such as Sheikh Mustafa Umar.

One of Umar’s students conducted an experiment whereby she applied typical nail polish and O2M to coffee filters, according to an article by the sheikh. Water was able to seep through the O2M and wet a second filter underneath. But water was not able to permeate the typical nail lacquer.

Umar, based in California, wrote in his article that one of the most common questions asked by Muslim women is whether or not they can wear nail polish. In Umar’s opinion, there is nothing inherently wrong about nail polish, but its waterproof nature prevents women from completing woudou.

For all those less concerned with what is deemed halal or haram, Inglot originally promoted the permeable polish as simply a healthier option with fewer harmful chemicals.

Despite the research, both Umar and the local Inglot branch have encountered their fair share of skeptics.

Morley-Kirk said it’s perfectly natural for people to take matters of religion seriously, and accordingly Inglot announced the halal label only after thorough testing.

And there isn’t a better litmus test for approval than the product’s massive success in Saudi Arabia, she said. “Of course it’s very, very important you don’t make a statement like they made without doing lots of research.”

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.