Kmart fan shares go to fake nail kit after salon bungle causes near amputation
Scarred from an in-salon experience that could have led to an amputation, this Queensland mum is a devoted fan of Kmart’s press-on nail range.
Face & Body
Don't miss out on the headlines from Face & Body. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Kmart fan has revealed the reason why she exclusively uses fake nails from Kmart after an in-salon experience gave her a nasty infection that could have required the amputation of her right thumb.
Queensland woman, Beth Jozey said that after getting acrylic nails for 11 years, she went to a new salon in early 2020 after fears Queensland could go into lockdown.
Want to stream your news? Flash lets you stream 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer available for a limited time only >
Although the interiors were “clean-looking” and “beautiful,” in hindsight she noticed the technicians would reuse tools without sanitising the equipment. Despite this, Ms Jozey didn’t feel the need to complain.
“So my best friend was sitting next to me and they would use a drill bit on her and then immediately swap it over to me,” she said in a three-part TikTok video.
“But I didn’t really think anything of it at the time.
“I didn’t want to be the kind of person that was like: ‘oh excuse me, can you please wash that’”
Towards the evening of the next day she noticed her fingers began to “really ache,” in particular her thumb. At the time, she put the problem down to a stray bit of nail glue, or just a “tight” application of the acrylic nails which can temporarily irritate the nail bed.
Two days later, her symptoms began to worsen.
“I went to pick up a mug of coffee off my mum’s outdoor table and I literally dropped it because the pressure of grabbing the mug on my thumb,” Ms Jozey continued.
Noticing her sore thumb, her mum encouraged her to go to hospital.
While driving to the emergency room, Ms Jozey began developing symptoms like a high fever and nausea. A blood test would later reveal that the young mum was suffering a “severe infection”.
“They immediately transferred me to the other hospital for surgery, then and there. They tried to drain it with a syringe but wasn’t having it, it was too clogged, there was too much of an infection,” she said.
Although the surgery was successful, the doctors gave Ms Jozey a sobering warning of what could have happened.
“They said that if I had left it any longer to go to the hospital, it would have gotten into my bone, into my bloodstream properly and I would have ended up losing my thumb,” she said.
The scare was enough for Ms Jozey to swear off getting her acrylics applied at a nail salon. It also led her to discover Kmart’s $5 press-on nail range, which she says lasts her for around two weeks.
While she now opts for DIY fake nails, Ms Jozey issued a hygiene warning to her viewers.
“If you ever see them get grabbing equipment from another station, you need to be like ‘Home girl, can you please sanitise that?’” she said.
“Because you might lose your thumb like I did.”
Originally published as Kmart fan shares go to fake nail kit after salon bungle causes near amputation