In recent years, many cosmetic companies have sold nail polish with claims of being halal and wudu-friendly. Their target market certainly is Muslim women who want to look beautiful with painted nails but can still perform wudu.
Nail polish can be categorized as halal as long as the paint does not contain haram ingredients and is said to have the ability to be “breathable” which can allow oxygen and water to penetrate into the pores of the nail. So that it can be used for daily life without disturbing wudu and prayers.
One of the nail polish brands that market halal nail polish is 786 Cosmetics. 786 Cosmetics has obtained halal certification from KIC for their products that are claimed free from animal derivatives (100% vegan) and free from 11 harmful chemicals commonly found in typical nail polish. And most importantly, 786 products are claimed to have unique breathability that allows water to permeate through the nail polish, so these nails are categorized as halal nail polish and can be used during wudu.
However, on March 25, a Facebook user by the name of Areeba Rao revealed a surprising thing about this nail polish through a post. In the post, she said that she did a simple experiment to prove the halalness of these nail polish products.
To find out if 786 nail polish can absorb water, she smeared this nail polish on one side of a sheet of paper. When she put a few drops of water on the surface of the nail polish that has dried on the paper, you can see that the water doesn’t penetrate through the paper at all. The opposite side of the paper visibly remained dry even after she has rubbed the polished side and left the paper with water for several hours.
From these experiments, it was proven that water could not penetrate the surface of this nail polish at all. The question arises whether this nail polish is really halal and safe to use when performing ablution.
It seems that other users also agree with the doubts about the halalness of this nail polish. One argues that ablution is acceptable if water can run over the surface of the nails and not just a few minutes drops reaching your nails. So even though it is claimed to be halal, breathable, permeable, it is still considered invalid to perform wudu with any nail polish.
In the comments column, a user named Aqsa Farooq said that the halal claim submitted by this brand means it is halal in terms of ingredients, namely there is no animal-derived in it but it does not make it water permeable.
If you have doubts about using nail polish when taking wudu, then it’s a good idea not to use it at all. Or you can use a peel-off nail polish that can be easily removed before going to perform ablution.
