Nail Polish and a Painter's Hands

Nail polish, and any similarly non-porous substance covering the skin — some gum, some paint — prevents water from reaching what lies beneath it, and so must be removed entirely, one hundred per cent, before ghusl. This matters especially for a woman wishing to make ghusl before going away on holiday, since the polish still has to come off first regardless. The same holds for anyone whose work regularly coats the hands in some substance — a painter working constantly in paint, a baker whose hands are always in dough — and here the rule already given applies without alteration: should such a person, having taken care to wash properly, step out of the shower and only then notice that a smear of dried paint or dough is still stuck to an arm, it is enough to remove it and wash that one part alone. The whole ghusl is not renewed for it.