Nail salon

A nail salon or nail bar is a specialty beauty salon establishment that primarily offers nail care services such as manicures, pedicures, and nail enhancements. Often, nail salons also offer skin care services. Manicures are also offered by general beauty salons, spas, and hotels. People who work at nail salons are usually called nail technicians, manicurists, or nailists.

A nail salon manicure.

Nail salons offer a variety of options for nail care, examples which include acrylics, silk or fiberglass wraps, French manicures, polish, and pedicures. Some nail salons offer one-stop beauty services. In addition to nail services, one-stop nail salons offer facial treatments, waxing, and skin care.

Generally, those working in nail salons are referred to as nail technicians. In some areas throughout the United States, nail technicians must hold formal, state-recognized qualifications in order to be able to work at nail salons.

Currently, the industry estimates that almost 40% of nail salon technicians in the US are Vietnamese women. The highest density of Vietnamese nail technicians is in California, where approximately 59-80% of nail technicians are of Vietnamese descent.[1] The majority of these women are Vietnamese immigrants.

The prevalence of Vietnamese women in the nail salon industry dates back to the Vietnam war, which saw large numbers of Vietnamese immigrants arriving in the United States. Tippi Hedren, a Hollywood actress, was involved in a charity which provided vocations to Vietnamese refugee women. The goal of the charity was to help its target demographic integrate into U.S. society. Hedren invited her personal manicurist to teach a group of 20 Vietnamese women the craft of doing nails.[2][3] The training required for nail salon work is short and inexpensive, the work itself does not require high English proficiency, and the work hours tend to be flexible enough to allow immigrant mothers to attend to family obligations. During this era, the costs associated with opening and operating nail salons were low.

Nail care services
A Havana nail salon.

Nail salons offer the following services:

Wages and working conditions

Nail salon wages and working conditions in New York City, a major center for nail salons in North America, are poor. In May 2015, an investigation by the New York State Department of Labor, which had been tipped off by a New York Times investigation, had been productive but was incomplete.[4] The manicure workforce consists mostly of recent immigrants from East Asia: many have limited proficiency in English and some are illegal immigrants. Many of the nearly 2,000 nail salons in the New York City area are owned by Koreans, while Hispanics are on the bottom.[4] On May 10, 2015, after the publication of The New York Times investigation, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of an emergency multi-agency Enforcement Task Force to address the numerous problems exposed by the investigation.[5]

Working conditions

There is some evidence to suggest that nail salon workers are subjected to potentially unjust, hazardous working conditions.[6] In surveys conducted on Vietnamese-American nail salon workers, many responses suggested that the work environment may cause negative health consequences. According to Standard 62-1989: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Quality of the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration, Air Conditioning Engineers, adequate supply of outdoor air should be about 20 cubic feet per minute per occupant. This necessitates multiple pathways for air to enter and exit the room. Such pathways include, but are not limited to, windows and doors. The study revealed that one-third of the surveyed nail salons had only one single door for ventilation with no secondary air pathway.[1]

Due to the nature of salon work, many nail technicians are required to wear masks and gloves. Other surveys conducted on similar worker populations revealed that 90% of workers wore masks and 70% wore gloves to work.[7]

Common responses by interviewed workers included:[7]

  • "We know chemicals are dangerous, the owner tells us to wear mask"
  • "Says that chemicals are harmful so always need to keep the ventilator on and close lids, covers of chemicals surely."
  • "Because I am young and pregnant and I don't want to breathe in the dust and chemicals – I'm afraid that it might affect my child later on"

Chemical exposures

Nail technicians use beauty products like nail polish, nail polish removers, artificial nails, adhesives, and disinfectants throughout the day. Compared to the average individual, they are exposed to the chemical ingredients the products contain on a much higher magnitude. Some of the more potent chemicals are toluene, formaldehyde, ethyl methacrylate (EMA), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Nearly all chemicals are reported to be eye, skin, nose, and throat irritants. Some chemicals, like toluene and dibutyl phthalates, are known endocrine disruptors. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with endocrine system, which is regulated by hormones. These hormonal disruptors can potentially lead to tumors, birth defects, reproductive harm, neurological, developmental, and immune degradation. Research has suggested that endocrine disruptors pose the greatest risk during prenatal and postnatal development.[8]

The following table is taken from the survey Results from a Community-based Occupational Health Survey Of Vietnamese-American Nail Salon Workers.[7] It lists the chemical ingredients found in nail salon products and associates them with potential health effects. Note that this is not an exhaustive list of all chemical compounds found for all nail products.

Nail productsCommon chemical ingredientsPotential health effects
Nail polishethyl acetateirritation eyes, skin, nose, throat; dermatitis
butyl acetateirritation eyes, skin, upper respiratory system; headache
ethyl alcoholirritation eyes, skin, nose; headache, CNS syndrome; cough; liver damage; anemia; reproductive effects
isopropyl alcoholirritation eyes, nose, throat; CNS syndrome, headache; dry, crackin skin
acetoneirritation eyes, nose throat; headache; CNS syndrome; dermatitis
methyl ethyl ketonesee above
tolueneirritation eyes, nose throat; headache; CNS syndrome; dermatitis; dilated pupils, lacrimation; anxiety, muscle fatigue, insomnia; paresthesia; liver, kidney damage
xyleneirritation eyes, nose, throat; headache; CNS syndrome; corneal damage; dermititis; reproductive effects
dibutyl phthalateirritation eyes, upper respiratory system, stomach; reproductive effects (fetotoxic)
nitrocelluloseunknown
tosylamide/formaldehyde resindermatitis
titanium dioxidelung fibrosis; potential occupational carcinogen
nail polish removersacetonesee above
ethyl acetatesee above
butyl acetatesee above
artificial nailsethyl methacrylateirritation eyes, skin, nose, throat; allergic contact dermatitis; respiratory sensitizer (asthmagen)
methyl methacrylatesame as ethyl methacrylate
butyl methacrylatesame as ethyl methacrylate
methacrylic acidirritation eyes, skin, nose throat; allergic contact dermatitis
methyl ethyl ketonesee above
Nail tips adhesivesethyl cyanoacrylateirritation eyes, skin, nose, throat; allergic contact dermatitis
artificial nail removersacetonesee above
N-methyl pyrrolidonedermatitis, reproductive effects
acetonitrileirritation eyes, nose throat; asphyxia; nausea, vomiting; chest pain; CNS syndrome; convulsions; in animals: liver, kidney damage

Organizations and coalitions, such as the National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance, address worker rights and exposure concerns faced by nail technicians. These movements provide platforms for conversation regarding occupational safety and health, which is a part of environmental justice.

Relevant policies and regulations

State level
Enacted in 2005, this senate bill requires the full disclosure of all ingredients of products sold in California to the California Department of Health Services. In addition, if the substances are known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, the products will be subject to investigation by the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control.[9]
  • California Proposition 65 (1986)
Enacted in 1986, this proposition requires the state of California to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. All California businesses with ten or more employees must also provide "clear and reasonable" warning before exposing any individual to a chemical on the aforementioned list.[10]

Federal level
Enacted in 1976, this federal act provides the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) the authority to regulate certain chemical substances.[11] Currently, cosmetics are excluded from regulation under the TSCA but there have been campaign efforts that hope to extend the EPA's regulatory jurisdiction to include cosmetics.
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References
  1. Quach, Thu; Kim-Dung Nguyen; Phuong-An Doan-Billings; Linda Okahara; Cathyn Fan; Peggy Reynolds (March 1, 2008). "A Preliminary Survey of Vietnamese Nail Salon Workers in Alameda County, California". Journal of Community Health. 33 (5): 336–343. doi:10.1007/s10900-008-9107-7. PMID 18478317.
  2. Morris, Regan (3 May 2015). "How manicures saved Vietnam refugees". BBC News – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  4. Sarah Maslin Nir (May 7, 2015). "The Price of Nice Nails Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse, The New York Times has found". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  5. Sarah Maslin Nir (May 11, 2015). "Cuomo Orders Emergency Measures to Protect Workers at Nail Salons". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  6. Sarah Maslin Nir (May 8, 2015). "Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers Some ingredients used in nail products have been tied to cancer, miscarriages, lung diseases and other ailments. The industry has long fought regulations". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2015. They come in usually with breathing problems, some symptoms similar to an allergy, and also asthma symptoms — they cannot breathe,” he said during a break between patients this winter. “Judging from the symptoms with these women, it seems that they are either smokers, secondhand smokers or asthma patients, but they are none of the above. They work for nail salons.
  7. Roelofs, Cora; Lenore S. Azaroff; Christina Holcroft; Huong Nguyen; Tam Doan (August 1, 2008). "Results from a Community-based Occupational Health Survey of Vietnamese-American Nail Salon Workers". Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. 10 (4): 353–361. doi:10.1007/s10903-007-9084-4. PMID 17940905.
  8. "Endocrine Disruptors". National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  9. (PDF) http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_0451-0500/sb_484_bill_20051007_chaptered.pdf. Retrieved 9 April 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. http://www.oehha.org/prop65/law/P65law72003.html. Retrieved 9 April 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. "FDsys - Browse USCODE". Retrieved 9 April 2014.
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