Who Runs The Nail Shops

Why are then many nail salons run by Vietnamese people?

One woman's touch on an industry that will last lifetimes.

My human relationship with getting my nails done has come up a long mode since I was first dragged into a blast salon by my insistent female parent. The idea of sitting in a massage chair while strangers cleaned and trimmed my feet was utterly repulsive. Who did I think I was, that I could sit down there and allow strangers buzz around me, cleaning this or that? The visual was nauseating to me.

Every time we went, I told myself that the nail technicians didn't want me there, and that I was inconveniencing them. "It'south their job," my mom would say. "They have a special license to do this, and they know what they're doing."

Communication with strangers was ever difficult and awkward for me, so it was hard not to get sucked into a stiff silence with someone who is six inches away from your face.

Information technology'due south simultaneously foreign and intimate.

The more I was compelled to go by family or friends, the more I realized it wasn't so bad. Eventually, I learned that No, the nail technicians don't hate me (really they are very friendly and pleasant), and Yeah, getting a manicure/pedicure combo is actually an splendid form of self-care. These days, I actually expect forwards to my trips to the nail salon. I have a favorite nail tech, and since it'south a personal service rendered upon my torso, I tip heavily. I try to tip adequately in most cases, only for people who have to affect me and my trunk — I tip more than.

Even though I changed my feelings virtually nail salons, 1 thing remained consistent.

The Question.

Whether they were in Texas, California, Florida, or Georgia, there was always the Question. The Question that people were afraid to ask, that might sound racist or prejudiced, the Question that allowed comedians to crack stereotypical jokes, and the Question that I wanted to ask but had no thought who to ask:

Why are well-nigh nail salons owned and operated by Vietnamese people?

It is one of those strangely constant characteristics of my reality. It is so rare for me to meet a nail technician who isn't of Vietnamese descent, just information technology's non like I'm going to ask this question out loud, right?

"Why are so many of you lot Vietnamese?" Good grief. I wouldn't dare say this out loud.

Thank you to the internet, I was able to observe an answer to this question I had swallowed for the improve office of my life.

The reply is actress Dakota Johnson's grandmother, also extra Tippi Hedren. You may or may not know that Tippi Hedren was one of Alfred Hitchcock's tormented blondes, famously starring in The Birds. You may or may not also know that'southward she's 91 years old and lives at the Shambala Preserve outside of Los Angeles where she cares for exotic wild cats.

In 1975, she was an international food coordinator for Food for the Hungry, a relief organisation working to assist Vietnamese refugees after the Fall of Saigon. She met with women living in a refugee camp outside of Sacramento who needed a way to survive in this new country after losing everything. She focused on helping them discover vocations, or any quickly-trainable occupation. But then the women saw her nails, and complimented her on their dazzler. Hedren'south hands were expertly manicured, which was non common at the time.

At that time, a manicure went for around fifty dollars. That corporeality comes to a whopping $250 in today(2021) coin. That's admittedly insane; it's clear that but rich people or famous actresses could afford it. Today, yous can get a manicure and pedicure for less than $25, depending on where you lot become and how fancy it is.

Assessing their involvement and realizing that boom technicians don't need to know a ton of English for the job, she flew her personal manicurist out to provide this training. History was fabricated, and countless lives were impacted. Those refugees were empowered to open their ain businesses, provide for their families, and gain a powerful foothold in the American economic system.

This story was remarkable to me for and then many reasons, but mostly because it offered a glimpse of the consequences of the Vietnam War from the perspective of the Vietnamese. Granted, this perspective was divided between the Communist North and the Autonomous South that fought and lost alongside the U.S., just it is withal grossly underrepresented in American media.

There is a good reason for this — much of the U.S.'s involvement is rife with atrocities and war crimes of the worst nature. It makes sense that the American people wouldn't be interested in hearing from victims besides their own drafted sons.

Therefore, most of the film and media about the Vietnam War is told from the American point of view. We are all familiar with the immature, reluctant, and innocent soldier itch through the gluey jungles of Vietnam. Besides minor glimpses from the soldier's eyes, we never hear the perspective of the people who endured the devastation and violence of such a long conflict.

Recently, I read a few novels that took place during and subsequently the Vietnam War. Their effectiveness is non powered with shock value; rather, it'due south enhanced by the personal reflections of the writers themselves, whose ain lives were irreversibly altered by the state of war.

I learned so much from these books, and that's why they're so important. Understanding our impact on the world, be it deliberate or unintentional, is a meaningful fashion to glean insight into the thoughts of others. It helps us develop empathy, and therefore operate in a more considerate and thoughtful manner.

After all, don't we all wish to operate in a way that we can freely expect dorsum upon without flinching in shame?

The books, for your reference:

The Refugees, by Nguyễn Thanh Việt

The Sympathizer, by Nguyễn Thanh Việt

The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

A more in-depth article and some photos of Tippi Hedren and her kickoff group of nail technicians:

https://zionsvillemonthlymagazine.com/tippi-hedren-the-godmother-of-the-vietnamese-nail-manufacture/