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THE GARDEN GROVE JOURNAL
THURSDAY, AUG. 22, 20 1 3
NAILS
Safety of workers at issue in nail industry
F R O M PA G E 1
BY DOUG MORINO ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Graduates of Advance Beauty College in Garden Grove celebrate during their commencement ceremony last month.
BY THE NUMBERS $420 Average weekly income for nail technicians
72 percent of that comes from sales commissions
$ 1 9.1 5 Average price of a basic manicure
$31.69 Average price for a basic pedicure Source: NAILS Magazine, 20 1 2-20 1 3 Industry Statistics report
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Grove campus. Many graduates, who complete courses requiring 400-plus hours of work, will take licensing exams before moving on to nail salons. “I see it as a very viable profession and an industry that changes lives,” said Tam Nguyen, who co-owns Advance Beauty College with his sister, Linh. “I think it’s an industry that many people still don’t know about. It’s a story that is just starting to get told.” The Vietnamese community’s deep roots with nail salons begins with the Vietnam War and actress Tippi Hedren, who met with refugees fleeing the country in a camp near Sacramento after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Hedren was working as an international relief coordinator with the organization Food for the Hungry. Twenty women – many of them teachers, housewives and business owners in their native country – noticed her nails in the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Birds.” Hedren brought in her manicurist to teach the women the art. She then sponsored them through school and licensing. An industry inside the culture was born. “They were learning as they went,” said Jan Nordstrom Arnold, co-founder of Creative Nail Design, a beauty supply company in Vista. “I think the Vietnamese people should be so proud of what they have done and proud to be in this industry. They haven’t received the respect they deserve.” To honor her contribution to the industry, a scholarship has been set up in Hedren’s name. The Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship Fund is administered through the Beauty Changes Lives Foundation and Creative Nail Design. It supports professional nail education for students attending schools such as Advance Beauty College, which has graduated 30,000 students. The school was started by Nguyen’s parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam and went on to open nail salons in West Covina and Pasadena. Nguyen’s mother, Kien, was among the first women to open a Vietnamese-owned nail business in the U.S., in the late ’70s. His father, Diem, a former navy commander for the South Vietnamese Army, saw the potential for success and enrolled in beauty school. The couple opened Advance Beauty College in 1987. “My dad is a visionary, and he could see that the profession was growing,” Nguyen said. “He could see the nail profession was perfect for Vietnamese – we are very good with our hands, we’re very hardworking, and we’re very entrepreneurial.” Trang Ly, 29, an Advance Beauty College student, has dreams of opening her own makeup, manicure and henna tattoo salon. “I decided to follow my dreams and this is my stepping stone,” said the Garden Grove resident, who is drawn to the artistry of painting nails. “The nail industry is making a big comeback thanks to Insta-
JOSHUA SUDOCK, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tam Nguyen, left, co-owner of Advance Beauty College, beams during the graduation ceremony last month.
KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A student practices applying nail polish recently at Advance Beauty College, a school that was started by the parents of Tam and Linh Nguyen.
“It’s easier money, and the hours are flexible so I can work on the weekends. During the week I can go to college and study something else.” HIEU LUU, 20, GARDEN GROVE
“It’s a job that is easier to take a class in and make money. At this college, I study theory and practical work to get better.” HUE HONG, 33, LONG BEACH
A student practices a manicure at the school’s Garden Grove campus. Those who enroll at Advance Beauty College complete courses requiring 400-plus hours of work.
“My family has been in the nail industry for a while, and my sister has been here for 1 0 years. I imagined doing IT or computer programming, but my sister has a salon and wants me to help her.” KHOA DANG, 23, GARDEN GROVE
gram and YouTube. You get to express yourself.” “Many Vietnamese immigrate here with minimal English skills, minimal dollars and mouths to feed,” said Mike Vo, president of the Westminster-based Vietnamese American Nail Association. “One way to make money is nails.”
Along with Hedren’s influence, the growth of the nail salon industry is tied to other factors: economics and networking, Nguyen said. “There is no Vietnamese newcomer to the U.S. that doesn’t have a family member or close friend in the nail industry,” Nguyen said.
“That’s a huge referral – to say someone who is in my family or a close friend can get me a job right away in a nail salon. “That’s the first thing you want when you come to a new country – to make money.” The nail industry grew to a record $7.47 billion in
“I wanted to find a job. I just applied here. Before, I was a manager of a handicraft store in Vietnam, where we sold things like garden accessories. I tried to do that here, but it’s hard.”
As the nail salon industry grows, so do concerns about health hazards faced by workers and their clients. Hours for a salon worker can be long, wages small and the work arduous. Research and reporting by the California Health Nail Salon Collaborative shows that workers often experience physical problems ranging from allergies, skin irritation and chronic pain to respiratory problems and cancer from working with nail products – many of which contain what is dubbed the “toxic trio” of ingredients: toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate, or DBP. Compounding the problem, experts say, is limited access to medical benefits. “As with any work environment, there’s a level of danger and risk that people are exposed to,” said Duyen Tran of the California Health Nail Salon Collaborative. “But because this workforce deals with nail-care products and are exposed to chemicals on a daily basis, it puts workers at greater risk for health dangers. “Manufacturers can use whatever chemicals they want, and disclosure laws aren’t very tight,” Tran added. So groups like the Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative are putting pressure on lawmakers to enact stronger safety regulations for nail-care products and better inspection of nail salons.
LUAN NGUYEN, 48, GARDEN GROVE
2012, according to NAILS Magazine. “It will still flourish at a very healthy rate,” said Vo, president of the Vietnamese American Nail Association. “Even in a depressed economy, men and women still want to pamper themselves. “
KEVIN LARA, THE REGISTER
A student uses a dummy hand to practice painting nails at Advance Beauty College. Many nail products contain what is dubbed a “toxic trio.”