Nail salons: The next toxic legacy?

By Laura Waxmann, writer for Vietnam Reporting Project

For many women, walking into a nail salon does magic — it’s an inexplicably exhilarating experience which can only be matched by a few, equally rewarding activities such as shoe-shopping and wedding planning.

In fact, “getting our nails done,” whether that means indulging in a manicure, pedicure or both, makes many women feel feminine and attractive. It also feeds into the beauty craze that’s had American women spellbound since the advent of self-tanner.

While I admit to being guilty of having received a couple of manicures in my lifetime, I have always shook my head at friends who outright refused to wear open-toed shoes without getting their feet polished first.

And while many of us women swear by the motto “pain is beauty,” the sad and sobering truth is that too few of us  realize how our desire to “look good” comes at the expense  of others’ health and well-being.

If we were to see past the hot pinks, corals, baby blues and berry reds in the nail polish world — and put ourselves on the other side of the beauty chair — we would see a whole  industry of women who are putting their health at risk to    satisfy our hunger for perfection.

According to a 2009 report published by the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, nail salon services in California have tripled over the past two decades.

And when profiling a typical Bay Area nail salon, the demographic component is often the same.

A 2008-09 survey of industry statistics conducted by Nails Magazine estimated a majority of Vietnamese nail salon workers range between the ages of 31 to 35.

“We estimate that a significant number of the workers are recent immigrants, female and of reproductive age,” said Julia Liou, founder of the Collaborative. “(Nail salons) are a huge economic cornerstone for the Vietnamese community.”

While the exact number of Vietnamese women that make up approximately 115,000 licensed manicurists in California remains unknown, the Collaborative estimates that Vietnamese women comprise as much as 80 percent of the Nail Salon workforce.

According to Liou, the Vietnamese dominance of the industry can be attributed to a recent influx of Vietnamese immigrants, as well as the “short and inexpensive training” for a career in the nail industry.

A 2006 report entitled “Vietnamese Manicurists: Are Immigrants Displacing Natives or Finding New Nails to Polish?”, illustrates the changing face of the industry in the past few decades:

“The composition of manicurists changed dramatically, with the proportion Vietnamese rising from 10 percent in 1987 to 50 percent in 2002. The total number of manicurists also increased substantially over the years of our sample, from 35,500 in 1987 to 66,800 in 2002.”

“You don’t have to speak English to carry out your job,” added Liou. “It’s a pretty easy entry point for Vietnamese immigrants into the U.S. workforce.”

While Nail Salons jobs may create a sense of community, comfort, and opportunity for many Vietnamese women, they also expose them to highly toxic fumes that oftentimes result in acute health problems.

Among a number of potentially harmful chemicals found in nail polish, polish remover, and tool disinfectants are formaldehyde, toluene, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP).

While formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, studies conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have linked DBP to an increase in menstrual disorders, miscarriages, as well as reduced gestation and delivery rates.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has determined that exposure toluene, found in nail polish, can result in birth defects, as well as adversely affect mental abilities and growth in children.

While the long-term health impacts of these chemicals on women in the nail salon work force are not fully understood, complaints about acute health problems give reason for concern, says Dr. Thu Quach, a research scientist for the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of California.

In 2008, Quach led a pilot study in which 201 Vietnamese nail technicians from 74 different salons were interviewed about their work and health.

“It was our first entry into researching this workforce,” said Quach. “We were trying to get a feel for the workforce — we knew there were issues and wanted to document them in a systematic way.”

Quach reported that 50 percent of the women who participated in the survey had concerns about their health.

“That’s a really high percentage,” said Quach.”Anytime you have workers complaining about persistent and acute health problems, there’s an issue to be concerned about.”

According to Quach, most of the worker’s health complaints stemmed from irritation of the skin,throat and eyes.

“There’s been speculative talk about adverse reproductive outcomes, but that’s still to be determined,” added Quach, who is currently involved in a second, ongoing study involving 80 workers from 20 different salons. The study will examine the health impacts of organic solvents used in the nail industry.

While there may be a concern, the survey showed that there is also a reluctance to speak-out against, or even leave, the industry, explained Liou.

“I think that they have a sense that maybe the chemicals would cause adverse health consequences, but they feel powerless to change work place conditions practices,” said Liou. “Its definitely a social justice issue because they are having to choose between their health and livelihood.”

Both Quach and Liou believe that exposure to Agent Orange in the homeland may be a be factor when studying the health of Vietnamese salon workers now living in the United States.

“It’s often not a straightforward answer — a lot of time it’s multifactorial,” said Quach. “With the Vietnamese population, their homeland exposure to Agent Orange may put them at a different risk than someone who has never been exposed to that.”

“There’s definitely an irony,” said Liou of the legacy of toxic chemicals that many Vietnamese women are still confronted with — even after leaving Vietnam.