this is geared more toward the women members of DU. we've

[catmother]

had a lot of threads about illegals bringing down wages. i was wondering if there are any nail techs who were put out of business by the korean and vietnamese nail salons. in new york, they were all korean, here in phoenix, they're vietnamese. they charge way less and they work very fast. they are here legally.

comments?

[xultar]

1. Well if they are here legally then no problem. Volume is the name

of their game. That is why they can do it cheap.

No problem. Seems to me like they have the better business strategy. You snooze you lose.

[catmother]

2. i used the same american nail tech for 14 years. followed her

all around. she kept moving to different salons. she tried said that they use a cheaper product which is why they were masks. the last time she moved i said "that's it" so now i go to a vietnamese salon 5 minutes from my house.:)

[astonamous]

3. Interesting question and I don't know if you are kidding

My 21 year old son shares a house with 3 guys who happen to be gay and one of them happens to do mani's and pedi's. (a nail tech) He was commenting on the difference between him and some of the ladies he works with (Asian-Americans). He said that even though they are quicker, he has more clients because they prefer the work he does. I think they are all charging the same amount though. The business is owned by one of the ladies.

I bite my nails.

[catmother]

4. they charge less than the regular salons. some of the techs

are also vietnamese men. it would be nice though to have a gay man do my nails and toes. the conversation would be better. many of these techs speak very little english. :shrug:

on edit: why would i kid about it? i know one salon that my american girl worked at had a fit when a vietnamese place opened 3 stores down.

[Quantess]

5. interesting response

I have heard that women love getting hair and nails done by men. For some reason, some women trust a man to do the job over a woman, and I wonder why. Maybe they imagine that a man knows what will make a woman look appealing to other men? Or maybe they just enjoy the male attention, even though it's only to their hair and/or nails. Maybe some male beauticians have a flamboyant attitude that gives some clients confidence? I wonder...

BTW, I don't have money to spend on manicures/pedicures. I do my own.

[catmother]

10. my hairdresser is a woman, but when i lived in new york i had

a man. the salon that i go to is in scottsdale. it's got a very upscale clientele so every one gets plenty of attention. everyone that works there knows all the clients by name and they make a point of saying hello, etc. also after the assistant gets you seated, they ask if you want something to drink. you can even get a glass of white wine if you like.

i started going there 4 years ago because i wanted to have my hair straightened with TR (thermal reconditioning). i was about to drive to california to have it done when i found this place. so because my hair is treated chemically i started to have my color done there too. my hairdresser is familiar with my hair and makes sure that no harsh products are used. i've noticed that where i live (not as upscale as scottsdale) i see some bad looking hair. looks like it's actually been fried. the salon that i go to has the reputation that no one leaves there with bad looking hair. :)

[catmother]

13. i didn't either when i was young. i did my own. now i'm 64 and

forget about doing a manicure much less an acrylic nail. don't have the same coordination that i did when i was young. not shaking or anything like that. the fingers just don't seem to work as well as they did. i remember my grandma saying "these fingers just don't work right anymore". now i know what she meant. :shrug:

[Warpy]

7. I never got into talons, myself

but some of the decorative work I've seen on other people is really beautiful, no matter who is doing it.

I think there's room for all of us.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. The real problem with these nail techs is that the authorities

need to crack down on them to make sure they are sterilizing their equipment.

[Cleita]

8. That could be a problem. I was standing in line at my

pharmacy waiting to put in a prescription a while back. A very well groomed elderly woman was standing in front of me. She was having a conversation with the pharmacist about an infection that she had on her nails. She wanted him to recommend something over the counter for her to use.

Her fingernails were beautifully manicured, incidentally. He asked her if she had her nails manicured in a salon. She replied that she did. He told her that what she had was common from manicure salons that don't disinfect their equipment well enough. He told he she would have to go to a doctor before he could recommend anything.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. That pharmacist was right to tell her to go to a doctor.

My mom told me she heard on the news recently that a woman that was a frequent visitor to nail shops got an infection in on of her nails. She didn't give me all the details but the woman ended up in the hospital and dying from the infection.

[catmother]

15. there was a big thing a few years ago. i believe it was in

california. quite a few women got infections from pedicures. some had sores up to their knees. it seemed that the place that the water drained out from was never cleaned and there was all kinds of shit in there. some places the pedicure baths are connected. they say never shave your legs before a pedicure. just yesterday i was having my nails done and a woman came in for a pedicure and was questionning how they cleaned the spas. she was satisfied with the answer and stayed.

[catmother]

14. you're absolutely right.

[hang a left]

9. When acrylic nails first came out in the 70's a full set cost anywhere

between 70-100$. Fills were around 50$. It was an industry full of white women, in California anyway. And they could make a decent living including their tips. The Vietnamese women took over the industry here by charging a lot less. And those girls work thier asses off. 6 days a week 12-14 hours a day. It has been many years since you could find a white manicurist. Oh there is still a couple around in the higher end full service salons. But for the most part there are gone. IMO (I am going to get slammed) white women won't work that hard for that kind of money. I know I wouldn't. And I sure as hell wouldn't give a stranger a pedicure.

[catmother]

12. interesting. i got my first set of acrylics in 1979. it was a korean

salon in new york. it cost $50.00 and i don't remember how much the fills were, but i would try to go 3 weeks in between because of the cost. on the other hand, they were doing pedicures for $11.00.

when i moved to phoenix, we didn't have the asian salons yet and i had a hard time finding someone to do a pedicure for $35.00. some wanted $50.00. when the vietnamese came in they were doing pedicures for $15.00. now there up to $20.00. i pay $18.00 for my fills. i was paying the american girl $25.00 and she wouldn't do pedicures -- said it hurt her back.

i'm an american native new yorker and there is no way i would touch anyone's feet no matter how long they soaked in the bubbling water. :puke:

i did do manicures about 40 years ago.

[EFerrari]

16. The problem is always between labor and management

not between legal and illegal or between immigrants and natives.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

Big money always goes for cheap, exploited labor.

WTF is so hard to understand about that?

And, what do you have against Korean or Vietnamese immigrants?

I can't believe what I'm reading here.

When labor hangs together, working conditions improve and wages go up. Period.

/typo

[catmother]

17. i have nothing against korean and vietnamese immigrants. i

find them to be very nice people, but the have taken away business from americans techs. what's your problem? it's not labor and management in this case. they own the salons.:eyes:

[EFerrari]

18. Okay. So, it's just competition that bothers you?

Competition from Korean and Vietnamese competitors?

:eyes:

[catmother]

19. i'm not a nail tech and so i don't give a flying fuck about

competitors. there's always a big deal about mexicans working cheaper so i just wanted to get some views on this. did you get up on the wrong side of the bed today?:crazy:

[Catherine Vincent]

20. I used to discuss this situation with some of my peeps

and how the Asians own and run all the nail shops in the hood. But I always says, well if anyone is bothered by it, why don't they open up a shop? That's all it takes. And some of them do, just not enough of them. Maybe it's not their cup of tea.

[catmother]

23. we don't have a problem here in phoenix but in new york there

is a lot of tension between the african americans and the koreans. i've seen it. koreans own a lot of vegetable stores too. many of them have salad bars. if an african american person came in their eyes would follow them all around the store -- and i know that they had stores also in the "hood", but like you say "open your own". the whole thing between them made me very uncomfortable and i'm glad to be out of new york. :crazy:

[EFerrari]

21. No, I didn't. It's just that the hook to your posts involves

immigrants who are making a living.

This is a continent of immigrants. Why is this an issue now?

What would happen if those Koreans and Vietnamese weren't turned out of their homes BY THE US MILITARY?

Really, there is a bigger picture here. Military spending drives all of these conflicts.

So, that Vietnamese nail salon propably wouldn't be there without us charging out and destroying Viet Nam. Ditto for Korea.

Or, maybe those immigrants would be here, regardless of our moranic policy.

But, our middle class -- our small business people -- are still being waged war on by the B* administration. No matter where we come from, no matter our accent or skin color. We're equal oppurtunity targets from the Land of Cronies.

That's all.

[catmother]

22. like i said i have no problem with them. i actually admire them.

one salon that i used to go to the owner and her sister and brother-in-law worked there. at that point they were all sharing a house with the mother who looked after the 3 children. after a few years of hard work they opened another one -- which her sister runs. her sister bought her own house, the mother still lives with the original one, but every morning she packs up the kids and mom and drops them at the sister's house where again the mom looks after the kids, does the cooking. they work 6 days a week till 7pm or 8pm at night.

i don't know about why there here -- i guess because we really fucked up in vietnam, but i have no problem at all.

so maybe after where done fucking up iraq -- we will have iraqiis here opening falafel restaurants or whatever.

that's all here.:toast:

[proud patriot]

24. I'm locking this thread

Broadbrush attacks based on certain ethnic assumptions
tend to lead to hurt feelings .

proud patriot Moderator
Democratic Underground