How did the Vietnamese Take Over the US Nail Salon Business?
and the Story of the Vietnamese Boat People.
It is hard not to notice the large population of Vietnamese people in the nail salon business. This hasn’t always been the case. The story of how the Vietnamese took over the nail salons is an inspiring immigrant story which demonstrates perseverance and resourcefulness.
Following the Great Depression, women were looking for an inexpensive way to add some luxury to their lives. In 1932, Revlon started with a group of three enterprising men, consisting of Charles Lachman providing the chemistry know how and the brothers Charles and Joseph Revson providing imagination and business sense. They introduced their first product, a new type of nail enamel which used pigments instead of dyes to give a more durable nail polish while allowing a much wider range of shades. 1
Hollywood starlets were among the first to capitalize on this glamour trend by creating new nail shapes and customizing their look by matching their nails and lipstick to glamorous outfits.
By the late 1970’s, manicures and pedicures were still considered a luxury service, but this would change with advancements in technology. Inventions such as the electric rotary nail file and the acrylic nail started to allow women to have more creativity in their fashion choices. Disco Divas such as Cher and Donna Summer popularized the longer oval shaped nail while styles such as the French Manicure were also being invented. 2
This beauty trend came at the perfect time for this new wave of refugees. They started coming immediately after the 1975 fall of Saigon. They joined a massive exodus coming out of Vietnam who aimed for a better life. Their lives were torn apart during the war and Vietnam had nothing left for them. These refugees were originally labeled “boat people” for the method many had to endure in order to reach a refugee friendly country.
A ticket for passage on these refugee boats could only be made in gold bars. The ticket price quickly became the equivalent of several thousand US dollars today. It might as well have been a million dollars during a time when most people in Vietnam were facing massive triple digit runaway inflation that hovered between 100% and 750% for most of the 1980’s.3 For those who could raise the money, they needed to board some rickety ships that likely had the appearance of being held together with chewing gum and duct tape.
On the way, many dealt with pirates, treacherous life-threatening weather or unscrupulous boat captains who would occasionally strand entire groups of passengers on an island to hopefully be picked up by another passing commercial ship. Occasionally, stories are retold among the boat people of some of the more attractive women who would be forced to endure a worse fate that some only whisper about.
800,000 Vietnamese made that trek between 1975-1995. Many didn’t make it. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimated between 200,000 and 400,000 died while attempting the journey.
The refugees had a simple goal. They wanted to reach a country where they could obtain refugee status and start a new life. Refugee friendly countries included: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Lucky refugees were settled in countries which accepted them: United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. Tens of thousands of the unlucky refugees were sent back to Vietnam to face whatever consequences awaited them upon their return. 4
Churches and civic organizations did their part to train the new arrivals. These organizations were facing the challenge of what to do with so many unskilled refugees with many organizations stretched far beyond their capacity. Some government programs also did what they could to provide vocational training, but initial progress moved slowly. Many of these people had no skills and knew very little English.
The actress, Tippi Hedren, known for being the quintessential Alfred Hitchcock starlet also became known for her humanitarian work. She starred in two Hitchcock films, including the 1963 horror favorite, The Birds. She started a small program for only 20 Vietnamese refugee women at Weimar Hope Village in Sacramento, California to help the group resettle in the US. Part of the resettlement required vocational training. The fact that these women had no skills presented a huge problem for their resettlement. 56
The idea hit Hedren when these women often admired her nails. She spoke to her personal manicurist, Dusty Coots, and persuaded him to teach these women how to do a manicure. The women learned fast and the vocational program became a huge success with many more women entering subsequent training classes. Before long, Hedren formed a network of salons across Southern California to provide jobs for these women. This program built upon itself when Vietnamese who finished their training with the Hedren program would later train other refugees. A mere decade later, word began to spread among the Vietnamese refugee community that nail salons were a great place to learn necessary marketable skills to start their lives in the US.
Initially, these refugee women were not welcomed into the industry. Nail salons would often pay Vietnamese nail technicians much less than their native counterparts. Most of the women persevered with a strong immigrant spirit. Many were on their own with their support systems left behind in Vietnam. Some lost their husbands during the war and some had children to care for. They all needed to make money fast. They were less concerned with the amount of money they made than they were establishing a foothold. They knew the money would come eventually. Their adversity ended up becoming a strength as the Vietnamese owned salons began undercutting native nail salons. These salons began to be known for offering a better service at a lower price.
Vietnamese women discovered the nail business had relatively low barriers to entry and mostly required a massive amount of labor. Some enterprising young women started their own nail salons and hired their friends. They worked incredibly long hours, sometimes more than 12 hours a day. Before long, their friends would save some money and find a new geographic area and start their own nail salon. The network grew exponentially, eventually covering the entire US.
According to the UCLA Labor Center, census data shows that more than half of the Nail Salon workforce in the US are now Vietnamese.
Many of the nail technicians were forced to endure the toxic dust and chemicals which were necessary in the removal or application of new acrylic nails, but many didn’t care. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reported that nail technicians are constantly being exposed to toxic chemicals such as toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate.7 These women already lost everything. I guess some people have little concern over a little toxic nail dust when there are much more pressing needs. They weren’t thinking of their own lives. They had families to think of. They would do what needed to be done to make their businesses successful.
Starting next year, it will be 50 years since the first boat people came to the US. They persevered and built lives for themselves and their families. Many have become wealthy, ranking among the highest median household incomes in the US.8 Many were able to send money home to their families left behind in Vietnam. After they became financially secure, many were also able to sponsor their family members who still lived in Vietnam to immigrate to the US. For many, this immigrant story is one of the most inspiring stories. It is wonderful to see many Vietnamese refugees prospering during their five-decade long collective journey from rags to riches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revlon
https://mashable.com/archive/fingernail-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people
https://labor.ucla.edu/publications/nail-files-california-study-workers-industry/
https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/finding-sanctuary-unexpected-place#:~:text=Over%20half%20of%20all%20nail%20salons%20in%20the,is%20Vietnamese%2C%20with%20women%20making%20up%20the%20majority.
Ibid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the_United_States_by_household_income
It is not only in the US, I reckon pretty much most of the mail businesses here are run by Vietnamese also. They appear to be very successful, and well done for them.
I’ve read that a majority or plurality of refugees were of Chinese ethnicity. Is that accurate?