Despite the success of our rapidly growing beauty sector, there is a specific area of the nail industry that starts to get ugly: the flippant use of derogatory language describing salons owned or operated by Asian nail technicians. You may have heard of commonly used phrases such as “Chinese salons” or generalised terms like “Chinese acrylics”, so let’s start by explaining why this type of rhetoric used in the context of Non Standard Salon practice is in fact…racist.
An innocent mind would assume that “Chinese Acrylics” would simply imply an acrylic nails product made in China, however, for many who use this terminology this intent is not the case. It is the context in which language is used that makes it so harmful, which is why we as an inclusive brand would like to take the time to educate readers.
In general, there lies a systemic issue with the inaccurate presumption that any/all Asian workers within the beauty industry are “Chinese”. This phenomenon is sadly not uncommon in the UK, with many people failing to educate themselves on Asian culture and heritage. Nail services for hundreds of years have been highly popularised in Asia, especially in East Asian countries such as Vietnam, Korea, and of course, China! Many popular techniques and trends to this day are being utilised by the western world that were pioneered by workers from these countries, for example: specialist gels such as cat eye, stained glass and flash glitters to name a few. We also have a great deal of East Asian entrepreneurs to thank for many of the technological advancements within the nail industry, of which they have made accessible to the working class consumer market. When we understand this cultural history, the popularity of nail services in Asian countries, as well as the general significant impact that Asian workers have made in the nail industry, it makes sense that some economic migrants from these countries would choose to specialise in this area of expertise in the UK.
In the UK we live in an economy with strong capitalist characteristics. Many businesses are set up in high profit, low expense models. For some salons, this type of business model involves cost cutting; whether this be with hygiene standards, safety practices or type of products used. For example, cutting costs in hygiene practice would look like:
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Using the same tools/files on clients, instead of disposing of or disinfecting after each client.
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Lack of general cleanliness in the salon environment- you may see nail dust, clippings, or even gel in areas that should be regularly cleaned.
Substandard safety practices such as:
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Harsh & improper use of Efile (electric nail file) on the nails.
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Untrained nail technicians using professional equipment.
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Unsafe prep techniques that open clients up to risk of infection.
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Poorly applied gel product to the skin.
Examples of cheap products used:
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MMA acrylic (dental acrylic)
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High % acrylate gel products
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General non-complaint nail products
Any and all of these things would classify this type of business practice as Non Standard, hence the term Non Standard Salon (NSS). This is basically a non compliant salon according to UK health and safety standards.
You might be asking, what does this have to do with Chinese people? Well…exactly! What does it have to do with Chinese people? Or even Chinese products for that matter?
This terminology has simply stemmed from racially motivated presumptions. Whilst some of the walk-in nail bars in the UK are run by nail technicians of Asian descent, this is not always indicative of them being a NSS; and even if a NSS is Asian owned, this in no way should warrant racist rhetoric as a response.
To conclude:
It seems for many that the lines have become blurred from what is a non-standard salon to simply being an East Asian worker in the nail industry. To avoid any confusion perhaps we should assess nail salons on an individual basis, and not by the ethnicity of workers within them. Contrary to popular belief, it is true that there are in fact many independent nail salons that should be classified as Non Standard for many of the same health & safety concerns listed as above, but aren’t, because the technicians working within them are white. Equally, there are East Asian owned nail businesses (independent and high street) in the UK who are health and safety compliant, offering professional quality services. Therefore, blanket statements like “Chinese Salons” not only perpetuates harmful anti-chinese sentiment, but also continues the cycle of this ever present systemic racism that some cannot seem to evolve past. This can also be especially harmful for young entrepreneurs who are 2nd or 3rd generation immigrant Chinese decent, who have been through the same training of UK standards equal to their white counterparts -providing nail services as a source of income- only to be tarred with the same brush as a NSS for simply being Asian.