[guest post by Dana]

In the ongoing addition of businesses that are being allowed to reopen, California’s governor Gavin Newsom has thus far excluded nail salons from the approved list. As a result of the exclusion, the Vietnamese community has been seriously impacted. Three-quarters of the state’s 600,000 licensed manicurists are Vietnamese-Americans:

From the early days of the state’s shutdown, health officials made clear the particular risks in salons and barber shops, where services require close personal contact and take place indoors. Nail salons fell under that category.

But as the state has released guidelines for reopening more and more businesses, nail salons have been notably absent.

As The Los Angeles Times reported, an unsubstantiated comment by Mr. Newsom in early May tying the first community-spread coronavirus case to a nail salon was a gut punch for largely small, immigrant-owned businesses that were already reeling.

And here’s how it is hurting immigrant workers in the state:

David Chiu, a San Francisco state assemblyman who has been involved in those conversations, told me that the nail salon industry was “emblematic of the incredible gulf in our economy.”

And he said the pain for immigrant nail salon workers and entrepreneurs — most of whom are women of Asian descent — illustrated the ways the pandemic has especially hurt communities that were already vulnerable.

“These are workers and nail salon owners who have always been truly struggling,” he said. “Covid-19 has shone a bright spotlight on how challenging that struggle is.”

According to a 2018 report by the U.C.L.A. Labor Center, in partnership with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, almost 80 percent of nail salon workers are foreign born, and almost 80 percent are considered low wage, compared with 33 percent of workers across the U.S. economy.

On Saturday, more than 100 nail salon advocates protested in Orange County’s Little Saigon area:

Nail salon advocates held a rally Monday in the Little Saigon area of Orange County to call on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to address reports that the first community spread case of COVID-19 may not have occurred at a salon, and to announce a reopening plan for shops.

…

“Families are hurting, crying, losing income daily,” Linda Lan, a manicurist from the Bay Area, told the Los Angeles Times. “We still have no idea when we can return.”

One salon owner traveled from Carson to participate in the O.C. rally and told KTLA she owes three months of rent because she hasn’t been allowed to reopen.

A group of nail industry leaders dubbed Nailing it for America want Newsom to announce reopening guidelines and to address comments he made on May 7 about the first case of coronavirus community transmission happening at a nail salon.

The group says that some of Newsom’s senior officials admitted during a June 2 Zoom meeting with them that the May announcement was a mistake.

“It began with Gov. Newsom sharing inaccurate information on May 7 with devastating impacts on the beauty industry in California and with far-reaching repercussions across America,” a statement by Nailing it for America and cited by the Times said.

Newsom was asked about the officials’ Zoom meeting comments during a June 5 news conference but did not answer the questions, according to the group.

Nail salon owners are frustrated too because they have safety measures in place, and plan to adhere to any rules for reopening. So far though, there has been no move by the governor’s office to allow them to reopen.

From the governor’s press secretary:

“The Newsom Administration continues to engage with stakeholders in the nail salon industry to gather feedback and participate in constructive dialogue about reopening — with a focus on public health and safety. We remain committed to keeping the lines of communication open as we look to modify our Stay at Home order.”

It’s interesting that this industry remains closed. In non-pandemic times, manicurists always wear masks, and there is typically a small fan on the table to help with the fumes from nail solutions. Many salon owners have said that they have already installed clear plastic shields at each station to limit direct contact with customers. Pedicures provide even more distance between manicurist and customer. If hairdressers and barbers are able to reopen, and cut and style hair within inches from the client’s face, why shouldn’t nail salons be allowed to open as well?

In the meantime, nail salon owners have now filed a second lawsuit against California to reopen. According to one salon owner, Newsom’s accusation against the industry “put a target on their backs”.

[Note: The reason for such a high rate of Vietnamese-American manicurists in the state goes back to the fall of Saigon in 1975. When Vietnamese refugees began flooding into the U.S., it happened to coincide with the societal change in seeing more middle-class women going out to get manicures. Given that one did not have to be proficient in English, and the overhead of opening a salon was reasonable at the time, many refugees became salon owners and manicurists.]

–Dana