This Is How Much A Manicure Should Cost
Last week, the New York Times pulled back the curtain on the brutal working conditions and unregulated horrors of the nail industry. Suddenly something that always seemed like an affordable luxury—the $20 or $25 mani-pedi—morphed into a politically loaded act.
While the Times interviewed more than 150 salon owners and workers, the article didn’t do much to distinguish between varying types of salons, leaving many of them, and their nail artists, to defend and distance themselves from the horrifying revelations in the investigative piece. (While also leaving consumers wondering where they could go without contributing to this serious problem.)
One Soho salon, Paintbox, took to its website to issue a statement: “If you have read the article, we want to share with you how Paintbox is different than the salons you may have read about (and why we’re so proud of that).” And just after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered emergency measures to fight gruesome labor practices in salons, Nadine Abramcyk of New York nail chain Tenoverten went on CBS News to declare that her workers are paid fairly.
Lauren Bui of Primp and Polish, another New York chain with slightly higher prices, wrote me to explain the differences between the labor practices at her salon versus those described by the piece. “We strongly believe in treating our staff the way we ourselves would want to be treated,” she says. “We have a very low staff turnover rate. All of our new basic employees start over minimum wage, and we do offer other benefits…free/reimbursed transportation and paid sick/vacation leave.”
One Brooklyn nail artist, Eda Midori (who goes by Lady Fancy Nails) took a break from posting beautiful nail and landscape shots to share the article with her Instagram followers, writing: “There are deep ramifications to your $10 manicure.”
But for anyone working in this sector of the industry, the Times exposé doesn’t come as a surprise. “I’ve always had questions, even before becoming a nail artist,” says Ashley Crowe, an independent high-end nail artist who goes by AstroWifey on Instagram, where she’s built up 50K followers. “When you’re getting a $20-dollar mani-pedi, how can the salon worker survive? I’ve always questioned how someone could make a living, especially living in major cities.”
Crowe herself began her career in a traditional nail salon, before realizing that the rapid-fire demands weren’t conducive to quality manicures. She set out on her own, developing clientele via social media, and quickly realized a minimum rate of $70 per manicure (hers take up to an hour and 45 minutes) was necessary to provide quality manicures and earn a reasonable living for herself. That’s about three or four times the cost of a traditional mani-pedi at your average NYC salon. “What could be the very minimum I could charge to make a reasonable living for myself?” she asked herself. “Some people don’t understand where the pricing comes from.”
Crowe acknowledges that in her career as a manicurist, she’s had advantages not afforded to the women—most of whom are immigrants—interviewed in the Times exposé. “I really turned to social media as a way to advertise,” she says. “I can see how that would be really difficult for someone who has language barriers, who may not even have the access to that kind of technology.”
Rita Pinto, the owner of luxury nail-art studio Vanity Projects, says the Times piece confirmed her deepest suspicious about cheap manicures—and also validated her decision to resist the temptations of quick and dirty beauty services. She’s says she’s turned down dozens of offers from Groupon and Gilt Group for discounted manicure packages because they’re financially unfeasible, as well as requests for her artists to work parties at $40 an hour. “Maybe your assumption is that I’m going to roll over in my van of Chinese immigrants and you’re going to get away with paying us $40 an hour,” she says. “The assumption is that it’s really inexpensive.”
But for Pinto to give her nail artists reasonable hours and good pay, she charges a median of about $70 to $80 per session, she says, some of which goes toward products without the health-altering chemicals found in many salons. She admits that it’s maybe too easy for women in her position—those in the upper echelon of the nail industry—to stand in solidarity with the workers described in the Times’ investigation. They can afford to be sanctimonious about it. “The chatter is very much in support of these women. But are any of these [fancy nail artist] girls going to work in salons like that? Hell no,” she says.”
And then there’s the possibility that women who once patronized the $20 manicure places will begin forgoing nail services altogether or flocking to fancier salons, where workers are treated better. Pinto has mixed feelings about it. “It’s a double-edged sword, because you’re taking business from these people who work really hard,” she says “I respect these women for working that hard. I’m thinking, go get your 20-dollar mani-pedi, but tip the girl ten bucks. Or don’t go to that 24-hour nail salon.”
Still, she holds onto some skepticism about what kind of changes can take place in salons, an industry she likens to chicken-farming. “There’s something within our culture with the need for deals, this kind of Groupon mentality,” she says. “People are cheap.”
Related: 5 Ways to Stylish Nails Without the Guilt
