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Did you just get dumped by a nail tech or something/
No no, not at all. I need fluent English in a partner.
But I'll now admit my OP was a little harshly worded.
So much thin skin nowadays though.[/quote]
Statements like the one bolded above aren't helping your case. Stereotype much?
I've been getting my nails done (acrylic) for the better part of about 19 years now. My own nails have never been strong enough to grown past the fingertip on their own. (my mom is the same way, maybe it's hereditary?) I have nice hands and having a nice set of nails on really just makes me feel a lot better. I go once a month for a fill, and my nail tech speaks English very well.
I have never had a pedicure in a salon, though. It is just not something I want or need someone else to do for me. I take care of my own feet, do my own polish on my toes, etc. For me, there's no need to pay for that. Acrylic nails, though I technically COULD do it, is another story. I'd much rather have that done for me.
I don't spend a lot of money on clothes or shoes, so this is what I choose to spend money on, not that I need to justify it to anyone. The salon I go to is always very busy, usually with more people geting their nails done than feet. They also offer facial waxing services. Definately more going on than just cutting toenails.
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A little OT, but I agree that the proliferation of manicure/pedicure places is one symptom of the tendency for people to spend money on goods/services that were only for the very rich a generation ago.
Totally agree. It was once seen as an out-of-reach luxury for average, middle-class Americans, and it was in even recent decades not a service even available in locations with modestly sized populations. When I was growing up (80s and 90s), there was nowhere in my pop. 10K community where you could get your nails "professionally" done, though one of the couple of hair salons did have a stylist or two who would do it upon request. Now there are several nail salons there, and practically every hair salon also offers it as a service. It is seen as a basic service, not a luxury service.
But, at that point in time, if you had told people they'd be semi-regularly dropping most of a ten dollar bill on a 20 oz. paper cup of coffee and a microwave-warmed pastry, they'd not have believed you. And, so it goes.
My wife works really hard and she treats herself to a massage and a mani-pedi once a month. Why not? As for me, being a manly man, I would never do such a gurlie thing. Besides, my BMI is only 23.0.
LOL. My husband and I have had a monthly massage membership as long as we've been together, and it's part of a standing date night of ours. He is the one who actually turned me on to it...started going long before I met him to alleviate muscular back pain traced back to running with a million pounds of body armor while deployed to Iraq...so I'm gonna go with "not gurlie."
There is what used to be called a "beauty school" in town. I don't know what they call them now. But anyway a large part of their clientele is the elderly who have trouble doing their own toenails. They get a good discount letting the students practice on them.
It's surprising, if you aren't familiar with the problems of age, how important it is to keep the feet well cared for. Both obesity and arthritic conditions can interfere with self-care. Leaving this work to the overworked care facility workers may mean that it is seldom addressed.
So, in that sense, I didn't find the OP's question all that strange. Historically there has been a long tradition of well-groomed hands (and long fingernails) as a sign of wealth and the leisure that it affords.
Something no one has mentioned is the issue of illegal immigration. I understand that that is what one of our nail salons real business was. It was pretty tragic to read about how these young girls paid huge sums to be taken to America and then found themselves trapped in indentured servitude with no one to help them and no ability to speak English.
We're quite a small Midwest city so I often wonder about the proliferation of nail salons seemingly everywhere. Are they fronts for abuse and making money off of immigrants?
It's surprising, if you aren't familiar with the problems of age, how important it is to keep the feet well cared for. Both obesity and arthritic conditions can interfere with self-care. Leaving this work to the overworked care facility workers may mean that it is seldom addressed.
<snip>
Something no one has mentioned is the issue of illegal immigration. I understand that that is what one of our nail salons real business was. It was pretty tragic to read about how these young girls paid huge sums to be taken to America and then found themselves trapped in indentured servitude with no one to help them and no ability to speak English.
We're quite a small Midwest city so I often wonder about the proliferation of nail salons seemingly everywhere. Are they fronts for abuse and making money off of immigrants?
Both good points. Apparently keeping toenails trimmed is really important for diabetics. Circulation in the extremities is poor and ingrown toenails can lead to infections and possibly amputation of a foot.
And yes, I've wondered if the cheaper salons pay their workers very little because they're trapped there and are in the country illegally.
There is what used to be called a "beauty school" in town. I don't know what they call them now. But anyway a large part of their clientele is the elderly who have trouble doing their own toenails. They get a good discount letting the students practice on them.
It's surprising, if you aren't familiar with the problems of age, how important it is to keep the feet well cared for. Both obesity and arthritic conditions can interfere with self-care. Leaving this work to the overworked care facility workers may mean that it is seldom addressed.
Yes!
My MIL used to live and work at a senior condo complex...it wasn't an assisted living center by any means, nor nursing facility, but was geared toward active retired folks who preferred a lot of in-house amenities and onsite activities. I always called it the "Golden Girls Condo." One of the things they featured was an in-house manucurist/pedicurist who was specially medically trained on therapeutic pedicures for senior citizens. I went a few times with my MIL, and the technician was a Russian lady who was just lovely. Beyond just being a cosmetic pick-me-up for the residents, it also served a health purpose for people who were not disabled but may have had medical conditions and flexibility and balance concerns that legitimately did hinder them from being able to effectively handle that type of grooming. Also, people with diabetes and poor circulation for other reasons need to be very careful about accidentally cutting the skin on their toes/cuticles, due to ease of infection, so it was very precision work by someone trained in seniors' unique medical needs.
So, yes, pedicures can serve a therapeutic purpose for some populations. Although the average storefront salon is not necessarily the place to find people with this particular specialized approach.
Quote:
We're quite a small Midwest city so I often wonder about the proliferation of nail salons seemingly everywhere. Are they fronts for abuse and making money off of immigrants?
Anecdotal and not likely reflective of the majority of salons, but I'm in a Midwestern city, and when I first moved here about a decade ago, there was a MASSIVE and successful prostitution and human trafficking sting in one of our most affluent satellite suburbs that centered around exactly this. The nail salon was a front for the trafficking of women, and also a money laundering device. My next door neighbors are Korean immigrants who run a small shop in our local neighborhood that employs family members, and they were telling me that in the aftermath of that sting, all salons are aggressively monitored, all the time, by local LE.
"Why are people so sensitive when I'm blatantly purposefully offensive?"
LOL.
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Stereotype much?
