It was actually unsurprising to me to read about how dangerous working in a nail salon can be. All you have to do is open the door to a nail salon to smell the toxic chemical smell that emits. It can be difficult to be a customer and smell that acetone smell for the hour it takes to get a manicure, but to work in a salon and breathe in those fumes all day is not only unpleasant but harmful to health. Uyen Nguyen's sister had a miscarriage in her eighth month of pregnancy after working in a salon and breathing in the carcinogenic chemicals all day, every day.
Why are these unsafe practices allowed to continue? Why is no one advocating for these women, mostly immigrants, who are risking their good health in order to give me a manicure? These women are afraid that speaking up about these harmful effects will cause them to lose their jobs, so we must speak for them. We must demand safer practices and the removal of formaldehyde chemicals from our salons. No manicure is worth someone else's life.
It's so sad to think that people are suffering such severe health consequences because salons are not refusing to use eco friendly products. If I had a local salon that used safe products, I would spare the extra few dollars and support them because they are protecting my health, the health of the workers, and the environment. Salons need to be pressured to change and I think that if more customers knew about the dangerous health risks for workers, they would support a movement towards eco nail products.
ReplyDeleteI went to an eco nail salon once, and it was great -- no yucky smell.
ReplyDeleteDo you think customers are concerned about these issues? Can customers do anything about these issues?
I don't think customers are concerned with the issues. They know about the risks but still expose themselves to the chemicals. In nail salons, hair salons, and tanning salons, women harm themselves simply to meet society's impossible standards of beauty. They know about the dangers, but don't do anything about them.
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