General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPerfect Nails, Poisoned Workers
Each time a customer pulled open the glass door at the nail shop in Ridgewood, Queens, where Nancy Otavalo worked, a cheerful chorus would ring out from where she sat with her fellow manicurists against the wall: Pick a color!
Ms. Otavalo, a 39-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant, was usually stationed at the first table. She trimmed and buffed and chatted about her quick-witted toddler, or her strapping 9-year-old boy. But she never spoke of another dreamed-for child, the one lost last year in a miscarriage that began while she was giving a customer a shoulder massage.
At the second table was Monica A. Rocano, 30, who sometimes brought a daughter to visit. But clients had never met her 3-year-old son, Matthew Ramon. People thought Matthew was shy, but in fact he has barely learned how to speak and can walk only with great difficulty.
A chair down from Ms. Rocano was another, quieter manicurist. In her idle moments, she surfed the Internet on her phone, seeking something that might explain the miscarriage she had last year. Or the four others that came before.
Similar stories of illness and tragedy abound at nail salons across the country, of children born slow or special, of miscarriages and cancers, of coughs that will not go away and painful skin afflictions. The stories have become so common that older manicurists warn women of child-bearing age away from the business, with its potent brew of polishes, solvents, hardeners and glues that nail workers handle daily.
A growing body of medical research shows a link between the chemicals that make nail and beauty products useful the ingredients that make them chip-resistant and pliable, quick to dry and brightly colored, for example and serious health problems.
Whatever the threat the typical customer enjoying her weekly French tips might face, it is a different order of magnitude, advocates say, for manicurists who handle the chemicals and breathe their fumes for hours on end, day after day.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/perfect-nails-poisoned-workers/ar-BBjpnK3?ocid=mailsignout
enough
(13,259 posts)and horrifying wages of nail-salon workers in the New York, New Jersey area. Frequently they work for NO pay at all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
bedazzled
(1,761 posts)reminds me of the women who were painting watch dials with radium early in the last century. they were licking the brushes to get sharper points, and poisoning themselves while they did it...
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)in an effort to get that pale-skinned look, used face powder with lead in it.
Anyway, I never did get the appeal of having perfectly manicured nails. It's been years and years since I've even worn nail polish, never mind having weekly manicures, and it's a real pain in the ass having to worry about chipping. And long nails? Damn. You can't do anything! I'm a natural nails girl. Short, clean, no clipping or pushing back the cuticles, no polish...not even clear.
Coventina
(27,115 posts)Heartbreaking!
I came away deeply disturbed and moved.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)I send this and "The Ethyl Poisoned Earth" essay to rightwingers squawking about the EPA and OSHA.
The new Cosmos show did a show on the lead/ethyl. As you may already know.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)951-Riverside
(7,234 posts)That's why they always have to keep the doors open.
I can't imagine working for years in one.
FSogol
(45,484 posts)air to be recirculated from pedicure/manicure rooms, and require source capture devices at each station. Unfortunately, this only protects workers/customers in new nail salons. Cities/areas that license these salons should look at helping those existing businesses get loans to upgrade the HVAC to comply.
951-Riverside
(7,234 posts)I'd rather have the local nail salon go out of business over having workers be slowly poisoned to death.
Cracking open a door is not a sufficient way of dealing with this
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,434 posts)Nail polishes, glues, and other products used in nail salons may contain the following chemicals, among others:
◾Toluene
◾Formaldehyde
◾Dibutyl Phthalate
◾Methacrylate compounds
Without taking the correct safety precautions each day, these chemicals can cause breathing problems; red, irritated eyes; dry, cracked skin; and other health problems. To learn more, click here.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)the women do that. But that just adds some more chemicals.
I wonder how these chemicals effect the men?
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)that the work take place within the confines of a fume hood with a specific level of "pull" to carry the vapors up through a ventilation system. These vapors are then dispersed into the air where they're very quickly rendered harmless, but the concentrations within these little salons have to be just ridiculous - simple observation from walking past entrance of some of these places.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)The fumes were brutal.
I can only imagine the damage the workers do to themselves.
he bragged to us that he uses a commercial grade finish for bars and restaurants. The stuff is called synteko and it's just awful.
I try to use low or no voc whenever I can
blogslut
(38,000 posts)In addition to the fumes there's those acrylic powders that can't be good when inhaled.