A Nail Salon: Your Local Sweatshop?
Can you think of the last time you got your nails done and what it cost you? Maybe you got a nice deal and were able to get a manicure for $10. Now what do you think it cost your stylist? Maybe just an hour of their time? Well what if I told you that your local nail salon is most likely one of the most dangerous places in your local neighborhood. This is the case for stylists in New York City like 20-year old Jing Ren, the only city where nail salons are more popular than Starbucks. Workers’ days start early, waiting at the corner of a street to get picked up and transported from the outside boroughs of New York into the Manhattan. The new workers start off having to pay for the job, usually a $100 fee and continue to work for no pay for a few weeks or even up to 3 months or whenever the owner feels that they have proved themselves. Even then they earn very little and if they’re lucky they may
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earn $30 for a normal 11 hour work day. At the end of their day workers would go home to their modern day tenement apartments where they would share a shoebox studio apartment with another 5 adults and repeat the process daily Sunday through Saturday, barely surviving off of their little pay. Apply Now! Inequality Within Some workers are treated more fairly than others though. Seventy to eighty percent of the nail salons in New York City are Korean owned so they are often favored over their Chine.se or Mexican counterparts. This may range from being paid more, earning at least 15 to 25 percent more, to being able to work in the more fancy, expensive parts of the city. Non-Korean workers often face emotional and verbal abuse daily, being treated more as an object. The only way to have a chance to gain more pay, and possibly more respect, is paying the owner a fee of $100, most of some workers monthly pay, to learn some new skills like how to wax eyebrows or apply gel nails so they can become a more experienced worker. Working Here May Cause Health Problems Issues Although workers may have known what they were signing up for when they applied for their job, most did not anticipate the affects that the job would have on their health.
The chemicals in most nail products found in a salon are unsafe and unregulated and causing despair in lives of salon workers around America. Workers are three times more likely at contracting asthma than those outside the industry and have an increased risk for miscarriages, birth defects, lung diseases, and cancer. Stylists are known to also have skin disorders like having skin discoloration. One stylist, Ki Ok Chung, has been losing her fingerprints after two decades of working. Although this issue has been brought up to the F.D.A., little has been done to regulate the harmful chemicals that are in these products and protect the stylists from the intake of them. When workers have to choose a pay over safety, they are hard-pressed to choose money so that they can pay their bills and support their families for another week. Desperate times call for desperate
measures. The Perfect Acrylic Cover A job deemed to be so simple has such detrimental effects on the stylists. Humans selling their health, emotional well-being, and family lives just so that they can have a place to lay their heads at the end of the day, a situation for many around the world. No justice and no peace of mind for their souls knowing that they are enslaved by this job that is killing them. All of this covered by pretty makeup and fake names that are given to them by their owners. Their owners who drive in nice expensive cars while their workers can’t afford to feed their children. Owners who plan tricky schemes to keep investigators from knowing their dirty business and enslaving workers because “you have to do what you got to do”.. Workers that can’t fight for their rights because they barely know English and even when they do their reports are rarely acted upon. Inhumanely treated, underpaid, overworked, emotionally exhausted in the cycle of exploitation without a voice. At the end of the day, who really pays for the low price of your nails?
We all know that cosmetics existed thousands of years ago. Cleopatra used a heavy arsenal of beauty aids to help her shake the foundations of the Roman Empire. Yes, cosmetics and perfumes have a long history, but the consumer industry we live in is relatively recent, a creation of the decades 1890 through 1920. The products hawked in the 19th Century by druggists, perfumers, barbers, physicians, and a colorful assortment of other enterprising individuals were primitive by our standards. Certainly, active ingredients were used with abandon, notably arsenic, lead, and mercury. These were products that really made visible differences, and the consumer was well-advised to be wary of the majority of these mysterious concoctions.
The 3 percent decline in sales causing a 21 percent decline in profits can be attributed to the identification of the accounting concept of operating leverage. Operating leverage is what business managers apply to boost small changes in revenue into sizable changes in profitability. Fixed cost is the force managers use to attain disproportionate changes between revenue and profitability. Therefore, when all costs are fixed every sales dollar contributes one dollar toward the potential profitability of a project. Once sales dollars cover fixed costs, each additional sales dollar represents pure profit. A small change in sales volume can significantly affect profitability (Edmonds, Tsay, & Olds, 2011). So, therefore, if sales volume increases,
This job is said to be “a job that provides a helpful service which that means that it cannot be accomplished by automated machines” (Beautyschooldirectory-.com). We all need haircut, manicures, pedicures, facials, waxing, perms, relaxers…etc. We simply care about our physical, about our looks and about what people say. We all want to be up to date with all the new trends, some people it is a demand. It helps them feel better about themselves. But the good thing is that not everyone is capable of doing this, because a licensed is required to do those services listed above by law. Where ever you go, there will always be a spot for a cosmetologist. The job security of a cosmetologist can be described now days as “The harder you work, the more you make” (www.jobmonkey.com). Everything depends on the person, and how much ambition you have to
One needs good customer service; one cannot be rude. One also needs to be patient and prepared to stand all day. Other necessary skills include cutting hair for men and women, coloring hair, styling, doing facials (such as makeup), and doing manicures and pedicures.
The town known today underwent much historical importance and conflicts. The territory of Somerville was settled in 1629 and was part of Charlestown. Thomas Graves was an English surveyor led a scouting party of 100 Puritans from the settlement of Salem to construct
Many societies face the much overlooked problem of child labor and sweatshops in the fashion industry. Recently, Americans were stunned to learn that their apple pie sweetheart, Kathie Lee Gifford was associated with the exploitation of underage workers in Honduras. Gifford's story began the resurgence of knowledge of the growing problem of sweatshops in today's society. Contrary to popular belief, sweatshops still exist across the world in both third world countries and super powers such as America. Sweatshops incorporate the inhumane exploitation of workers, many of whom are underage, by providing extremely low wages as well as expecting unrealistic time commitments. In addition, the workers lack benefits and very few sweatshops abide by the required health codes. Sweatshops are obviously a growing problem that will not disappear with out change. Although the United States government has begun to take steps to alleviate the problem, there must be an increase in both awareness and legislation.
A salon is not always a pretty and peaceful sight for those working there. At times, a
Taking care of your feet is just as important as taking care of your hands. The previously mentioned process also applies to your feet, with the only difference being the need to file off calluses and deal with corns and blisters. This is definitely a job that requires an iron stomach and dedication! Even if you can’t handle the feet part, the fun part about nails is being able to transform a client’s nails. This can be achieved through polish or nail art.
So how is it hard to get a job. job opportunities are expected to be good. A large number of job openings will stem from the need to replace workers. However, workers should expect strong competition for jobs and clients at higher paying salons. So this is hard to get into a job that is not your own
A lot of women love to look good on a day-to-day basis, so a cosmetologist is what they need. A cosmetologist is a beauty specialist who is educated in doing hair, makeup, and nails. It’s very interesting because you get to be creative, have fun, have people looking gorgeous, and get paid to do something you love. In this paper, you will be introduced to a lot of information in the field of cosmetology. Learning about the history and background, requirements to obtain the career and job positions will be covered throughout this paper.
Julia Robins writes about labor rights violations suffered by nail workers and some solutions for it in the article “Aesthetic Activism.” New York Times distributes many articles about workers who experience robberies, physical and verbal assaults, ethnic discriminating and overexposure to virulent chemicals in salons. Andrew Cuomo, a member of the Democratic Party, enforces paying unpaid salaries, closes unpermitted or unlicensed salons. Also, he provides labors with some information about their rights. In addition, he endorses a law bill in order to diminish language and anything that prevents official licensing and training of workers. On the other hand, some people participate to solve this problem by sharing awareness about nail
The practice of improving the beauty of others may seem insignificant to some but for those in process of studying the cosmetology industry take great pride in the work they hope to produce. Hair stylist and nail technicians improve the way people look and feel about oneself to better improve self confidence; cosmetologist strive to do the best they can to achieve the look that their client may be searching for. However, these techniques must be taught thoroughly and without the proper teaching techniques, the upcoming cosmetologist may feel behind and uncertain about their abilities when performing on clients. Without the proper and professional ways of teaching, the student struggle to ever gain success in the business; this business builds only from the repetition of great work and failing to achieve the overall style of the desired look from the client will result in a failing business. The search of finding a successful and up to date school requires more work than one may assume.
"Toxic Chemicals Used in Salon Products." Women's Voices For The Earth. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .
I learned that drugs and cosmetics often contain chemicals that can be hazardous or have dangerous side effects. For example, a brand of mascara called Lash Lure caused many women to go blind and one woman even died because it contained a chemical that burned the skin when used as directed. After about 100 people died from using a cough syrup called Elixir Sulfanilamide, which was made toxic by its production method, the American public was faced with a decision and it caused our government to pass the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938.
It is time, at last, to speak the truth about toxic chemicals behind personal care and beauty products. The daily products of an average person consists of face wash, hand soap, shampoo, conditioner, floss, toothpaste, and deodorant. Surprisingly, all of these products listed contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to our body. If we use these products to maintain our hygiene, does that mean we are not clean without these products? For example, a common shampoo many people use is Head and Shoulders. However, do we know if the shampoo is cleaning our hair from beginning to end or is it damaging our hair? How often do you read the ingredients labeled on your personal care products and wonder if they are safe to use? More importantly, if you