Since the Vietnam War, the nail salon has been the backbone of Vietnamese life in America. There are over 200,000 nail salons in the United States, most of which are owned and operated by Vietnamese refugees, immigrants, and the families they’ve built. Nearly every “successful” Vietnamese-American doctor, lawyer, businessperson, scientist, or writer can trace the path of their careers back to the nail salon—where, through the thick air of acrid chemicals, a manicurist, often a woman, head bowed over the foot or hand of a stranger, meticulously scrapes dead skin away from her client’s cuticles, revealing the tender and supple new growth beneath. From this act of daily regeneration, entire families are fed, clothed, and cared for. What little remains of nail salon workers’ earnings is sent back to Vietnam, where entire families are fed, clothed, and cared for. Children are put through college this way. Medical bills, for which they will not have insurance, are paid, often in cash, this way.
Often hidden behind protective masks, the identities of these workers can appear monolithic and anonymous—even as they touch and hold the hands of their clients, as they massage the knots out of shoulders, cradle calves and ankles. They are seen mostly in the periphery, ghosting from task to task, from client to client, often silent, often kneeling or crouched below eye level.
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