The surprising and inspiring reason so many nail salons are Vietnamese owned
20 women and a movie star started it all.
The surprising history behind Vietnamese owned nail salons
One of the most frequently seen buildings in any town is a nail salon. It seems you can't go more than a few blocks without seeing one in most cities and if you frequent them, you've probably noticed that many of them are owned and operated by Vietnamese-Americans. There may have been some curiosity about this floating around or maybe people simply assumed it was always this way so they didn't ask.
But it turns out, Vietnamese owned nail shops boomed after the Vietnam War when America had an influx of refugees from the small country. Soogia, a small business owner and social media creator took to the internet to explain exactly why so many nail salons are owned by Vietnamese people after several followers asked her the question.
The surprising history involved a movies star, Tippi Hedren, and 20 young Vietnamese refugee women. Soogia explains that Hedren was working as a relief coordinator for Food for The Hungry in 1975 after the Vietnam war ended to help the women assimilate into American culture.
"Tippi Hedren was working with 20 Vietnamese women and she couldn't help but notice how much they were paying attention to her manicure, and they were so interested in how clean and pretty her nails were. And so she had the idea to have her manicurist and other people in the industry come up and teach these women how to do nails," Soogia shares.
The actress' manicurist came to visit the women weekly to do these classes and when they were ready she helped them get their licenses and jobs. After the women completed the impromptu apprenticeship and were licensed and ready to work, they took their new found skill to their community to teach other refugees.
Soogia points to the popularity of nail salons with the influence of Black culture, specifically Black women saying, "and though Vietnamese people drove the industry of the nail salon Black women really drove the culture. People like Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Florence Griffith Joyner, and now of course we have women like Meg Thee Stallion, and you of course cannot talk about nails and not mention Cardi B."
@soogia1 Many of you wanted to know: Why are so many nail salons run by Vietnamese people? @Soogia (SOO-jee-yah) #nailsalon #manicure #manipedi #tippihedren #dianaross #cardib #megtheestallion #acrylics #gelx
So the cause of the rise of the nail industry was really full of serendipitous moments starting with just 20 determined women and an actress who saw an opportunity for the new refugees and the influence of famous Black women. Thanks to her role in catapulting Vietnamese people into nail salon history, Tippi Hedren is known as the Godmother of the Vietnamese nail industry. The documentary "Nailed It" explores the relationship between Vietnamese nail salons and Tippi Hedren as well as how the salons spread across America and can be found on Tubi.
People were surprised at the quick history lesson while others shared their connection with the story, with one writing, "Tippi Hedren was QUITE a unique person leading a very interesting life. I never heard this story before, wow, thank you!"
"My mom is Vietnamese & lost a lot during the war, but her nail skills are amazing," someone shares.
"Thank you for the history lesson! What an amazing and beautiful story," another says.
Another person admits, "I have been genuinely wondering this for ages. Thank you for educating me."
One man found himself getting emotional from her own family history, "this made me tear up. As a Vietnamese person who's mom and aunt did nails it hit home."
What an amazing little piece of history that people can take with them and share with others, and if you're curious about a more in depth explanation, check out the documentary.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.