Ripped from the Headlines

“Nonstandard” salons are being blamed for the nailcare industry’s bad reputation. But when infections keep occurring and salons are shuttered every day, who’s really at fault?

By Allison Rost

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You wouldn’t visit a doctor who hadn’t bothered to obtain her license, or dine at a restaurant that failed health inspections. Yet scores of consumers do the equivalent every day when they purchase nail services at nonstandard salons across the country. Regarded as an unseemly side of the industry, nonstandard salons have long been equated with inexpensive, often Asian-run salons that have popped up in nearly every strip mall over the last two decades. The increasing numbers of these salons coincide with an overall rise in infections stemming from nail services. State rules and regulations over the nailcare industry have tightened, and with the mainstream media’s watchful eye overlooking every salon, clients are more concerned than ever about their health and safety inside any shop that provides nail services. While many in the industry blame a growing sense of paranoia on this wave of discount salons, the heightened inspections and sanctions have shown that the problems are, in fact, industry-wide.

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