Full Set: Nails – Lab 070

You know what I feel like is fading out as like the top accessory. What handbags. I feel like people really carried handbags and that was like part.

Of your look.

Yeah, I don't ever carry back These days, you really maximize the pocket and I don't have fockets on my outfit. It's quiet for me because what am I gonna do with all this stuff? And you know, I never wear ear rings. My friend don't. She don't need them. She'll have the glasses on. She's got that mold popping, she's got it.

But I think the new accessory, when I say it, you're going to remember, mm hmm, it's nails, honey.

Nails are having a renaissance right now before you go on the red carpet. Everybody's nails is like short, maybe a color, and now the longer the better. They're all jeweled out on three D and on everyone. Day to day, people like me and you, yes are doing their nails. I've watched over the course of the pandemic, my friend Monique started doing her own nails.

I said, I don't think you are authorized to do that.

People are going on Amazon giving themselves full acrylic sets at home.

Yeah, it's wild.

But that really made us think about the science behind nails, but also the social science of the nail experience. So that relationship that you have with your nail technician.

Yes, even the relationship with self when your nails are done, yes, because I mean, everybody feels good when they can click clack clack claque.

Let me drinking my water like.

I'm t T and I'm Zachiah and from Spotify, This is Dope Labs. Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcasts that mixes hardcore science, pop culture, and a healthy dose of friendship.

This week, we're talking all about nails now tt.

We have gone through it all, from acrylics to those little stickered things yep, to press on, jail nails, jail nails, you name it, we've tried it.

But we really wanted to know more about the history and culture of nails, going to the salon, and some of the health and safety issues that come with working in salons.

So let's dive right in and get into the recitation. What do we know TT, Well.

I think we know from experience that getting your nails done is a form of self care.

Yes, they're also becoming a lot more popular in mainstream culture too.

Yeah, you think back to the met Gala when you were looking at every one's nails and how lots of folks were wearing really long nails that match their outfits. That is something that I feel like is very new.

Yes, but we also know there's a lot of different chemicals and materials and even drying and curing processes involved at the salon.

To get those beautiful outcomes.

Absolutely, so what do we want to know?

Like you mentioned, it feels new what we're seeing in this mainstream culture, but let's take a look back at the history of nail art and how it's evolved over time.

I want to know the underpinnings there.

I'm really curious about the relationship of nails to the individual, but then also to the nail texts, the communities and the neighborhoods more broadly, so, how are salons a part of community?

And I think we also want to explore the health and safety issues in the industry, especially since those issues mainly impact women of color and until the past couple of years have been kind of brushed aside by the industry. All right, let's jump into the dissection. Thanks our guest for Today's lab is Crystal Kayiza.

I'm Crystal Kayiza and I'm a filmmaker based in Brooklyn.

Crystal's film See You Next Time highlights the intimate relationship between a nail tech and her client and the nuance that goes into this ritual of self care. The film approaches nail art and nail styling as a creative collaboration between women of color. But before we get into the dynamics of that collaboration, we wanted to learn a little bit more about the history of nail art.

In twenty twenty two, nail art has become this huge pop culture phenomenon, but I didn't necessarily grow up with, you know, people on red carpets talking about who their nail artists were and all of those things.

Yes, we've seen a huge shift in the culture around nails and nail art in our lifetimes, but people all over the world have been creating art with their nails for a very long time.

You can take this back to ancient Babylon men who used coal to paint their nails, and so that's thirty five hundred BC. Okay, that's a long, long, long come ago. And so they were using black for the upper class, while green was used for the lower classes.

And in ancient Egypt, queens Cleopatra and Nephertiti were known for painting their nails red using hennah, and Chinese royals painted their nails in the Ming dynasty using egg whites, wax, plant dyes and other materials.

Now fast forward a little bit in France in the twenties, people began experimenting with using high gloss car paint to paint their nails. They're like, this is gonna be shiny, all right. And then we saw some innovation in response to that from Revlon who came out with nail formula that was using pigments instead of dyes, which allowed them to have a lot more shades.

Modern manicures became popular among celebrities, and nail polish became increasingly available in drug stores, which led to more mainstream use of nail polish.

Now, when we think about going from just adorning our natural nails then going to artificial nails, that came along in nineteen fifty four when the first artificial nails were

Yes, one of the first people that pops into my mind is flow Jo Yes, Florence Griffith Joyner. She is an Olympian who was also a hairdresser and a nail tech, and she wore six inch acrylic nails while she was running. It caused a lot of drama, people looking at her and saying, oh my gosh, how is that clean? But she was really making a statement.

Yes, she might be the first to pop in your mind, but she's not the last. When we think about the legacy of Black women in their nails is incredible, But along with that legacy comes a lot of racism and stigma. Absolutely, Black women's nails have often been looked at as low class, unclean, or over sexualized and subject to public comment and critique in the media. And it's so interesting because now acrylics

As they should be.

So while we might not be getting manicures like Rihanna ORCARTI b you.

Know, getting your nails done can be kind of this staple for self care for Black women, and it has been, I think for quite a few years.

We both know people who regularly get their nails done.

Absolutely, yeah, every two weeks, they're in the salon with that feeling.

But sometimes, you know, I'm a person I'll do a little bit of both. Tt you're a DIY person now, absolutely.

I am at home buying stuff off Amazon. Press lines have been my thing. Okay, if you see anything done to my nails, just no, HiT's a press on and don't do anything too crazy because they will fly off.

And we want to know where everybody else is on the nail spectrum. Are you getting elaborate designs weekly, every other week, once a month, or are you somebody who's like, I'm not worried about it.

I'm just slipping my nails manny patties every once in a while. Yeah. If you check the app right now, you'll see a poll.

Take the ball.

Let us know what are y'all into. Crystal has personal experience getting her nails done too.

I grew up in a household were having your nails painted was a very particular thing. You had to be of a certain age, you could only have certain colors, certain designs, And my mom was a nurse, so like she had to have her nails a certain way and could only have certain types of designs, or could I have her nails painted at a certain time. I just remember growing up not being able to necessarily paint my nails red.

That was a huge rule in my house.

And my mom also had a thing about winter colors versus spring colors versus summer colors. I remember coming home from college and having like dark nails in June, and my mom was like, why do you have dark nails in June this summer nail season?

Like do something bright.

So all of these things are kind of embedded in my understanding of these like random arbitrary rules for myself. But it was something that was very individual to me. But then as I got older and started talking with my friends, it's like, no, I wasn't allowed to paint my nails red at thirteen, and like show up and act growing and all of those things.

I had some similar experiences to Christal. I don't know about you, red nails. It's like, girl, where do you think you're going? But even more than red nails, you had to be a certain age to wear tips, like yeah, like yeah, that was a thing.

The first time I ever got my nails done, I was a senior in high school. I couldn't get my nails done before then.

It had to be like four brom That was the only time I was allowed to and it was life changing. For Crystal and many black women, nails have been an entry point into self expression and part of our stories of coming of age and really coming into our own.

For me, it was.

Always something that felt like a bit of right, a passage of being able to go to the nail salon with my mom and be able to decide for myself what I wanted my nails to look like. And it's something that I think as a young adult I returned to definitely when I moved to New York City for the first time and you know, was figuring out what to do. One of the routines that brought me comfort was just sitting in the nail salon and just taking a break after work and having that moment of peace.

A lot of people feel like the salon is a place where you can go to reset. If every two weeks you do a little something that makes you feel good, that is absolutely an act of self care.

Crystal talked about time at the salon as a ritual with in the context of self care in her film See You Next Time.

The term self care still feel very new.

I think through the process of making the film really rethought the term self care. And really thought about it as a ritual because it's like you're going to see the same person every two weeks. Like the relationship is so specific to that space, and oftentimes, I think, particularly for working class women, it's like one of the only spaces where you can sit back and have someone else

I think this whole idea is really important because thinking about the salon as a ritual of self care dignifies the process as something that is intentionally habitual. And it's also different from doing your own nails, you know, like Crystal said, part of the self care is allowing somebody else to take care of you through a really intimate relationship with a neltech or artist, and I think those relationships are really important to the conversations around nail style and art.

There are all of these economic exchanges that happen throughout our day, but they're also simultaneously relationships that are being

Yes, when we're talking about the industry, we need to talk about who's doing that work and how they are impacted. There was a study at a Cornell University that showed that almost three quarters, so seventy three percent of nail salon workers were Asian or Pacific islander and about a fifth, or twenty one percent were LATINX. The vast majority are also immigrants. Eighty eight percent were born in other countries beside the US. You also have to ow overlay the economic aspect as well.

You know, people are trying to make a living wage. The average wage for nail workers in New York City in twenty twenty was thirteen dollars and seventy four cents an hour. Okay, so that's thirteen seventy four an hour for nail workers. The living wage for a single adult in New York County which covers Manhattan. So New York City is twenty five dollars and forty two cents an hour. So already there's a gap there.

Huge gap.

Yeah, you're not meeting the living wage.

And when we say living wage, we're not talking about really living We're just saying that only includes your basic needs. It doesn't include any money to eat out, unpaid vacations, emergency expenses, or future planning like savings or any type of retirement. That model is really only a small step up from poverty.

So it's important to talk about that other side of the coin.

For some people getting their nails done, it's part of a self care ritual, but it's also somebody's job to provide that service. And it's hard work. Is hard angles for your body, right, and it's long hours, and it's exposure to a lot of chemicals and in the pandemic people, and I think that really takes us right into the health and safety aspect. Tt So let's talk about some of these materials that people and nail salons are dealing with.

When you pint your nails at home with a regular bottle of nail polish or a laquer, the polish is made up of polymers, So this is a long chain of molecules that can form strong structures. So those polymers are dissolved in a solvent, and when you paint those solvents on then they evaporate, so it's a mixture of solvents with the colors that you see. Then once you put it on your fingernail, the solvent evaporates and leaves the color behind as dried nail polish.

Now, okay, one of our friends, Julian, got a manicure, and Julian got some.

Regular nail polish.

Uh huh chipped very quickly, which made Julian upset, as he should be. So I told him that he should have got jail nails because they're longer lasting. And I know that they're like cured with UV or led light, but is that the same thing, Like, how is it different?

So with gel nail polish, when you paint that gel onto your fingernail and then you sit under a UV light, it is using the UV light to form even stronger bonds to each other and to your fingernail, which is why gel lasts a lot longer.

Okay, I remember when they came out, everybody was like this lasts for so long it doesn't chip. But for me jail, when you paint it on sometimes it peels away, like if there's air or something that gets trapped under. And then I remember when everybody was doing those dipping.

Powders for their nails.

I've never done that.

I had it one time, and baby, that stuff was so lumpy the tech I had.

I was like, do you normally do this?

And I looked at my nail from the side, my high mountains, moving mountains on top of my nail beard. Okay, but you know, new material are constantly emerging and people are liking the powder. I've seen people using the powder to create you know, I didn't want that amountain. I wanted to smooth nail. But I see people creating like three D r yeah, to make designs and stuff. I've also seen people making like the chrome effect, making your nail look like there's glass. It feels like there are

And you know, we're talking about a lot of chemicals and exposure to these chemicals. Yes, and so with us, we've both worked in lass. We know what it takes to be around some of these chemicals, and so it makes you think, what are the health and safety precautions that are in place to protect the salon workers.

A few years ago, particularly in New York, there was an increased awareness around health and safety practices and nail swans across the city. And again, the majority of women are doing the slave are women of color, are like low income and working class women of color. And the long term effects that a lot of the tools and

In twenty fifteen, there was this investigation published in the New York Times and it was looking into New York City salons and New York City is the nail salon capital of the United States. Yes, and they've found that a lot of chemicals that were used in the nail salons have been linked to cancer, abnormal fetal development, miscarriages,

According to the investigation, one of the big issues with trying to make a change in this space is that there's a lack of data. So we don't know enough about the long term effects of exposure to these chemicals because no one is looking.

Yeah, so now you're just stuck with anecdotal evidence, and so you can't really say, Okay, this is exactly, certainly this way with this anecdotal evidence, but you also can't say it's not exactly because no one's looking.

One of the doctors that was referencing the article said that many of his patients who work in salons exhibit respiratory problems usually associated with smoking or asthma, and one manicurist in the article shared her fingerprints have all but disappeared from working in salon, So like just absolutely burned off.

If you're trying to figure out the toxic chemicals and nail products, sometimes you see a toxic trio, a toxic quartet, quartet.

A toxic quintet.

They're making various bands. We'll pull from the trio.

That's dibutal thalae, taluing and formaldehyde. Those chemicals are linked to serious health issues.

Yeah.

Dibutal Thalae is a plasticizer that makes polish flexible, and it can affect reproductive health and it's also been linked to miscarriage, problems with fetal development, and impaired fertility. It's been banned in the EU from cosmetic use since two thousand and three.

Okay, So, taluane is used as a solvent in many nail products and it helps with like smooth nail polished application, you know, so it's not lumpy when you try to paint it on. But the fumes from inhaling this can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, liver and kidney damage as well as adverse effects and fetal development.

And formaldehyde is a preservative and hardening agent used to strengthen nail products and besides being known as a carcinogen and can cause respiratory issues like difficulty breathing, coughing, asthma like attacks, wheezing, and burning the eyes, nose, and throat. It's been banned in cosmetic products in the EU as well, which is for real wild to me.

My eyebrow is up.

Okay, I've got a lot of questions.

The problem is in the United States, regulation around cosmetics is basically non existent. So the EU has banned or restricted over thirteen hundred chemicals and cosmetics, while I'll let you guess how many you think the United States has restricted or prohibited.

I'm going to try and not be so pessimistic that you has thirteen hundred. I'm going to say the US has half of that.

Okay, wrong? Oh okay, so half was generous. And even if you wanted to say ten percent, that's one hundred and thirty, that's also wrong.

We're less than one percent. The United States has only restricted or prohibited eleven chemicals. That's just embarrassing.

Just because it's legal, don't mean it's safe. Baby, Exactly.

If you've ever been around nail polish or nail polish remover, you know that distinct smell. Yeah, when you smell it, you're like, hmm, you can tell it. You don't want to be inhaling that like all the time. But then you think about people that work in nail salons, they're around those chemicals all day and sometimes all night.

You know.

When I think back, I remember like when COVID first started and people were in masks. I say, oh, they were in nil salon mask and they needed to stop find particles. And it shocks me when I go to the salon and people are like, oh, you don't need a mask for COVID anymore.

I'm like, but we need a mask to be in here.

Yeah.

When you think about all those powders and that stuff, like all in the hair. Oh, and you can sometimes see like a fine dust on your hands after you get your nails done, think about breathing all that stuff in. So in the US, we only have eleven of those chemicals that are banned in cosmetic products. But some companies have released new products that are quote unquote free free, meaning that they don't contain that toxic trio that we

Wait, so they're saying that they're not there, but they did.

I don't know understand how that works, Like it's not there, but it's actually there. You know how they'd be like they use the word organic, but they use a k at the end yet on them.

And you know, and even going back to the mask thing, like that's great for the powder, but those masks are not preventing fumes, right, So even if you're cutting out one thing, you still have other risks and you can sometimes get a false sense of security. So it just feels like there's a long way to go in making nail salons safe for workers and the customers too. And part of that feels like there has to be some type of cultural shift.

When I was growing up, I didn't see very many face masks and nail salans, and today that's not the case. Growing up having gone to nail salon, there's a certain expectation of how much you pay to get your nails done for a long period of time, and like as people see those prices change, you know, those tensions increase.

So I think there's a couple of things to consider, right when you recognize the effect that a cost has on the workers and then how that gets passed down to the customer. I think it's important to realize that the cost of your manicure may have a direct effect on someone's a income, but also health, Like for instance, in New York is easy to get a manicure for twelve dollars, but compare that to the national average, which is around twenty dollars for a manicure.

And when you.

Consider how much inflation has risen in recent years, while it may be up in some markets, the price of a manicure not increasing to meet the cost of living is kind of wild to me.

I think the context around what it means to own a small business, the type of workplaces that are in like, sometimes those conversations aren't happening with the people in those spaces. It's like the article is written, but where is the community conversation that needs to happen to ensure that when the cost of my mani petty goes up a few dollars. I'm looking at the context of what needs to happen in the space to ensure the person that's doing my nails is safe and feels like they're protected.

Today, in New York City, salon workers are no longer classified as tipped workers, and so now they are entitled to the fifteen dollars minimum wage. But unfortunately, in many cases, salon owners have responded to this new regulation by cutting workers hours so that now they're part time and their take on pay is not significantly higher. Right, And there was a bill passed by then Governor Cuomo requiring mask gloves and proper ventilation, as well as creating a task

So I think incredibly important as a customer for me to also be aware of, particularly in New York, all of these economic exchanges with different people that are in your community. It beyond like an economic exchange. It's like

Think that's such a wonderful way to think about our community and ecosystem, not just I need this thing by it means necessary at the cheapest costs.

Let's take a break and when we come back, we'll talk more about how nail salons connect different communities and cultures.

All Right, we're back.

If you've been paying attention to the news, you've seen that there has been a baby formula shortage, there's been a tampon shortage, and there also has been a semiconductor chip shortage. So we're gonna be talking all about that and its impact on the economy with Al Thompson next week. Let's get back to the lab.

We're talking with filmmaker Crystal Kayiza all about nails, nail art, and the salon. We've learned a lot about the history of nail art, the ritual of going to the salon, and some of the health and safety issues facing the industry today. We wanted to talk more about the unique culture at the salon and how getting your nails done

When we first started the film, my producer Katie Lang is a journalist at Time Magazine as a beauty and culture writer, and she's Asian American, and it's like, where do we see women that look like us sharing space and like the.

Media that we're consuming.

Meanwhile, I'm going to the nail salon every two weeks. So it's like something that's so part of our cultural subconscious where these communities don't necessarily intersect or overlap, there's no cultural exchange, but it's like happening every day in the ways that we live our lives.

That's a really important point. Media doesn't always reflect reality, and cultural exchange isn't always a formal process. It often happens in these much more subtle ways, in day to day interactions like at the nail salon. And these interactions, no matter how small, are important because it affects how people earn their livings and how people are able to live their lives alongside each other in a community.

And I think in so many ways that's like the foundation of a community. So all of these things and these issues are interconnected, and nothing bothered me more when people are talking about nails and the like it's just nails, and it's like the nail salon you go to, the coffee shop you visit every morning on your way to work,

It's not just getting your nails done.

Oftentimes, I think that's so so important.

I can remember when people were saying on the internet, when you see this type of font for the house number, gentrification is there. And it's like when you see a vegan donut shop.

Oh yeah, it changes everything.

Price is going up, a price is going And so we have to consider then these small interactions what they mean. That they are a small economic and cultural exchanges that shape the fabric of your community. The mail carrier, the nail tech, you choose, the nails of mind, you choose to go to the deli. All adds up and it's really meaningful.

You can create such an intimacy with someone during a two hour window every two weeks, over years oftentimes. And I think that contributes so much to our culture and how we see people and how we see ourselves, and it says a lot. You know, when I'm walking around with my nail chips, I feel a certain way. That's I think, an important feeling and the power to make

It's dismissed as frivolous.

I'm constantly being judged for my nails, the length of my nails, how much money I invest in my nails. I just remember growing up and so many people would be like, you ip ten hours getting your hair braided, and I'm like, yeah, I did, and I feel great.

You know, I love that.

That's exactly how I feel when I'm getting my hair done, my nails done. The things that we find important that make us feel good as black women or black fems, people will look down on it and say Oh, well, how much does that cost? How much time does it take? You were sitting in that tear all day. I don't understand why me making myself feel good, just because it's different from how you make yourself feel good, why I have to be judged because of that or looked down upon.

Yes, don't worry about how long it took for me to get these waste linked box braids.

Hello, Okay, it's my money, it's my time, and I get to decide how I want to use it.

And Crystal share basically the same sentiment, so be and judge for how she chose to spend her time or to invest in her own wellness.

Growing up in a very particular culture around black beauty and seeing how things have changed dramatically now is to like what is seen as beautiful and remembering getting bullied for having certain hairstyles when I was an elementary schooler, you know, watching my mom being judged for decisions that she made about her body and the way that she looks.

Now that some beauty rituals like getting your nails done, getting really long braides, things like that are recognized and valued in mainstream popular culture, it's really important for us to honor the experiences of black women and black fems who weren't always respected.

And that goes right back to that conversation we had both when we talked about black music, when we talked about linguistics being these trendsetters, but paying a price for this being your culture, right, paying a price for doing these things, and now folks are being rewarded and getting more likes and getting more opportunities and seeing us fashion forward.

Absolutely, I mean, we're talking about nails. It's really wild how we can look at Kylie Jenner or Kim Kardashian or some of these other white women who now are getting really intricate nail art, and I'm they're on covers of Vogue with those.

Nails, when before you can't work at the bank with those nails exactly exactly.

That's such a good point. It's just really crazy how things are changing. But as they change, no one is looking back and saying, you know, black women, black fems, they did this first.

And not only did they do it first, they paid a price when they were doing it, exactly, and now we're making a profit on it. People have lost jobs, people have been assaulted, people have lost their lives through their self expression, and this is all a part of it. Getting your nails done, self care, like being able to be your authentic self, move about this world, speak the way that comes naturally to you, adorn yourself the way

It's been really interesting to watch the evolution of something that felt important to me when I was younger, but now has become, like I said before, this cultural phenomenon in terms of like people who now have access and understanding to that space. And I still think that there's this like cultural division of like the nail salon space is like featured and see you next time, for example, versus kind of like the growing kind of celebrity culture

All right.

It's sound for the one thing, and it only makes sense that our one thing this week really centers around our episode and it's our guest expert, Crystal Kayizas see you next time.

It's such a great piece that really highlights everything that we were talking about in this lab, and it's so beautifully done. We highly recommend that all of you all check it out. There'll be a link to it in the episode description. And we'll also have a link in our show notes.

All right, that's it for Lab seventy.

We want to hear from you. Who's your favorite nil tech? What Instagram pages are you following? Where do you get your designed inspiration? Call us at two zero two five six seven seven zero two eight and tell us what you thought about this week's lab or give us an idea for a lab you think we should do this semester. So that's two zero two five six seven seven zero two eight.

And don't forget that there is so much more to dig into on our website. There'll be a cheap key for today's lab, additional links and resources in the show notes. Plus you can sign up for our newsletter check it out at Dope labspodcast dot com. Special thanks to today's guest expert, Crystal Kaiza.

You can find her film See You Next Time in the episode description right now just look and you can learn more about her work at Crystalcaiza dot com.

And you can find us on Twitter and Instagram at Dope Lab Podcast.

TT's on Twitter and Instagram at dr Underscore t Sho.

And you can find Zakiya at Ze said. So, Dope Labs is a Spotify. Original production from Mega Owned Media Group. Our producers are Jenny Rattlet Mask and Lydia Smith of WaveRunner Studios. Our associate producer from Mega Own Media is Brianna Garrett. Editing and scoring on today's episode is by Griffin.

Jennings, Mixing by Hannes Brown.

Original music composed and produced by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugier from Spotify. Creative producer Miguel Contreras.

Special thanks to Shirley Ramos, Jess Borrison, Jasmine Afifi, Kamu Elolia, Till crack Key, and Brian Marquis. Executive producers from Mega Ohmedia Group are us T T Show Dia and Zakiah Wattley.