Ms. Sparkles Chats about New York Times: "The Price Of Nice Nails"

It is still Wednesday right Sparklers?  I made my deadline? Hooray!

As you know, I'm very passionate about bringing you original content from my brain to yours.  However, recent events mean that I've been really busy and I also think I'm getting sick (sad face). Rather than leave you all without a dose of Ms. Sparkles this week, I want to do a quick "Ms. Sparkles Chats" post to point you towards this amazing 2 part piece in the New York Times called "The Price of Nice Nails" and "Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers". If you have not heard of it, it was an expose by Sarah Maslin Nir.  In this piece, the New York Times found that "Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse".  I found this piece very interesting and very moving.  Did I tear up?  Yes, yes I did. 

Picture taken by Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times.  This image is property of the the New York Times and/or Nicle Bengiveno.  I'll gladly take it down if someone contacts me about it.  

As part of the collective world of beauty, I think it is important to make sure we do our best to be as ethical as possible.  I think it is our job as humans to try and be aware and conscious of social issues in general.  The conditions described in this article were horrible and really brought awareness to the issues with some nail salon businesses.  I get cranky when I see people not treating those preforming salon services (or any service industry job) like machines/non-humans.  A simple smile or "hello, how are you" goes a long way guys.  That person helping you is someones child/parent/sibling/friend.  That was before becoming very aware of the horrible conditions some nail salon workers face every day!  I'm quite determined to make sure I do not support unethical nail salons in the future.  Hopefully after reading this article, you will take it into consideration in your decision making process.  End Rant.

I do not want to go into too much detail about the article because I really think you should read the real thing.  It is expertly written and very interesting.  I could not do it justice in trying to summarize the article for you.  I will, however, provide you with copious links to the article, so that you have no excuse not to know where to click to read the article.  Do you know where the article is yet?  If you were wondering, there is a link at the bottom right of the article to go part 2!  Do so please!

After learning about this article initially through KQED's May 12, 2015 episode of Forum, I was made aware of this great organization for my fellow California-NailSalon-Goers  called "California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative".  I'm not sure if they have such an organization that can guide you to voluntarily more ethical nail salons, but on the Forum episode, the representative noted that they are willing to work with other cities and citizens to get this type of program established.  If you feel passionately about getting such a program started in your area, you should try and contact them!  Maybe you can google to find a similar thing in your area already!

Overall, I thought that this article, podcast, and collaborative organization were really informative and needed to be shared.  I felt it was my duty to offer the opportunity to learn to my lovely Sparklers too.  This way Sparklers can make as informed decisions as possible before getting their nails done!  Hooray!

Hope you enjoyed this chat!

As Always,
Shine & Sparkle