Why do Korean immigrant women choose to do nail and pedicure once they arrive to the US. This is something I couldn't understand, given all the business alternatives they have.

I strongly believe that the nail and pedicure industry as well as the shoe repair industry that so many Korean immigrants do once they come to the US, sets negative stereotypes and brings down their status as ethnic minorities in this foreign country.

Once a negative public relations image is set, it is hard to reverse. If nail and pedicure is all that your are seen doing, then people will accept that as the Korean standard of intelligence and will bring down anyone above that standard of achievement.

oh that's silly. leave those poor ladies alone. they (apparently) do a good job and get paid well comparatively. call it entrepreneurship. better than a wage slave.

nothing better than having your hair cut by a pretty korean woman.

heck yea it's all about money my friends work there and they are making a good sum annually...

one of my friends does that. old korean men go try to get pedicures done by her. ew. but at least they leave $50 tips to her

but i've known a good amount of korean beauty salon people. whether it be skin, hair, etc. they usually work in higher quality beauty salons so i dont know why its a very bad stereotype. but koreans also possess good stereotypes as well. like being business owners and landlords

It's better then starving, simple answer



if younghee is truly back you'll get used to ignoring her and bashing really quick at her rhetoric

Actually, the rent for these businesses run around $3,000-$4,000 per month. If you divide that by 30, assuming the Nail and Pedicure shop opens 7 days a week, the shop owner has to make at least $100 a day in profit to pay for daily rent which I doubt is possible as they charge $6 for filing and polish.

If you take the operating cost into consideration, rent and labor cost for employees, I think it is impossible to break even.

You like to assume the negative huh, most girls I know don't go to a nail shop and spend $6 dollars. The last one I went to and had to wait like 35 freaking mins cost her $40 dollars + tip and I had to sit in a smelly chemical shop

also assume that most the workers are working off of tips and lower then the min. wage. if they're not making a profit the store will not stay open and it's as easy as that. you're taking what you pressume is a negative thing (opening up your own store...?) someone has to do it and if they're making the money then all is good

my friend works in a nail salon. the way they do it there is that they actually have manicurists rent out seats at the shop.

and its like my aunt's shop. her rent was probably more . she had workers and a lotta other expenses to cover but she still brought home about 7000 a day.

women spend 1/3 of their expenses on nails. i think the demand is high.

however for a large part. those who come to america from korea are usually a bit better off anyways. i think most of the korean immigrants to me are largely business owners or were also well off in korea.

are there really that many nail places run by korean women?

i havent seen one in canada; must be an american thing.

yeah i haven't seen all that many in america either...

Really? I though nail salon business were predominantly a Vietnamese thing. There're a lot of Korean nail salon businesses but not as much as the vietnamese.

yeah i never known koreans to be in the nail business predominantly

i've never seen one personally outside of korean communities. but i suppose they must exist since another topic was made about it here some time ago. from what i remember, fvnyc said that they make a lot of money or someone said that.

I haven't seena Korean nail business ever... the one's i've seen all were vietnamese owned

I always suspected that the Nail and Pedicure industry was funded by a foreign operation, like the Yakuza or the Chinese Mafia. Who could pay for such rent by charging $6 per person? It's not as if all American women want to do is get their nail polished.

I remember the days when Americans used to boycott the purchase of grapes from Chile because they were being picked by exploited labor. I wonder if somekind of similar movement can be started in the US, as the Nail and Pedicure industry is really taking advantage of a marginalized Asian female population into subservience where equal rights are guaranteed by the Constitution regardless of national origin, age, race or gender. I do believe in the Nail curse as well which I think this country is being besieged by. It may be fun to make someone wash your feet and clip your toenails, but just think of the punishment that follows as a result.

In response to Adwaregator: Yes I do recall seeing Nail and Pedicure shops in Florida next to the Red Cross blood transfusion centers. Note, the Nail and Pedicure industry is not hygenic, as Hepatitis B and C can be contaminated as well as foot fungus into the mouth.

[to think i'm silly enough to waste time on this topic]

here goes. i think these beauty shops were pioneered by KAs and VAs have adopted the business model as late comers. they have been taking market share so to say by undercutting the KA competition, which may be indicative of the "profitability" of these enterprises.

YH, is your point that these things are slave labor practices? you've got to be smoking some seriously medicinal MJ.

i wouldnt say all or most nail places are backed up by organized crime.
and how did blood transfusions and foot fungus get in the same sentence? 2 2 2 2 i think people handling the blood transfusions are more careful than to allow the nail shop's foot fungus to cross over

i haven't seen many korean nail places but have seen very good korean beauty salons but no nail places.

I THOUGHT IT WAS A VIETNAMESE THING.
I REMEMBER IN THE VALLEY IN LOS ANGELES THAT THE KOREANS EITHER HAD A GENERAL SALON OR A HAIR PRODUCT PLACE.

or dry cleaners, landlord of buildings, etc. my aunt owned a general store (mostly sold jewerly, perfumes, beauty products, purses) and she made a lot of money

YES, ALSO THOSE NICE CLOTHING/FASHION STORES AROUND LA, THOSE ARE REALLY NICE. YOU CAN GET A NICE DRESS FOR A GOOD PRICE.

do you live near koreatown L.A. at all? i havent been there yet but i want to.

I've got a korean friend who does nails....doesn't own a shop mind you but just does nails and pulls in 80,000 a year. I think it's great.....

if you're thinking KA owned businesses in LA here are a few: commercial banks (at least three major ones), private equity funds, real estate investment trusts, advertising agency, two radio stations, one independent tv station, lots of car dealerships, movie theatre, shopping malls, apparel companies (mostly jeans), and hotels/hospitality (discos!). you'd be surprised how deep the business community is here in LA.

and this doesn't list the professions like doctors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc.

LA Koreatown Biz Dev

search younghee's posted topics and you'll kinda guess why she asks these weird questions that are sometimes unrelated to the topic

Awww man. To think I've never even gotten my nails done.

Oh, and adding onto what some others were saying, the Korean-owned and Vietnamese-owned nail salons seem to make an extremely good deal of cash from urban folks in particular. I remember when I was in high school and middle school when the majority of my female classmates would constantly comment on going to get their "nails did by Chinese people".... ...not that they were Chinese, but you know...

Due to negative racial stereotyping resulting from the proliferation of the nail and pedicure industry, I think educational opportunities that were available to the previous generation is made difficult to Korean-American youth. I think it increases the already existing racial barriers and makes functioning in every day life even more difficult for Korean-American women because discrimination has gotten worse.

The industry also stigmatizes the lack of double eye lid that most Koreans have, to almost a leper status.

don't be stupid younghee. the current Korean-American generation is one of the most educated groups in recorded history. from both Korea and the US. while there are still many nail shops around, that is most definately a different generation. don't worry about the educational barriers that face koreans b/c korea itself is a leader in genetics and nano-technology and Korean-americans have been out performing the japanese (american) group scholastically for the past decade.

better than nothing.
I've never seen a Korean shoe repair shop. Or an Asian one in general.

yeah. my aunt wanted to start a bank chain. in chicago, FOster Bank was started i think by some koreans with only about 10 workers. but it was successful and made multiple chains of Foster Bank to help suit koreans. my uncle's friend owns a car dealersship as well.

a great story thats inspirational to immigrants anywhere:
- a korean couple starts off in america with a snack shop in a mall or something. then sells that and buys a popcorn stand, sells that and saves enough to start a dry cleaner, sells that and gets a building, sells that and buys out a plaza, and then i think a mall. and from there, i think even more property.. and now they're freaking rich.. i will edit it because i do not know if that order of businesses is correct but im pretty sure it is. my mom's family was close friends with them since the beginning.



i meant to specify 1/3 of the beauty expenses are on nails. i have not seen many nail shops from koreans but beauty shops and those are usually trendy and high quality.


how does nail industry stigmatize double lids/? i have double lids.. leper status? explain this leper status to me.

I think it's a great way to make money, if I was a woman I'd get into that industry.

when i think of manicures, i think vietnamse. when i think of liquor store, i think of koreans.

To: Funkycoldmedina


You talk about stem cell research and how Koreans are outstanding in the field.
Yeah, but are they Korean immigrants in the United States? I don't think so.
From what I've heard, the Korean man who is famous for stem cell research is a research scientist at Seoul National University in Korea.

I think the classroom situation and how you are received as a Korean in the US is going to be much different than in Korea, because of the negative stereotypes set by the Nail and Pedicure Industry. Most likely than not, you are going to be perceived as an underachiever.

It's a vulnerable candle in the wind situation to begin with for Korean kyopo yiseis. And I think the negative stereotyping is going to take a toll on the Korean yisei and 1.5 generation.

The last time I was at a Nail salon I got the impression that the women working there has some kind of suicide wish for their children. Plus, I do think it's rather cruel for the mothers to wash feet and then fix meals for their children.

but since you brought up "stereotypes" younghee. i dont think many people stereotype koreans with the nail industry usually at all. almost half the koreans in the U.S. are business owners and probably the highest rates of business owners amongst asian people

where in fl did you go to a krn nail salon/seen one, I'd really like to know.

People don't associate koreans with nail salons so there isn't a negative stereotype to begin with.

From a person believing that the nail salon makes $6 a person and can't possibly stay open I doubt you've went to a nail salon. I'd like to call BS, you're probably at home all day lol

I see that younghee is back asking stupid questions, declaring half-truths and making idiotic observations.




First of all, Korean immigration to the U.S. has trickled to insignificant numbers nowadays.

Second, the earliest Korean immigrants after 1968 were mostly physicians, engineers, scientists, students (hence, the "brain drain") and most of the recent immigrants are well-to-do.

As for those who are gainfully employed as workers in nail salons, convenience stores, restaurants, cleaners, etc. (not to mention the owners) - this is no different from any other immigrant group (Asian or non-Asian), esp. where lack of fluency in English is a problem for new immigrants.




You need to get your figures right before you come to any conclusions (your numbers are way off).



As I had stated prior, all immigrant groups have those who work in these labor intensive industries primarily due to being non-fluent in English.

Nonetheless, it's not like nail salon workers are "impugning" the reputation of Korean-Americans.

Korean-Americans suffer the same "model minority" stereotype that all other Asian-Americans do (plus, it's not like the average white American is going to be able to differentiate among the various Asian ethnicities).

Seconded.

I thought it was very strange indeed that the name of the terrorist Osama Bin Laden could be decoded in Korean to mean the following.

O= five in Korean
Sam= three
A= child
Bin=empty in Korean
Laden= oppressed in English

2 younghee is hilarious

The jury is still out on the psychology of younghee.

Wow that is strange

after reading a few posts, i'm pretty sure younghee is a japanese guy.

she is really curious on japan

I love younghee!! I'm a fan of her posts

I also want to make sweet love to her but i don't think that will happen

are you for real? 2

i love her thinking! Have you seen some of her posts awhile back? THey make me laugh out loud and the funny thing is, they aren't even meant to be funny.

I like eccentric girls. They're interesting. And sex with her would be totally unreal. A truly unique experience.

^ Presuming younghee isn't a Japanese guy.

she doesn't sound very guy-ish. im sure she's a girl.

and isn't younghee a korean name?