I often marvel at the artistry of some women’s nails on Instagram, while riding the subway, and when networking. You know how the conversation goes. “Girl, I love your nails!” Then all of a sudden you reach for her hand and then you ask, “Where do you get your nails done?” And then she responds… but 9 times out of 10, it’s not a black-owned salon. And while there is nothing “wrong” with that, the deeper issue that presents itself is the one that went viral at an Asian-owned Brooklyn salon. Which naturally sparked debates, protests, and the question, “Where are all of the black nail salons?”
The video that captured the melee between Asian nail salon workers and black women customers at New Red Apple Nail in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, over a botched $5 eyebrow service was not only appalling, but, it was the manifestation of the blanketed discrimination and tension that exists between the non-black community of nail salon owners and black female consumers.
My experience alone as a black woman who frequents Asian-owned nail salons is always a little tricky. No. 1, I don’t have a solid relationship with any of the nail technicians (although I have tried and have remembered names to be
conversational)—therefore I am often just another black woman when I walk through the door. So, I go in smiling so that others let their guards down and greet me warmly. Or, I’m simply next in line to be serviced and treated as someone who has extremities and money so there’s no need to speak. Sounds extreme, right? But, unfortunately, that is a reality for quite a few women.And while not every black woman has had a negative experience, we’ve all heard the running jokes about nail salons and how women of black and Latinx descent are treated. But, something tragic (like what happened in Brooklyn) has to happen before we say, “You know what… I’m going to look for a black nail salon that I can go to.”
Here is a list of black-owned salons in New York you can patronize.
Black-Owned Nail Salons in NYC:
Harlem:
Junie Bee Nails
2330 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard
New York, NY 10030
%CODE1%
The Nail Suite by Lisa Logan
2388 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd
New York, NY 10030
%CODE9%
Bed of Nails
*Temporarily closed for relocation
%CODE2%
Brooklyn:
Barry’s Beauty Bar
859 Flatbush Ave Suite #2
Brooklyn, NY
%CODE3%
The Nail Belle
199 Malcolm X Boulevard @ Putnam Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11221
%CODE4%
The Nail Boutique – Clinton Hill
983 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11238
%CODE5%
The Nail Boutique – Stuyvesant Heights
326 Lewis Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11221
%CODE6%
NailBed
317 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217
%CODE7%
Free Edge Beauty Studio
470 Sterling Place
Brooklyn, NY 11238
%CODE8%
Queens:
Barry’s Beauty Bar
145-16 243rd St
Rosedale, NY 11422
%CODE10%
Long Island:
DEŔA Ebele’s Nail Boutique
350 Franklin Ave
Franklin Sq. NY 11010
%CODE11%
If you want to share your favorite black-owned salon in your city please drop the name of the establishment in the comments section below.