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Women love the look. Bright red
nail polish is sophisticated and sexy. Hot pink is chic. A French manicure looks
professional and clean. The demand for beautiful nails has created a $6.43
billion nationwide industry, with nail salons dotting strip malls across South
Florida and the country.
But the pursuit of beautiful nails can be risky.
Consumers have suffered infections, allergic reactions, loss of nails and even,
in rare cases, hepatitis after receiving manicures and pedicures from nail
salons that don’t maintain health and safety standards.
State inspectors issued 435 citations between June
2005 and July 2006 to South Florida cosmetology shops, which include nail and
beauty salons, a Sun-Sentinel computer analysis found. The records, the latest
available, show at least 163 of those citations were issued to nail salons.
During the prior fiscal year, 182 nail salon citations were issued, compared to
99 in 2003-04.
State officials could not say whether the increase in citations over the past
two fiscal years reflects growing problems with nail salon operations, better
enforcement of state laws or an increase in the number of shops.
The Sun-Sentinel analyzed inspection data collected by the Florida Department of
Business and Professional Regulation for the years 2003-06. The analysis found
citations were issued to small one-stop operations as well as salons run by
well-known franchises.
Inspectors cited dozens of nail salons for ignoring sanitation rules, failing to
use disinfectant to sterilize tools, storing dirty instruments with clean ones
and, in some cases, allowing unlicensed employees to work for months.
Nancy King, a nationally known nail-salon expert and editor of Nail Pro
Magazine, said there’s a need for better regulation and enforcement of health
and safety laws, and more training for salon technicians.
“What’s happening in Florida is the tip of the iceberg,” King said, when told of
the Sun-Sentinel’s findings. “Students are not tested in how to disinfect their
tools. And many students are not even aware of health problems such as not
treating someone who is diabetic because they have a high risk of infection and
their cuts won’t heal.”
In Florida, state field inspectors conduct undercover operations to identify
unlicensed workers and repeat offenders, said Mark Reddinger, who oversees
licensing activities for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
But the state has only 16 inspectors to scrutinize 19,617 licensed cosmetology
shops and 37,420 nail specialists, along with barbershops and veterinary
facilities. Five inspectors are responsible for 6,422 cosmetology shops and
thousands of nail specialists in South Florida. State officials said they
inspect shops every year, but that would require each inspector to conduct
nearly five inspections a day.
When asked how inspectors could conduct that many checks a day, Reddinger
acknowledged “it is impossible to reach a 100 percent inspection completion”
each year. But Reddinger added that the state makes it a priority to check any
shop that hasn’t received an inspection in the previous 12 months within the
next year.
Doug Schoon, co-chairman of the Arizona-based Nail Manufacturers Council of the
Professional Beauty Association, said inspections are not as frequent as they
should be in most states.
“In general across the country, establishments are being inspected about once
every five to six years,” said Schoon, whose association represents professional
nail product manufacturers. “And in some states inspectors don’t even know what
they are looking for because most states don’t train them [inspectors]
properly.”
State records show consumers have filed 4,004 complaints in Broward, Palm Beach
and Miami-Dade counties since 2003 alleging injuries, infections and unlicensed
activities at nail salons and other cosmetology establishments. Records include
consumer allegations that manicurists didn’t sterilize tools, and that some
consumers contracted fungal or bacterial infections after pedicures.
The state board of cosmetology has issued 24 suspensions in South Florida since
2003 and collected about $240,000 in fines. State records don’t indicate how
many of those shops were nail salons or offered nail services.
Citations can be issued for a single violation or multiple infractions. Fines
assessed ranged from $50 for a minor offense — not displaying the last
inspection report, for instance — to $500 for a serious offense, such as not
having a state license or hiring untrained workers. When a citation is
challenged, the record is not public until the state’s cosmetology board rules
on the case. State officials said about 25 percent of citations are disputed and
not public record.
Industry officials and state regulators said most nail salons are clean and
follow state regulations.
“There are more germs in your kitchen and countertops than there are in nail
salons,” said Trisha Trackman, a consultant for the Chicago-based International
Nail Technician Association, which represents salon professionals.
But consumer advocates said the Sun-Sentinel analysis spotlights a growing
problem in an industry where immigrants with minimal English skills can obtain
jobs easily.
No federal agency tracks nail-salon problems. But industry experts and consumer
advocates said cosmetology-training programs are outdated in most states and
they estimate hundreds of unlicensed employees work in California, Texas and
Florida.
In Florida, a nail specialist must complete 240 hours of training to obtain a
license. No test is required. By comparison, a nail specialist in California
must complete about 600 hours of training and pass a test.
“Cosmetology boards [and state legislators] across the country are letting
consumers down by passing bogus regulations and not enforcing sanitation and
health inspection codes,” Schoon said.
Schoon and King contributed to efforts in California to create guidelines for
pedicure safety after a 2000 outbreak tied a single nail salon in Watsonville,
Calif., to infections in 110 people. They said they hope the guidelines — which
include disinfecting foot spas after each client and at the end of the day, and
heavier fines for salons that fail to follow state rules — become a model for
other states.
California has 18 inspectors and 38,000 licensed shops. The Board of Barbering
and Cosmetology’s annual budget is $15 million. Florida’s 2005 budget for its
inspection program was $637,000 and the state has not adopted the California
guidelines.
Lara Lee Courts, 44, a Palm Beach Gardens homemaker, filed a complaint in 2004
alleging a nail specialist cut her while doing a manicure at U.S. Nails in North
Palm Beach. Courts said she was concerned because the manicurist did not clean
the tools before she used them with the next client.
“I felt uneasy about it,” Courts said.
After Courts filed the complaint, a state inspector issued a citation alleging
sanitation violations were found. State records show U.S. Nails has been cited
five times since 2001 for alleged licensing and sanitation violations. Last
August, the Florida Board of Cosmetology suspended the salon’s license for six
months and ordered owner Myn Tran to pay a $1,040 fine.
Tran, 45, who owns another salon that has also been cited for alleged repeat
offenses, denied Courts’ allegations. In an interview, he dismissed the
violations as minor.
“Sometimes they [manicurists] are forgetful when they are busy,” Tran said,
adding that he has paid the fines and made improvements to his shop so he can
continue to operate.
In 2003, a Broward County jury found The Breakers, a five-star Palm Beach County
hotel, negligent and awarded a South Carolina retired nurse $847,267 in damages.
Julie Lofink claimed she developed osteomyelitis, a bone infection, after
getting a manicure at the hotel’s spa, court records show. She lost movement in
her thumb.
Ann Margo Peart, a Breakers spokeswoman, said the hotel’s attorneys appealed the
verdict and later reached an out-of-court settlement, but that the terms are
confidential.
Steven Teebagy — an attorney who in 2004 won a case against JC Penney in Boynton
Beach Mall on behalf of a woman who said she got an infection after she got a
manicure — said nail-salon owners should not merely meet state requirements, but
go beyond them to ensure customer safety
“These [nail specialists] are people who are not physicians, but they are moving
human tissue around and in many cases with unsanitary tools,” Teebagy said.
Susan M. Ramirez, 46, a baker for Broward County Public Schools, was a regular
customer at Nail Trix at the Sawgrass Mills Mall until a cut she received with a
pumice stone became infected, she said.
Ramirez filed a complaint in 2004 alleging the manicurist did not clean a wash
basin and properly store the bloody pumice stone with other instruments after
completing the pedicure. Shortly after Ramirez filed the complaint, a state
inspector cited the salon, alleging numerous violations.
Nail Trix has been cited at least five times between 2001 and 2004 for alleged
violations including failing to use disinfectant and inadequate licensing,
records show.
During a recent visit to Nail Trix, a reporter asked to see a copy of the last
inspection report, which was not posted in plain view as required by law. Phong
Nguyen, the salon owner, said he wasn’t aware the inspection form needed to be
posted. Nguyen, who lives in Maryland, said his employees have corrected
deficiencies. written by: Barbara Hijek
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