The first nail salon in the United States opened in New York 1878 year

The nail salon of Mrs. Cobbs (in the engraving on the right), opened in New York, became the first not only in the city, but also in the country. Since then, the art of nail care has come a long way: from luxury to accessibility for almost everyone and from painstaking manual labor to the use of digital technologies.

The first nail salon, which was opened by entrepreneur Mrs. Cobbs in 1878, was located on West-23 Street, Manhattan. For those years, manicure was an expensive pleasure, the lot of women from high society, wives and daughters of wealthy people.

However, ten years later, the business of the enterprising Cobbs grew significantly. Not only wealthy women, but also theater actresses, young girls from middle-income families, and even priestesses of love became her regular clients. For the services of manicurists in Mrs. Cobbs's salon, visitors paid $1,25 per session - quite a lot of money in those days.

“Cobbs positioned herself as the founder of the art of manicure,” writes Suzanne Shapiro, author of “The History of Modern Manicure.” By the way, manicure of the 19th century was very similar to the modern procedure for simple nail care.

Since then, more than a hundred years have passed and these salons have ceased to be an unattainable luxury.

However, the main “revolution” in the world of the beauty of nails occurred at the end of the 20 century. Thanks to the thousands of immigrants from Asia (in particular, China and Korea), who opened cheap nail salons in New York, beautiful nails became available to the general population. Koreans and Chinese, in turn, practically monopolized the niche of budget nail care salons.

Today in New York there are more than 1300 salons where ladies and gentlemen can pamper themselves with manicure and pedicure. Basic nail care in New York today will cost 12-15 dollars, not counting the tips for the salon employee.