You may have thought giant weves and long painted talons were the province of inner city America, but you were wrong. The Tokyo Nail Expo 2009 is one of the hottest shows in town and is a bigger draw than the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta. Even with the sagging economy, the Japanese nail art business has grown to 200 million yen.
The annual exposition is a showcase for the latest trends in the the upscale world of nail design. It attracts women of all ages to a competition between professional nail artists seeking to display the most innovative and outlandish designs. Approximately 50,000 visitors descended upon the Japanese metropolis to attend the show this year to view the creation of whimsical designs, many of the 3-D and costing in the thousands of U.S. dollars.
I once worked with this woman who had wild nails like those above only hers were maybe twice as long. One day someone asked her how she tends to her hygiene with nails like that. (I wondered, too, but would never ask something so personal.) She told us she wraps the toilet paper around the nails and pats or something to that effect. Plus with nail art like that you don't want to wash your hands too often or they will weaken and peel. From then on I was perfectly nice to her, but never ever ever touched anything after she did. Never mind her a$$, can you imagine the state of her....?
