Nairobi women have accused male nail artists of peeping at their underpants.
The nail art vibandas have sprout all over town and the customers, mostly women, sit on elevated seats while the male manicurists sit at the same level with the clients’ feet and thighs at direct eye level.
Mary Mueni from Nairobi’s Umoja estate is a regular client at the “kiosk salons.” She told The Nairobian that she prefers male nail artists because they are better and cheaper compared to female ones in beauty parlours.
“The process takes over an hour, which tempts one to keep herself busy browsing through the phone. Little did I know that the guy’s eyes were flipping through my lily without my knowledge,” lamented Mueni, a 41-year-old single mother of two.
Agnes Akinyi, like Mueni, also prefers backstreet manicurists because they’re cheaper as “a pedicure costs Sh300, compared to Sh900 in a beauty parlour”, explains the 26-year-old college student.
She adds that the peeping starts when, say, a woman starts dosing off while the male pedicurist is shifting a client’s feet.
Besides the affordable charges, Julia Muiruri, another college student, prefers them for their strategic locations - most of them near bus stops and “besides being on the main road, the shades give one time to refresh freely,” says the 24-year old.
But even after some clients learn of what the male nail artists do, some still return to the same peeping Toms, like Roselyne Mudeizi, who does her nails every three weeks. “You know, it’s been a month or two and I keep going. I guess I am in denial”, says the 32-year old single mother. But a majority of male nail artists interviewed by The Nairobian said the peeping is sometimes unconscious and not intentional.
Dan Njoroge, who operates from Innercore in Umoja II estate, blames the sitting arrangement since “the client sits on a bench at a raised angle with one foot the ground. Your eyes are set directly at her things anytime you raise up your head. You are forced to look down even if she is talking to you.”