WOODBURY– Not every high school girl has a hundred bucks on hand to pay for a fresh salon manicure every three or four weeks. As a result, many students have turned to learning how to do their own nails, open their own business, and offer nail services to other students for half the price they would find them in the salon. 

One NHS sophomore, Isla Jones, started her own nail business recently.

“I initially got into nail art because I saw TikToks about people doing them,” Jones says. “It looked pretty fun, and from there, my nail business just grew.”

Jones also notes the growth Nonnewaug has seen in the demand for nail services over the past few years.

“Originally when I started, nobody was doing them, but since then, the nail business has boomed,” Jones says. “There are plenty of kids doing them now.” 

Among those students doing nails is NHS junior Krystal Lionhood who created her nail business hoping to provide students with reasonably priced and quality nail services. 

“The inspiration came when I went to the nail salon,” Lionhood says. “I got my nails done for a pretty simple design and they were a hundred dollars. I realized it would be so much cheaper if I just did them myself, so I did.” 

Lionhood built her skills by practicing on her sister and eventually on friends and progressed to the point that others suggested that she offer her nail art to fellow students. From there, she advertised her business by having her sister’s boyfriend set up an Instagram account to display some of her previous work. 

For some students, these nail businesses have become part of their routine. Lily Rich, a freshman at Nonnewaug, often gets her nails done by fellow freshman Kailey Burgos who just started her nail business and charges nothing for her services. 

“It’s nice to know I’m supporting a local business,” says Rich. “Kailey is really talented at nails, so I know I can always rely on her for quality instead of just going to any regular salon.”

For some NHS nail artists, their side hustles don’t just stop after graduation. 

“I started to do nails my senior year at Nonnewaug,” says NHS alum Ava Parks. “I continue to do nails at UConn and I operate my small business with Instagram.”

Parks started her journey experimenting with nails last year.

“I have always been artistic,” Parks says. “My older stepsister had a nail kit so I asked if I could play around with it one time, and I realized I was good at doing designs.” 

From there, her business boomed.

“I have tons of people coming to me looking for nails for vacations, prom, formals, or just to have their nails done for daily life,” says Parks. 

Parks has noticed a large jump in popularity of nail small businesses as well.

“The community has definitely grown,” she says. “People, not just at Nonnewaug but at UConn, seem to know that students do nails for each other. I only knew of about two people who did nails when I started and now I could probably find ten or more people on Instagram with accounts for nails.” 

The expansion in Nonnewaug’s nail businesses allows not only for kids to get quality nails for cheaper, but it also supports students’ local buisnesses.