The Women Who Helped Shape Nail Culture: Celebrating Black Influence on the Nail Industry

The nail industry we know today has been shaped by countless hands.

By the people who wore the art. The artists who created it. The women who challenged ideas of what beauty could look like. The entrepreneurs who created new spaces for creativity. And the communities that turned nails into something much bigger than a beauty treatment.

Among them are generations of Black women whose influence can be seen throughout modern nail culture.

From expressive manicures worn by Black women decades before nail art entered the mainstream, to the artists creating some of popular culture’s most recognisable sets. From Donyale Luna wearing acrylic nails as they emerged into popular culture, to Flo-Jo making her famously long, colourful nails an unapologetic part of her identity, Black women have continually pushed the possibilities of nail art.

Their influence is woven throughout the industry we work in today.

This Black History Month, we want to celebrate that influence. But we also knew this wasn’t a story HONA should tell alone.

That’s why we’ve created this piece in collaboration with Mika John, bringing together our research with her experiences and perspective as a Black woman and nail professional working within the industry today.

Because while October gives us an opportunity to celebrate Black history, recognition, representation and credit shouldn’t begin on 1st October and disappear on the 31st.

Black history is nail history. And it’s a history worth knowing.

Before It Was a Trend

There was a time when long acrylics weren’t considered editorial.

They weren’t described as maximalist. They weren’t a Fashion Week beauty trend. They weren’t filling nail inspiration boards.

Many of these styles weren’t always celebrated by mainstream beauty in the way they are today. But within Black culture, nails had long been a powerful canvas for creativity, individuality and self-expression.

Long sculpted acrylics. Airbrushing. Rhinestones. Pierced nails. Hand-painted artwork. Bold colours. Dramatic lengths and shapes.

These weren’t new aesthetics waiting to be discovered by mainstream beauty. Many had already been worn, developed and celebrated within Black communities for decades.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture documents Black women’s adoption of acrylic nails from their emergence in the 1950s, highlighting women including Donyale Luna, Donna Summer, Diana Ross and Millie Jackson.

Through the decades that followed, nails became increasingly expressive, with Black women continuing to experiment with length, shape, colour and decoration and push the possibilities of what nail art could be.

Black women weren’t simply participating in modern nail culture.

They were helping shape it.

A Movement That Helped Shape Nail Culture

This story is bigger than any one name or iconic manicure.

Across generations, Black women have helped transform nails from something simply worn into something that could say something.

Nails became a canvas for creativity and identity. Lengths became longer, shapes became bolder and designs became increasingly expressive. A manicure could complement an outfit, reflect a personality, make a statement or simply exist for the joy of being seen.

And that creativity didn’t develop in isolation.

It lived in communities. Around nail desks and inside salons. Within music, fashion and popular culture. Ideas moved between clients and nail artists, were reimagined on different hands and continued to evolve.

Black music and entertainment helped carry that creativity to wider audiences. The elaborate manicures visible throughout hip-hop and R&B in the 1990s and 2000s didn’t create this culture; they gave a global stage to something that had already been developing within Black communities.

The artists behind those looks pushed the possibilities further still. Airbrushing, embellishment, sculpted lengths, hand-painted details and unexpected materials turned the nail into a tiny canvas where almost anything could be created.

Black nail artist Bernadette Thompson, for example, created Lil’ Kim’s iconic Money Manicure in 1995. The design would go from a music video to becoming part of the permanent collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art — an extraordinary journey that also reminds us to remember the artist behind the famous hands.

By the late 1990s, Thompson’s work was appearing within fashion campaigns and editorials, bringing an artistry flourishing within Black communities into new creative spaces and giving the nail artist greater visibility.

Here in Britain, Black influence was also helping shape a changing nail culture. British-Jamaican entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid would later connect nails with music, street style and fashion through WAH Nails, helping push nail artistry further into London’s wider creative conversation.

But some of the most influential hands in this story don’t belong to people whose names history recorded.

They belong to the countless Black women, clients and nail artists whose creativity travelled through families, salons and communities.

For Mika, some of those memories begin much closer to home:

“Nails were a big part of my life growing up. I remember watching my older sister sculpt acrylic around a plastic straw to create a spiral nail extension in the early 2000s.

“I would quite often go to the nail shop with my aunties and see artists paint sunsets and palm trees with tiny brushes. This was before gel, by the way, that cured in 30 seconds; a trip to the nail salon could easily become an all-day errand.”

Those memories capture something that lists of famous manicures never could.

Nail culture was being created and shared in everyday spaces too between sisters, aunties, clients and artists. Techniques were experimented with, inspiration was passed around and creativity existed long before an image could be uploaded to Instagram and labelled the next nail trend.

As Mika explains:

“Black women have always been part of nail culture, both as the people wearing the art and the artists creating it. But that presence hasn’t always been reflected in the imagery we see from brands.

“As a Black nail artist, I also think that along with recognising our contribution, it’s important to remember that there isn’t one style or experience that represents all Black women.”

That distinction matters.

Celebrating Black influence shouldn’t mean reducing Black nail culture to one aesthetic. Its influence is found in experimentation, artistry, community and the freedom to use nails as an extension of individual identity.

They wore the art. They created the art. They built spaces around it. And they helped change how the world saw it.

Representation Matters

Celebrating Black influence in the nail industry isn’t only about recognising its history.

It’s also about looking at the industry we see today.

Who do we see in nail imagery? Whose hands do we see when we’re searching for inspiration? Who is represented within education, campaigns and the wider nail community?

Despite the influence Black women have had on nail culture, representation hasn’t always reflected that contribution.

But representation is about more than imagery.

It’s about who gets heard. Who gets credited. Who gets opportunities. And who gets to see themselves reflected within the industry they’re part of.

Mika has seen positive changes during her time in the industry, particularly in something as fundamental as how products are shown:

“More brands are showing how the same gel polish colour looks on different skin tones, which is genuinely useful. A shade can read very differently against darker skin, so seeing it on a range of hands helps both nail techs and clients make informed choices.

“I’d love for that to become a normal part of how products are photographed and presented.”

And representation within products themselves matters too.

“As a nail artist, I’d also love to see a wider range of nude builder base shades in different depths and undertones, including warmer options rather than the standard pink or grey.”

It’s a practical example of why representation matters beyond simply being seen.

An inclusive nail industry should consider different skin tones not as an addition to the conversation, but throughout product development, photography, education and the everyday way products are presented.

For Mika, meaningful representation goes further again:

“To me, meaningful representation goes further than swatches. It means seeing Black hands in everyday product imagery and editorial campaigns, across all kinds of nail styles.

“It also means involving Black nail professionals in the creative work, listening to their perspectives and crediting their artistry. Going to a brand or company’s social media and seeing an inclusion of all skin tones makes me happy.”

Creating Spaces for Visibility

Representation also grows through the communities and platforms that create space specifically for Black beauty professionals to be seen, celebrated and connected.

For Mika, Black Beauty Magazine and Black Nail Techs UK are two important examples.

Black Beauty Magazine creates space for Black beauty professionals and their work to be recognised and celebrated, while Black Nail Techs UK helps people discover Black nail artists and gives those artists a space to showcase their work and connect with one another.

As Mika explains:

“Spaces like Black Beauty Magazine and Black Nail Techs UK matter because they give Black beauty professionals and nail artists somewhere to be seen and celebrated.

“That visibility can mean so much more than simply being featured. It can help people discover Black nail techs, create connections within the community and lead to new clients and opportunities.”

Platforms and communities like these are an important reminder that representation can create something tangible.

Being seen can lead to being discovered. Being discovered can lead to opportunity.

And creating spaces where Black professionals can connect, share their work and celebrate one another helps strengthen representation from within the industry too.

That word — everyday — feels particularly important.

Representation shouldn’t only become visible when there is a campaign specifically about representation.

It should simply be part of what our industry looks like.

More Than a Month

Black History Month gives us an opportunity to stop, learn and celebrate.

But the contribution we’re celebrating isn’t confined to October.

And neither should the recognition be.

Black women have been clients, creators, artists, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators and cultural tastemakers within the nail industry for generations.

Their influence can be seen in the artistry our industry celebrates, the techniques nail professionals use, the imagery we save, the fashion spaces nails now occupy and the freedom with which people use their manicures to express who they are.

And recognising that history should influence what we do next.

As Mika puts it:

“I’d love brands, including HONA, to keep showing Black hands, working with Black nail professionals and crediting their work throughout the year.

“Black History Month is a valuable time to reflect, but those opportunities and conversations should continue beyond October.

“I’d also love us to give more space to the artists and salon communities behind the looks we recognise. Famous nails become part of beauty history, while the people who designed them can receive much less attention.”

So for us, celebrating Black influence means more than publishing this article.

It means crediting artists.

It means representing Black hands.

It means listening to Black nail professionals.

It means understanding the cultural history behind our inspiration.

And it means making those things part of what we do throughout the year — not only when the calendar reminds us to.

At HONA, we’re still learning too.

That’s why we didn’t want this article to simply be HONA speaking about Black women’s contribution to our industry. We’ve created it alongside Mika, giving her space to challenge our research, share her experience and bring a perspective that research alone cannot give us.

Because this isn’t simply a story about where nail trends came from.

It’s about the women and communities who helped shape the culture around an industry we all love.

Their creativity deserves recognition. Their artistry deserves credit. Their voices deserve space. And their contribution deserves to be celebrated.

This month, and every month