Pre-pandemic, NailBed & Bar clients would sip champagne and nibble on “Black Girl Magic popcorn” while being pampered and singing along to a ‘90s R&B playlist. “We’re definitely known for our playlist,” says Jhavon “Jay” Kashif, owner and Ward 7 resident.

NailBed & Bar, a luxury nail bar located on Minnesota Avenue SE, reopened this past summer during Phase 2 of D.C.’s reopening plan, after being closed for 4-and-a-half months. Kashif applied for a city-funded grant called Great Streets to make it through the closure, but her small business didn’t qualify because it wasn’t within the geographic boundaries needed to be considered.

Kashif kept the business afloat by selling NailBed & Bar products, hosting virtual “sip events” where clients gathered over a glass of wine, and using her personal funds. When the business reopened its doors in July, Kashif was uncertain about whether the nail bar would survive and retain its customer base. NailBed & Bar reached out to all the clients whose reservations were cancelled due to COVID first for priority booking, and then moved on to new reservations. Ever since, “the demand has not been questioned” and some clients booked reservations until the end of the year, says Kashif.

NailBed & Bar, which has a staff of four nail technicians, usually sees 10 to 12 clients daily, and, depending on the type of service, can see up to 20 clients.

The salon has come to feel like an “essential service” for her clients during the pandemic, Kashif says. Amid the profound stress and anxiety of this time, they’re seeking a “retreat experience” that helps them to unwind and “to feel appreciated, to feel worthy, to feel connected.” Her salon is uniquely positioned to offer ward 7 and 8 residents that kind of experience, Kashif says, as it’s the only luxury nail salon east of the Anacostia River.

One client, Joi Booker, 34, who’s married with two boys, says she needs and longs for the community at NailBed & Bar. “I’m the only feminine energy flowing through my home. When I go there, it feels like a community of women, positive energy, and just luxury,” she says. “I don’t always need my nails done every two weeks… They’re always like you could go longer, but I’m like, ‘Yeah, then I wouldn’t get to see you all.’”

During the first months of the pandemic, Booker purchased a manicure and pedicure kit from NailBed & Bar, but she missed the community of the physical space. “I genuinely love them. They really are kind and good people. The music’s always right, the candles are always lit, and the conversation is good,” she says.

Kashif says that some clients are booking due COVID-related stresses.

“We’ve definitely had an increase of fathers calling saying, ‘my wife has been holding the family down with cooking, cleaning, and making sure our children are present for virtual learning, while maintaining her own [virtual] meetings, but she needs a break,’” says Kashif. “We’ve also heard people saying, unfortunately, ‘we just lost a family member to COVID, and [my wife] hasn’t been out of the house. I’ve seen that you guys are really taking COVID seriously with pre-screenings and requirements, can I get her in?’”

Kashif says the nail salon has taken a number of new COVID safety measures. Services are now by appointment only, and the front door of the salon remains locked to prevent too many people from walking in at once. When new clients enter, their temperature is taken and recorded. Then clients are asked to wash their hands, select a color, and sanitize their hands. Clients then receive a disposable cover for their chair.

“Should something happen, we are totally eliminating the thought of, ‘Oh, that could have occurred at NailBed and Bar,’ through our pre-screenings … and the number of appointments we take on a daily basis,” says Kashif.

Despite some safety precautions and related changes in the salon, Kashif has worked to preserve as much of the old experience as possible, often in a business-savvy way. She now sells salon’s signature sangria, a keepsake glass, and “Black Girl Magic popcorn.” The butter popcorn is sealed in a pink pastel colored bag, the same color as the NailBed & Bar logo. The popcorn nutrition facts panel says: Calories: YOLO and instead of typical “total fat,” “sodium,” and “total carb” facts, the contents read Self-Love: 100%, Melanin: 100%, Slayage: 100% and other nutritional values to remind clients of their “worth.”

Some of the salon’s clients are essential workers, including teachers, nurses, doctors, and politicians.

Maryland resident Michael Brewster, 45, is a Metro driver, and every month he comes to NailBed & Bar with his wife and sometimes on his own. He says that he and his wife come to relax and be pampered. When he comes alone, it’s because he wants to take care of his feet, as he’s a former athlete. Kashif says about 30% of clients are men.

Brewster says nothing has changed about the experience after the pandemic, “but last time, I didn’t get to sip.”

One of his reasons for choosing NailBed & Bar is to support a Black-owned business, Brewster says. “There’s a lot of stereotypes about Black people. That people are lazy, that they don’t know how to do anything, that they don’t know how to run anything,” he says. “But I have not found that with the businesses I support, and I don’t mind telling people about them.”

Kashif says she only knows of two or three other Black-owned nail salons in the District. While she says there should be more, it also gives her a competitive advantage because she and her technicians can connect and bond with her Black and Brown clientele in a culturally specific way. “We act as your therapist, your sounding board. We give solicited advice or unsolicited advice about your business ventures,” she says. “We talk about Lovecraft Country, entanglements, Verzuz battles, voting, and have other bar chats.”

NailBed & Bar doesn’t just cater to adults — it has also curated a program for girls called Colour Class, aclass for girls ages 6 to 15 to learn self-care, self-love, and entrepreneurship. This past summer, participants from North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, California, and the D.C. area logged on for the five-week virtual class. The attendees received a nail kit, workbook, and affirmation cards.

Kashif ran the program and talked with the girls about nails and how they’re connected to self-care, self-empowerment, and self-reflection. The $110 program covered everything from nail shape to money management and side hustling. The program, held on Mondays, is now on hiatus since school is in session. Kashif plans to restart the program in the winter, but is considering both virtual and in-person options, so that D.C.-area participants have the option of not engaging with another screen during the week.

When she started the business, Kashif says, her market research showed that “people either didn’t know they needed this or didn’t think they deserved this [because they live East of the River].” (About 30% of clients are from Ward 7; 30% from other D.C. wards; and 40 percent from Maryland, Virginia, or visitors from other states, per Kashif)

Kashif says she’s a visionary that saw opportunity east of the river when others tried to convince her to start the business elsewhere. She says her friends and family thought she was crazy to decide to build and live in Ward 7. They told that “something as luxurious as NailBed & Bar doesn’t belong here. And that’s really what fuels us to continue going. Because [me and my staff] live here and we love to patronize small businesses from here,” she says.

After earning a fashion and business degree, Kashif was uncertain of where her career was headed. But after managing medical spas for seven years, she became intrigued by the beauty industry and decided tocreate a similar “retreat experience” in her hometown of D.C. “I always loved getting my nails done. I always wanted a place where I could go and have a good time, have a good experience, and a retreat,” she says. “And that didn’t exist in D.C., unless you were going to a spa.”

As she mopped the nail salon’s floor at 8 a.m. on a recent morning to prepare for opening, Kashif explained that her mission goes deeper than the manicures and pedicures themselves. “What keeps me going is knowing that NailBed & Bar is more than a nail salon,” she said. “It’s something that this community deserves, that Black women deserve. It’s just necessary.”