ilovelongnails
Well-Known Member
Just wondering what other people's preferences are on here... Personally I'm not a fan of acrylic nails and prefer to grow my own. I just prefer the feel and look of real nails, and love tapping them on hard surfaces, which drives some people crazy. It's just not the same with acrylics! Lengthwise, about 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch is my ideal length, although I've had them up to an inch and a half before. Luckily I rarely break any nails and they are really strong (one of the bonuses of being male, I guess). Colourwise I like french manicures, fuschia pink and baby pink (not very stereotypical for a straight guy I know, but by GF encourages and supports me!)
I wore acrylics when I was younger, usually at weekends, which I enjoyed at the time because it wasn't feasible for me to grow my own nails at the time (my parents and schoolteachers were disapproving, not to mention bullying at school, but my mum has mostly come to terms with it now, and we even do eachother's nails sometimes). Her's are much more beautiful than mine although these days mine are usually longer, much to her jealousy.
Watching my mum spend hours meticulously filing, manicuring and painting her nails when I was a kid is what made me dream of one day having beautiful long nails myself in the first place, so it's her fault anyway! It always just looked so much fun (I was always very arty and creative as a kid), and now that I finally plucked up the courage to grow them out for real a few years ago, I can confirm that I love them just as much as I thought I would (hence my name)! And even though peer pressure to "conform" to "conventional" standards (who decides these rules anyway?!) was hard at first, I learned to ignore all the disapproving looks and rude comments and qctually have fun with my nails, often purposely wearing very bright, noticeable colours and going out of my way to make people notice them. Disapproving/disgusted looks made me laugh nowadays. Really it just shows how narrow minded, judgemental and intolerant people are.
I guess I'm lucky to not have ultra manly hands (I work from a computer, so no manual labour) and short nail beds, otherwise I don't think I could pull off long nails. Hopefully, being the 21st century and all, and a time when people celebrate equal rights (and right so), more people will realise equal rights is a two way street. A few decades a go, if a woman had worn jeans, that would have been considered masculine, inappropriate and offensive, but look how that has changed. Would be nice if it would change more in the other direction as well! I hope straight men enjoying having long, polished nails becomes more popular and less taboo as time goes by, because if it's fine for women to enjoy having nice long nails, why can't men enjoy them for the same reason (I do!). I just find them aesthetically pleasing and fun to take care of (plus my GF likes me scratching her back!) Anyway, thought I'd share my story. Interested to hear other people's!
Some pictures from over the last few years:
I wore acrylics when I was younger, usually at weekends, which I enjoyed at the time because it wasn't feasible for me to grow my own nails at the time (my parents and schoolteachers were disapproving, not to mention bullying at school, but my mum has mostly come to terms with it now, and we even do eachother's nails sometimes). Her's are much more beautiful than mine although these days mine are usually longer, much to her jealousy.
Watching my mum spend hours meticulously filing, manicuring and painting her nails when I was a kid is what made me dream of one day having beautiful long nails myself in the first place, so it's her fault anyway! It always just looked so much fun (I was always very arty and creative as a kid), and now that I finally plucked up the courage to grow them out for real a few years ago, I can confirm that I love them just as much as I thought I would (hence my name)! And even though peer pressure to "conform" to "conventional" standards (who decides these rules anyway?!) was hard at first, I learned to ignore all the disapproving looks and rude comments and qctually have fun with my nails, often purposely wearing very bright, noticeable colours and going out of my way to make people notice them. Disapproving/disgusted looks made me laugh nowadays. Really it just shows how narrow minded, judgemental and intolerant people are.
I guess I'm lucky to not have ultra manly hands (I work from a computer, so no manual labour) and short nail beds, otherwise I don't think I could pull off long nails. Hopefully, being the 21st century and all, and a time when people celebrate equal rights (and right so), more people will realise equal rights is a two way street. A few decades a go, if a woman had worn jeans, that would have been considered masculine, inappropriate and offensive, but look how that has changed. Would be nice if it would change more in the other direction as well! I hope straight men enjoying having long, polished nails becomes more popular and less taboo as time goes by, because if it's fine for women to enjoy having nice long nails, why can't men enjoy them for the same reason (I do!). I just find them aesthetically pleasing and fun to take care of (plus my GF likes me scratching her back!) Anyway, thought I'd share my story. Interested to hear other people's!
Some pictures from over the last few years: