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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   9305 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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I've been watching a lot of TikToks recently and I've been shocked at how many women on there have their nails done. Growing up I've always had a strong "ick" for manicured hands and I remember being grossed out by a cousin who visited my home who had her toenails painted in red. I've always assumed doing one's nails is something uneducated, trashy women do and although I never consciously revisited this assumption, the years I spent in academia definitely did not contain enough notable counterexamples to force me to reexamine it. Am I deluded, or do most other men also find painted nails gross & icky? For years I've always thought that this would be one thing that women do but had no idea how unattractive most men find it. Has there been any study done on the increasing popularity of women painting their nails? Pretty sure the answer is zero lol

It will get worse. As of now preteen girls gulp on content of youtube beauty influencers, and they are all-in when it comes to beauty products and the rest of it. Including the usual extremist pipeline from here is a night procedure for soft skin to > use homemade creams for early teenage girls to prevent aging. In fact the trend is so strong that it seeped over to the male side of social media with looksmaxing influencers like Clavicular who practice "jaw smashing" - hitting oneself with hammer to create the chiseled Chad square jaw and other nonsense.

Whatever you do, don't come to Scotland. I'm fine with nail polish, in general, but the nail extensions you can see in the trashier parts of the country are so long and garish they should probably count as edged weaponry.

I've always considered brightly painted (red or purple) shortish nails a Boomer thing.

Otherwise, I am quite similar to you. I don't mind French manicure or dark nail polish on fingers, as long as the nails have a pleasant oval shape, no nail extensions turning them into talons or chipped polish on short nails.

However, I don't claim that it's a universal thing for all men. Surely there's a depraved fetish community somewhere out there.

UPD: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses/679/ is the only study I could find, and it's only a student's thesis.

UPD2: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380748975_The_Chromatic_Influence_An_Investigation_of_Stereotypes_Surrounding_Nail_Color

I would say I mildly dislike it. A relatively subtle job, like a manicure, can look nice, but anything in bright colours I find a turn-off.

I'd hazard that it is among the many, many instances of fashion that are about either women competing among themselves, or women just amusing themselves, rather than anything to do with men.

Mostly neutral, although all other factors being equal I'd prefer no painting of nails. Garish colors are a turn off.

This is mostly because it seems fairly ubiquitous. I'd guess 90%+ of women get their nails done at least once a year.

Neutral to it, but some women like it as a class signifier. As in, I am elite enough not to need to perform manual labor, the proof is in my delicate fingernails.

Not a fan of sharp colors like red, that can look like a streetwalker. Low key designs and colors that are barely noticable are the best, they can have good artistry but are more pricy.

I am elite enough not to need to perform manual labor, the proof is in my delicate fingernails.

This is the same reason others see it as low class - it's announcing "I'm in a position where people could mistake me for a manual worker, so I need to do this to distinguish myself". Just another example of the barberpole of fashion.

No, I don't think the average man is disgusted by painted nails. I find the Empress Dowager Cixi-type nail extensions to be silly and impractical but have no visceral reaction to them, despite being on the extreme end of the prudishness spectrum when it comes to other types of body modifications e.g. tattoos, piercings, and dyed hair. I've also seen nothing to indicate that this practice is gaining in popularity in the real world.

I never had a sense that painting your nails in general was lower class behavior, and my mom, who is an engineer, often had painted nails when I was growing up (and still occasionally does.) Maybe it's a regional thing? Perhaps looked down on because of the vanity of focusing on your appearance in this way?

Now, what I do consider somewhat lower class is incredibly long nails, or fake nail extensions. My mom painted her finger and toenails, but she didn't keep her nails impractically long. She had work to do.

Maybe it's a regional thing?

At least internationally, for sure. Ironically, women in France almost never wear "French manicure", but anecdotally I'd say wearing nail polish in a muted color on short nails is more common than in the anglosphere. Practically all French (or western European women in general) I can think of at least sometimes paint their nails at home, and wouldn't even get acrylics for their wedding.

What level? Massive impractical extensions or just general nail painting?

For me the ick factor increases in proportion to the degree to which the appearance departs from the natural shape and color of the nail (with probably equal weight being given to color and shape) so that I'm not nearly as repelled by so-called nude nail polish

Same ick factor for me, I've noticed it growing in popularity with some small distress.

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