Why are women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds so obsessed with getting their nails done?

The really long talons are becoming popular amongst all classes, I think. They are ugly as sin.

Cynthia Erivo favors them.

Because it easy to get your nails done. Only need a bit of money

It’s hard to lose weight, can’t change your hair texture or fullness, and a fancy wardrobe cost money.

True, R2 - I’ve usually found that obese women might be a mess everywhere else but they always have very well-tended nails.

What r2 said. But my wealthiest students, the thinnest ones who drive Aston Martins and Ferraris, also love that long nail tacky look.

I really don't know how they can function with nails that are so long and are often filled into sharp points.

They aren't highly educated, they think they're pretty.

Women from all social classes get their nails done on Lawn Guyland, but certainly not that tacky talon nonsense.

Have you ever had a mani, pedi, back rub OP? It’s addictive.

Why go gay men care so much about women?

I'm gettin' a little too old for that whorey look.

ElderLez/r7 is right. Manicures are divine. I developed arthritis, so manuevering cuticle scissors is annoying and I was never much good at it to begin with. It requires a dexterity and coordination and I'm fundamentally clumsy. I get the hot stone variety that involves massaging up to the elbows. No talons for me, though.

It’s not too hard to figure out. Talons, hair extensions, clown makeup, revealing clothes, back alley injections, etc., make them feel pretty and rich celebrities (e.g., the Kardashians, Cardi B).

*like rich celebrities

OP, women of all socioeconomic backgrounds get their nails done. It's the lower that prefer the 'odd' styles -- VERY long, VERY pointed, double-colored, 'tattooed'. Upper and middle-class just want a cuticle trim, straight nail file, and minimal color.

OP, I forgot to add: They are also obsessed with tattoos and getting their hair done. It all has to do with claiming their own look.

I'll take the nails over lower socioeconomic men's loud Chargers, crotch-rockets, coal railers (is that the word?), bass amplifiers that shake everything within a 2 block radius and other obnoxiously loud vehicles.

But I really dislike the pointed nail look - it doesn't look good on anyone. Reminds me of Nosferatu 1930s film.

I'm old enough to remember when visible tattoos were considered trashy and antisocial. You couldn't get a respectable job if you had a tattoo. The same goes for unnatural hair colors. Now, members of Congress have pink hair!

Streisand nails

Disgraceful. Disgraceful!

The worst are those super pointy ones.

R17 - Barbra's hands are actually remarkably beautiful.

I remember my mom commenting on it when I was a kid and I found it such a weird thing to say. But it's true.

Her hands need the nails to extend them even more dramatically.

Many women get their nails done. Think about how many nail salons there are in this country. They're everywhere.

R21 - the number of nail salons have definitely grown the last 30 years - a LOT. I feel like it's a 'keeping up with' mentality that's been pushed onto women.

Sure it's nice to have them done and a manicure can feel good - but I don't recall THAT many women getting their nails done 25-30 years ago.

Some of the prices are crazy though.

They're obsessed with birthdays, too. Particularly kids'. They'd turn tricks to pay for a bunch of birthday paraphernalia from Dollar Tree, esp. the helium balloons.

I don't know how they can type on a keyboard with those long nails. I've seen cashiers struggle with those long nails, punching in the amount etc.

It can’t be just her trademark manicured nails that make Babs’s fingers seem so long. Those pointers look real damned lengthy all on their own, even. Gurl is part extraterrestrial.

R24 - that's just the obvious stuff. Grabbing ANYTHING. Wiping your ass. Tying your shoes. It feels like a self-imposed disability.

I'm sure they learn work-arounds quickly, but no thank you.

Showboat vulgarians = 94% of all women under 76

r20: Yes, Ms. Streisand. Whatever you say.

That's so gross and nasty too, all the bacteria and dirt that can collect under those nails

R29 - it collects on regular nails and fingers too. You're not scraping surfaces with the nails.

Now moustaches and beards - the bacteria found on those is absolutely disgusting.

It’s become an epidemic. The youngest tween girls, at 10 and 11, are now obsessed with nails. It’s another piece of social media pressure/conformity being pushed on them.

r3 hasn't met me

Gays of a lower socioeconomic status, getting their nails done!

I'm female. I think that very long nails are tacky. Many of the extreme styles are too. Men don't necessarily like them either. They do make the wearer unable to do stuff and may tax their budget.

[QUOTE]Men don't necessarily like them either. They do make the wearer unable to do stuff and may tax their budget.

What are you try to suggest here other than female annihilation?

Please respond.

[QUOTE]I'm female. I think that very long nails are tacky. Many of the extreme styles are too. Men don't necessarily like them either. They do make the wearer unable to do stuff and may tax their budget.

As a "female" do you have documentable that anything men want females don't follow?

That’s true it’s never the women who make a good living

I used to work with a broke single Mother who somehow found the money to get long nails, hair extensions and lash extensions. But we’d have to listen to her complain about her struggles. And she was fat

Part of it to look like you don’t have to do manual labor.

I once had a roommate for about a year, a gay man, who was in his early 30s and attractive. He was extremely meticulous about his nails and was constantly giving himself manicures at home. He was probably skilled enough to work in a nail salon full time. Anyway, while his appearance level was high, I found out over time what a mess he was on the inside. He has a raging crack addiction, for one, and had been fired from several jobs for aggressive and underhanded behavior, which I assume was related to the drug problem. After discovering his issue by accident, I started to worry about who he might bring home to the apartment and it led to me asking him to leave, at which point he flipped out (prior to that, he was very cordial with me) and became absolutely scary to be around. The month before he moved out was the most harrowing experiences I have had in a living situation in my life, afraid of what he might do, as he had a vengeful streak I had learned about from others who had either been acquaintances of his or had worked with him in the past. He surfaced again about 10 years later when he started going to a bar I frequented, but I steered clear of him and he stopped showing up eventually.

Anyway, fast forward 16 years and I looked him up randomly, since I was curious where he might be living, and he had died. Didn't make it to 50. I remembered the obsession with his nails, and now wonder, looking back, if that was perhaps the one thing he had control over in his life or felt good about himself for keeping up, when everything else was a very dark mess. I didn't think well of him for many years after the roommate situation ended, but since learning he died I have felt a mixture of pity and sadness for how things turned out for him.

OP- would you prefer to look at chewed up nails down to the bloody quick? Women like for their hands to look nice. Let them enjoy it before the country is burned to the ground. First world problems, man.

Whores! All of them whores!

I knew a woman who couldn't afford it but she had a nail apt. each week for long nails that did not look good on her. Everything else was plain or frumpy and long nails just didn't suit her She had a young child that probably needed stuff too.

Someone sheltered her and her kid for free for two months in an empty apt. because she claimed the man they were living with was abusive. She was asked to keep an outdoor light on at night and do one other small thing for safety reasons. She didn't. This caused an unnecessary safety issue she then complained about.

The person who provided her and her child with two months free shelter also asked for help moving out to her new place. Nail girl said she had a nail appointment but was eventually prevailed upon to help, GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

The benefactor shied away from helping people after that.

Years later she got to know the man Nail Girl & her daughter had been staying with. He did not seem abusive and had no idea Nail Girl was telling people that. Nail Girl had kept in touch with him and they went to lunch regularly.

I laak the Russians manicure.

R8 there’s no escaping them.

[quote]it collects on regular nails and fingers too. You're not scraping surfaces with the nails.

There is a reason healthcare professionals keep their nails short

R22 It’s not pushed on to women, by who? Men hate long nails. They hate most of the trends women are doing today.

Women are suckers and idiots for consumerism and love to waste money.

Men don't like sharp-nailed bitches touching their dingalings.

It's the one thing you see on yourself all the time. I drunkenly chewed mine off last night and I hate it today. I'm not doing so hot, my best friend (and possibly the greatest person to ever live) died 3 weeks ago. This is how I know shit is bad.

The other thing I’d like to point out is the 2000s blurred a lot of class distinctions when it comes to taste. The idea of “taste” as something refined or class-bound is kind of crumbling.

It is an inexpensive way to accessorize is my assumption. I haven't noticed nails being more popular. And if it is more popular it is probably due to social media. Skincare and makeup seems to have exploded in the 2010s due to all of the social media tutorials.

R47, and men don't waste money?

You cannot possibly work with them, at all. Which transports you are not a worker and and a servant. You expect others to cater for you. I think that's the point. By the way. ... Have you seen how the nails are routinely being filed down with a sort of Dremel? How much microplastic someone working at a nail salon must inhale every day is not even funny.

R16 The world is going to end!

R53 it must be "and not" ! Trusting autocorrect is a mistake.

I remember being a gayling and encountering a woman with these long dragon nails struggling and failing to put coins in a parking meter. She was cursing like a sailor. It was like something out of a drag sketch but it was real life. I turned around and offered to help, and I put the quarters in. Somehow that lady stayed in my brain a long time afterward. The fucking idiocy of her type.

Long nails are awful but "nail art" is even worse. Fake diamonds or beads affixed to the nail. Shudder.

Plus there is so often an offensive contrast, ie the women with long decorated nails are usually wearing dirty pajamas and crocs.

I think the long nails are ugly and cheap looking, and I’d be mortified and embarrassed to have that look.

Pedicures can be a real treat, though. Feet are mostly hideous, but a pedicure can make it better. I would never wear sandals without getting a professional pedicure.

PS I also associate it with lower-class women.

Regular pedicures and a shorter, simple nail shellac or French mani is par for the course among civilized women. The ratchet nails are something else entirely.

Pet peeve: a woman with a spot of faded nail polish on her toes. I saw this for the first time in a club when very young and remember thinking how unkempt it looks.

Why do ALL people from lower socioeconomic backrounds LOVE tattoos?

R52 Not at the consumption rate of women. Maybe on gambling and video games. But pure consumption? No. Men don’t have hundreds of dollars in skincare products and cosmetics and shampoos and things for their handbags and all the shit that contributes to plastic waste and shit.

Think of how many products women go through a month.

The global cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging every year, much of it single-use. 70% of cosmetic waste is not recycled due to mixed materials or contamination.

Women want to looks like whores.

I don’t know but they been doing so for bout the past 30 years. And thats just my lifetime so I know it probably started a few decades before that. Same reason lower class males like huge rims and garish jewelry. Is it really that interesting for a thread discussion.

Btw I know some upper middle class white bitches from Long Island who get they nails done more frequently than any Keisha I know from the South Bronx.

Women in general unless they consciously anti materialist or anti waste or plastics, like getting them mafuckin nails done. It’s just an American thing. And it’s something poor chicas can get as easily as Carrie Bradshaw walking into Bloomys to drop half a grand on shoes with her French manicured tips.

Haha I just noticed r8. That’s the real question.

I was taught that you should have clear, well kept nails. No colorful patterns or anything too long.

Never wear open toes shoes unless you are going to the pool/beach. No big patterned clothes either. Solid colors are your friend. A pinstriped suit is tasteful, and sometimes a striped golf shirt is appropriate. These clothes will never go out of style and apply to both sexes.

Now women have super long bright colored nails, wear these mix-matched patterns, and flip flops everywhere.

That nail polish and other shit they put on the nail, they are toxic

There are a lot of sandals and high heels with open toes that are nice, r68, not just "flip flops"

Only clear nails? No nail polish? Were you raised by a nun?

R70 has never heard of clear nail polish.

R2 Getting your nails done as elaborately as some girls/women do is not cheap. Nails with lon extensions and rhinestones can run over 200 dollars in the city.

Stupid thread. I live by a very fancy nail salon. It's full of middle class/professional class women.

Poor/working class women get them because they like the way it looks/feels....and, because it makes them look like they're a higher social class.

Long nails = I don't do manual labor.

Which also means it's an excuse to NOT do any manual labor.

r55 I keep that shit turned off. It's annoying as hell and indeed a big mistake.

R73 The low rent Op probably lives in a mixed income part of town so its perception bias. The neighborhood may or may not be gentrifying, probably already has to a degree but it’s still mixed income. The white professionals that do live there are super academic types not Wall Street or flyover so they don’t give a fuck about nails. Maybe even environmentalist. Op is too poor to live amongst the truly well off whites. Though many of those young white 20 somethings just starting their careers come from well off families. Don’t they Op. They wonder why you salivate at the black thugs picking up their girlfriends from the nail salon. How am I doing so far Op. Hit it on the nail or what?

Actually R75 I work with some women who are professionals now but grew up poor and still love getting their talons done.

I think nail polish looks great if it's not chipped and the nails are not too long.

Funny skit about the nail salon.

R76 Do they get really loud, garish nails? Very interesting. You mind sharing what industry you are in?

My favorite bartender has the full length coffin nails. She gets the nail art, too. I find it fascinating. What will she come up with next? I give her, and only her, a pass.

R79 I work in the legal and compliance group for a tech company.