Men Wearing Nail Polish

[Michael Maek]

I guess that I am ahead of my time. I have been getting pedicures and wearing red and pink nail polish on my toes and wearing open toe sandals for years.

...and I'm just an old stick in the mud . Nail polish is not something I have any inclination to try.

I have used clear polish for a while when I had a nail split right down to the bed, Sally Hansen nail repair glue held the sides together and the clear varnish hid the damage to some degree until the nail grew out, but I just can't imagine ever wanting to use the stuff.

Incidentally I could not tell the difference between the Sally Hansen nail repair glue and the standard cyanoacrylate adhesive (that's super glue to most folks) that I buy from an engineering supplies shop, except the price. Sally Hansen about £12 for 5ml, generic cyanoacrylate about £9 for 25ml.

If nail polish floats your boat that's fine by me, but I'll continue to wear skirts with my hairy topped, manky toe-nailed, feet, you know, the kind of feet that belong to an everyday sort of guy...

Have fun,


Ian.

There is a slowly propensity in gents style for more interest to a person's looks, self care themselves, not in aspect to the higher industry possibilitys for wellness and cosmetics on the gents industry. I think that if men do it cautiously, it could look good. Just a man nicely groomed, suitable probably to his way of outfit. Definitely not MANLY, but how many men dressed in trousers are realy MANLY? Is that a rider look, or a employee look?

[STEVIE]

Like so many other discussions that occur here, it's all about your choice.
If it suits your "look", do it, otherwise, don't.
After all, what we are mainly about is a simple choice regardless of gender.
I don't paint my nails or dye my hair, I get my streaks for free.
That's my choice, it "does" for me.
"Simples"
Steve.

[Brad]

I've used clear nail polish for years now. Some women have noticed and commented favorably. They seem to like a man who is concerned about his appearance.

[Taj]

I tried clear polish to help protect my toe nails. They still broke about as easily and also yellowed a bit after a few weeks.That ended that experiment. It looked nice for awhile but was too high maintenance.

[Kilted Musician]

I wear nail polish on my toes occasionally, usually dark blue, medium blue, or silver. Yesterday, July 4th, I played with a band for a private party and wore silver polish on my toes and sandals. The other band members noticed but didn't say anything. I wouldn't have cared if they did! They did ask me why I wasn't wearing my kilt [a black Utilikilt]. Well... lately here in Northern Cailifornia we've been having a heat wave and the temps at the party were around 100° in the shade! We played 5 hours outside on the patio deck, with sun shade, of course! I thought the kilt would've been way too hot so I wore shorts that came about 3" above the knee. Maybe I should've worn a skirt instead!

--Rick

[crfriend]

Well... lately here in Northern Cailifornia we've been having a heat wave and the temps at the party were around 100° in the shade! We played 5 hours outside on the patio deck, with sun shade, of course! I thought the kilt would've been way too hot so I wore shorts that came about 3" above the knee. Maybe I should've worn a skirt instead!

It was 94 degrees in the shade in Boston today, and counting the humidity produced a heat index of about 102. I wore a skirt (my Macabi) to go sailing; if I can do that, you can wear a skirt for musical performances. The breeze between the knees is sure to please.

[Sinned]

It's just short of 30 degrees here and for York that's hot! I have found that wearing a short white skirt is so CCCCOOOOLLLL. I've been pretty much wearing this skirt for a few days now and MOH hasn't complained once. I have been doing some painting and repairs at another house of ours and I've even managed to sneak away to over there in a skirt. My wife has never asked about it and I'm not going to volunteer. I was outside this afternoon painting some wood panels and there was a young girl hanging around the front gate ( there's a bus stop just outside the gate and she was probably waiting for a bus ) and she must have seen me in my skirt but she didn't say anything. Not that I was bothered about this. I do feel a lot cooler in a skirt. Having fitted laminate floor trims and painted the skirting boards I am off for a shower to cool down. I'll look for another short skirt to wear!

[the_scott_meister]

It got up to 120 in Phoenix last week. So there!

I first started wearing some of my wife's clear coat on my toes several years ago because of a few broken ones (nails, not toes). I dropped a desk on them about 25 years ago and broke a few and they got all gnarly. I did it just to keep them from catching on my socks. Then I got adventurous one day and used a very tame color, but it was a color after all. Then I used a slightly less tame color, then I went for a bright red and used that for a couple of years straight. Last month I bought a series of blues and purples and I've been switching them out every week or so.

Before I was only wearing shoes with socks, but over the last couple of weeks I've been wearing sandles and things with no socks, just to show off my awesome colors. I've gotten virtually no reaction from anybody anywhere that I can tell, except my kids ("Daddy, we never used to get to see your feet, now we see them all the time!" is their response).

At first I was a bit self conscious about it, but after a few weeks of going everywhere, like church activities, work (casual Friday), stores, lots of swimming at the community pool, etc. I've gotten desensitized to what I thought that others might be thinking. It's totally no big deal now, I'm pretty-much over the fear of it. Maybe that's what I need to do with skirts...

[Caultron]

It's totally no big deal now, I'm pretty-much over the fear of it. Maybe that's what I need to do with skirts...

Hear, hear...

[andrew9602]

I cannot help wondering if tights, jewellery, nail polish & accessories are blurring the boundary between "men in skirts" & cross-dressers!
I'd be interested to hear what other members think.

[skirted_in_SF]

I cannot help wondering if tights, jewellery, nail polish & accessories are blurring the boundary between "men in skirts" & cross-dressers!
I'd be interested to hear what other members think.

I was wearing my polished toes out in public long before I wore a skirt out. Of course, part of that is because it's so cold and windy here most of the time.

[Stevie D]

I cannot help wondering if tights, jewellery, nail polish & accessories are blurring the boundary between "men in skirts" & cross-dressers!
I'd be interested to hear what other members think.

I think that men wearing these things are simply taking control of the sorts of clothes/fashion items 'available' to them as a means of self-expression, instead of boring old, same old, which they have been conditioned for decades into believing is the only acceptable option. It's not about cross-dressing; instead it's about freedom of choice, expression, creativeness and fun.

[STEVIE]

From one Stevie to another,
I'd absolutely agree with you that whatever we wear is largely a matter of personal choice and style.
It really is time that society lost it's dependance on labels and pigeon holes. In human terms there really should be no requirement for a round peg in a similar hole.
In my own case, I cross the "aisle" as much as I can. For me that is mainly skirts, tights and most lately footwear. I don't do jewllery or cosmetics simply from personal taste and economics.
However, if it makes somebody easier to live if they tag me as a "crossdresser", I'll live with it.
I'm me, for the rest, I try not to care too much.
Steve.

[skirtyscot]

Andrew, the boundary is blurred already. Some would say that by wearing skirts bought in the women's department we are blurring it ourselves. (Have a look at what they say about us on kilty forums and trannie forums.)

But so what? Why do you want a boundary at all? Why shouldn't men wear tights, jewellery, etc?

[Zorba]

Cross dressing? Its only such if one wears something made for the anatomy of the opposite gender - mainly bras on men, and jockstraps on women. Dresses on men can be problematic as they're generally made for a woman's hip/waist/bust/shoulder ratios, but one tailored for a man's shape can be very nice. Opposite sex underwear can be a problem also, they don't fit the opposite sex correctly.

Other than that, its all free and open as far as I'm concerned. Its all cultural - which means it has no basis in ultimate reality - someone MADE THIS STUFF UP!!