Fourteen Percent of Men Wear Nail Polish?

[DrFishnets]

I bought myself black nail polish a couple of months back as it has that goth look about it. However, I play finger pick guitar which ruined my nail polish so I stopped wearing it. Pity because it looked nice. I’m still searching for nail polish that will withstand guitar playing.

[Grok]

Looked at some polls listed online. It is estimated that about 85% of women have tried nail polish at least once in their lives. Of course, for women this is within the limits of convention for them.

[Myopic Bookworm]

One of my inspirations for adopting nail polish was an American friend who posted a picture of his hands, with well-chipped purple nail polish. I think it is one advantage of presenting as male that people don't expect you always to have perfectly manicured nails. I get away with chipped nails, just as I get away with not shaving more than two or three times a week.

[Modoc]

My hands had gotten to looking pretty ragged with a lot of broken nails and hang nails and overgrown cuticles, so I caved in and got a manicure. The technician asked if I wanted to polish it. I was a bit hesitant but decided to give a clear coat a try as I thought it might help with the chipping and splitting. I think it did a little, so I went back every 2 weeks for a couple of months. That was right up until I left for Madeira. since being here I haven't had anything done to my hands and nails, and they look pretty good. The truth is that being away from the house and the garden probably has been better for them than anything else.

[Modoc]

This is from a connected site and definitely fits the subject matter. Some members here may be interested. It's good to see that efforts are continuing to be made to challenge the ideology of the "man box".
I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by linking this.

https://everybodyskirts.com/blogs/posts ... asculinity

[MrSoapsud]

The results from analysing the responses to the Hard as Nails Pilot were announced around a week ago. The Headlines from the results were:

'80% of men discussed stepping out of the "man box".

4 out of 5 respondents described changing behaviours or reflection on masculinity.
75% engaged in meaningful conversations / 3–4 out of 5 reporting new or deeper conversations.

Men consistently cited increased openness, new conversations, and deeper interpersonal reflection.'

The full slide deck from the presentation is at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... 063a1_0_99

[Grok]

Interesting blog, Modoc. I would say that, generally, members have felt drawn to skirts.

[jamie001]

This study is excellent and encouraging, however they should have included more information regarding the men that were involved in the study such as profession, race, martial status, and other demographics.They should do another one on men wearing skirts!

[phathack]

I'm in the 14%, Ive worn nail polish of over 15 years. I dont go crazy on the color, neutral colors that dont screen nail polish. 90% of the time you cant tell I'm wearing it because the color is neutral.

[jamie001]

I'm in the 14%, Ive worn nail polish of over 15 years. I dont go crazy on the color, neutral colors that dont screen nail polish. 90% of the time you cant tell I'm wearing it because the color is neutral.

What is the purpose of wearing nail polish that can't be seen? Is it just for protecting and strengthening your nails? I wear nail polish that is very visible on my toes like fire engine red or bright pink because I love the colors, not really for any other reason.

[crfriend]

For the most part, I'll wear rather subtle shades like robin's-egg blue or a lilac colour. Occasionally I'll do my right middle finger in brilliant green and the left one in bright red (starboard and port), which has resulted in some interesting conversations indeed as folks learn something they didn't know before. And it applies not just to ships, but also aircraft (and even spacecraft, although since in space there is no "up" they also include yellow which indicates the "dorsal" side of the craft so there IS a reference to up/down in each case). Look up in the night sky sometime, or out to sea if you live near a coast.

Fun stuff. I've gathered many, many good comments on it.

[Logjam]

About the Hard as nails study, survey, whatever it’s called. For context, I’m not (yet) a skirter, but the style has appeal, so I drop in often, lurk, and read along. But I am one of the aforementioned 14 percenters. I’ve been wearing clear on my hands, color on toes, openly in warmer months, for about 10 years now. And I’m a late-70s age, straight, married, mostly reserved man. So for that reason, and the “survey”, I thought I would share a recent experience.

I get mani/pedis nominally once a month, and I happen to get massages with similar frequency. I’ve gotten to be casual friends with the nail tech, and am somewhat close friends with my massage therapist. I’ve been seeing both for over 4 years now. In recent months, conversations with both have often involved their like for, and enthusiastic support for, men wearing polish. One recent set of visits, only a day apart, prompted me to ask my massage therapist if she had talked to my nail tech, the points they mentioned and comments were so similar.

Their comments consistently focused on three points: (1) they both just like how the polish looks - color, etc. (2) they both noted that wearing polish indicates that the man getting manis/pedis and thus taking care of himself (3) they both commented that men wearing polish is a step toward overcoming “male stereotypes”, probably aka “[rad-fem hate-speech redacted]”, though neither of them used that exact term.

Oh, and, I asked my nail tech specifically, if she was supportive only because it meant potentially more clients. She noted clearly that it wasn’t just that, that she likes, and is a fan of malepolish.

Thought this might be interesting…