Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you can’t take a man with painted nails seriously?

321 replies

ThisSunnyBiscuit · 07/08/2025 21:27

I know people say “it’s just nail polish” but I can’t help feeling like a man with painted nails instantly loses credibility. Whether it’s in a corporate setting or just in everyday life, it gives off a certain vibe that makes it hard to take him seriously.

It’s not about being closed-minded, it’s just that some things don’t translate well across genders. Am I being unreasonable or do others feel the same?

OP posts:
HowardTJMoon · 07/08/2025 22:17

Netcurtainnelly · 07/08/2025 22:12

There's something really boring and morose about dressing in black all the time.

Show quote history

You don't have to just wear black. You can be inventive.

ChompandaGrazia · 07/08/2025 22:15

I’ll have to tell DH. That said he only does his toe nails, well gets them done with gels when he has a pedicure.

TomatoSandwiches · 07/08/2025 22:13

If a man feels comfortable expressing himself by painting his nails then imo that speaks of having more credibility as a man secure with his masculinity.

Netcurtainnelly · 07/08/2025 22:12

Weefreetiffany · 07/08/2025 22:06

Goths are back and there’s nothing you boring normies can do about it 🤣

There's something really boring and morose about dressing in black all the time.

CalmTheFuckDownMargaret · 07/08/2025 22:12

It has to be a vibe. The whole look needs to gel, so I’d expect black polish with leathers to look good on someone in a creative industry but not pink polish with a formal men’s business suit. A corporate workplace isn’t the place to look experimental or anything other than conventional. This isn’t sexism btw - I don’t think bright red nails are the right choice for a lot of workplaces. I mean sure, a male banker can try wearing a purple suit with green nails and see how that goes down with clients but most of us live in reality!

Outside9 · 07/08/2025 22:11

One of the easiest YANBU I've ever voted.

Surprising result

jeaux90 · 07/08/2025 22:10

It depends. If he’s wearing women’s clothes as a fetish then it’s a hard no. (Usually heterosexual) if he’s a goth then it’s fine. All about the wider context.

ReignOfError · 07/08/2025 22:09

The bloke who flogged my grandkids ice-cream today had a stellar manicure. He also gave us exact directions to a hard-to-find place, so I found him entirely credible.

Honestly, life is too short to be so judgemental of other people’s choices.

Ponderingwindow · 07/08/2025 22:09

No gendered clothing extends from birth to death. Men in nail polish are just men in nail polish and if you think anything else you are the problem.

BashfulClam · 07/08/2025 22:09

A couple of my guy friends in the 90’s wore eyeliner and nail polish. Both very intelligent and genuinely lovely men. I had a massive crush on one of them and wished I could’ve done my eyeliner the same way. Sadly he was hopelessly in love with his first girlfriend who had split up with him to go to Uni.

Netcurtainnelly · 07/08/2025 22:06

There's a gay man works in a shop nearby, he has Long painted fingernails. Looks strange.

Weefreetiffany · 07/08/2025 22:06

Goths are back and there’s nothing you boring normies can do about it 🤣

everardshutthatdoor · 07/08/2025 22:06

PollyBell · 07/08/2025 22:03

So why would we take woman with fake nails, hair, tan, lips seriously?

To be honest, I don’t.

Inchworms · 07/08/2025 22:03

Bit rude to start a thread about an appearance thing you don’t like. Could have at least started one about something you do like

PollyBell · 07/08/2025 22:03

So why would we take woman with fake nails, hair, tan, lips seriously?

BruFord · 07/08/2025 22:02

PlutoCat · 07/08/2025 21:50

When I were a young lass in the 80s men wore make up and nail varnish. I liked it and is a shame there is more gender conformity now.

So true @PlutoCat, it’s certainly nothing new given that those people will now be in their 60’s!

I have the occasional pedicure and plenty of men come in to have them. I agree that chipped nail varnish looks rubbish on anyone- I only put clear on my fingernails as I’m bound to ruin it immediately.

CandelabraCat · 07/08/2025 22:00

A view we’ve all read many times before, but usually spoken by a man about women. 🥱 Standard response holds: they’re not wearing nail varnish to try to attract you.

No - no one loses “credibility” with me by painting their nails.

Arlanymor · 07/08/2025 22:00

LavenderBlue19 · 07/08/2025 21:33

Not at all, I like it. I'm friends with some arty/musician types who wear it (all in their 40s/50s and very much beardy, middle aged men).

Edited

Same - my ex husband used to wear eyeliner. Sorry guyliner (apparently) when he went to gigs. Very much a musician thing - see Dave Navarro etc.

SaladAndChipsForTea · 07/08/2025 21:59

Whitehorses67 · 07/08/2025 21:45

Personally I would not find this attractive behaviour in a man. I like men to be clean and tidy but any more interest in their looks puts me off.
I would find nail varnish very juvenile.

I really feel the need to point out how awful it would be if someone said this exact sentence about a woman.

Men aren't there to look attractive for us.

Fwiw, a man wearing mail polish without trying to look feminine screams confidence and and fuck you to gender roles. I like that.

NoVibrato · 07/08/2025 21:58

What does it mean to say that a man with painted nails loses "credibility"; do you mean that you immediately cease to believe in his existence? In any case, I'd take one man with well manicured and trimmed painted nails over a dozen women with long fake talons . . . .
Plus Spike, to be sure . . . . and David Bowie.

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 07/08/2025 21:57

I think if you're going to make statements like that, you can't complain about any statement stat starts ' I can't take women seriously when they...'

Which would be incredibly sexist

HowardTJMoon · 07/08/2025 21:57

When I was a young goth and occasionally painted my nails and/or wore makeup I couldn't have given a shiny shit if someone else didn't like it. I liked it and so I put it on. I've heard many women say similar about their own choices about makeup.

jjeoreo · 07/08/2025 21:56

I think it's sexy.

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 07/08/2025 21:56

I think it's fine.
Rigid expectations of how someone should look or behave based on their genitals has fucked us over enough already. If a bloke wants to wear nail varnish then he should be allowed to without people judging him.

Its really not a big deal.

HeadNorth · 07/08/2025 21:55

I’m not a big fan of nail polish on men or women - I don’t like long pointy nails. So yeah, shit look, but not gender based.