To wonder why people get long talon nails?

[Froglett10]

I'm fascinated by the super long, talon-like false nails. Especially the square shaped and the really pointy ones. I thought it would be a short lived statement trend but it's lasted for years now.

Curious about what people like about them? Why do you think they've been so enduring?

I don't believe that people with long nails use a nailbrush every time they wash their hands. How many times has anyone witnessed this in public toilets, in cafes, in the work kitchen, picking up dog poo etc?

I have watched people change a nappy and wipe their hands on a baby wipe, then eat cake. There is no way their nails are cleaned properly.

False nails always look grubby underneath unless they've just been done and there are so many crevices around the nail line and underneath for tiny bits of shit and blood and germs to linger.

Having said that it all helps build up the immune system I suppose.

It all helps to give MN something else to call gross and common.

What if it's indigenous white men or women being paid NMW or above? Is it ok then? Or are these people not allowed to earn a wage in a way that you deem unacceptable? What about hairdressers? They're often not well paid? Delivery drivers or couriers? Gardeners? Often not lucrative professions. Often employ those of ethnic minorities. Are none of these appropriate to your sensibilities?

My God, if we banned judgey threads there would be no Mumsnet.

I would be happy enough if they just stopped the faux wide eyed innocence/confusion. I would love just once if someone started a thread saying ‘I hate fake nails I judge women for looking different to me, please come and say nasty things with me like a bunch of mean high schoolers it will be funny. Let’s also imply they’re stupid and dirty and that their stupid dirtiness is linked to being poor too.’

Like if you’re horrible own it. Don’t do the ‘please help me understand, I just don’t understand why people have fake nails? Why do they have them, I’m so confused?’

Unless you’re monumentally stupid (which I’ll admit is a possibility) you know exactly why people choose to wear or do things you personally don’t do. It’s because they obviously feel different about those things.

@Shoxfordian Your nails are lovely! I used to have acrylics but just have gel on my own nails now, I was forever accidentally breaking the extensions off between appointments! After reading this thread, I do want them again so I can have my tattoos on show at the same time, that way I'll be able to pick out the MNers I pass as the ones passed out on the ground in shock and disgust. 😂

It is funny how people think long acrylics mean you have all manner of disgusting things trapped in there - are long natural nails exempt? I know a few people with natural nails longer than some acrylics I've had, or do we not judge that because they're not fake?

I absolutely agree with this. There’s also an element of racism to half of this stuff too, always an “I just don’t understand….”

How hard is it to understand that different people like different things to you?

Why do they have them, I’m so confused?’

Because to most people they look laughable - you’d think they were wearing them as a dare or a piss take or part of a fancy dress costume - so someone paying good money to have them done and thinking they look like the bees knees with them on is somewhat confusing…

@ShirleyPhallus I agree with you, but had to laugh as the next post immediately after yours was another faux confused, judgemental post. If these posters really are so "confused" about people having different ideas of what looks nice, I'm beginning to wonder how they function in day to day life. Clothes shops must be very upsetting when they can't comprehend why someone is buying a style of coat they don't like.

Tattoos as well @Loics ? You really will be upsetting some of the judgemental posters on here 🙄😄

Yeah I had to have mine a bit shorter because certain shapes were catching more and breaking more but I love my acrylics; you should definitely get another set

I don’t think “most people” think they look laughable unless there’s been some acrylic nail study undertaken that I don’t know about

I really think that if you see someone with long nails but an otherwise normal outfit and you think they’re wearing them for a dare or fancy dress then you really really need to widen your sense of perspective and get some life experience

Don’t be so ridiculous. There’s salons all over the country in every high street, always packed, so if you genuinely look at someone with nails on and think ‘oh they must be doing that ad a dare’ then you’re just stupid.

If you’re ‘confused’ that people do things that you don’t do then you have the comprehension of a very small child. Even from age 2-3 we expect children to develop an understanding that others are different from themselves. People do plenty of things I don’t do. Get obsessed with the royal family, watch the US office, play the trumpet, wear colourful dresses with black leggings, have Birmingham accents. I don’t do or want to do any of those things, but I’m not so stupid as to be sitting wailing ‘I don’t understand’ in confusion because someone is listening to The Rolling Stones and I like the Beatles.

It’s about fucking everything on this site:
”AIBU to not understand <insert something entirely unremarkable”

I think MNers would spontaneously combust if they had to move out of their comfortable little boring bubble of Boden clothes, rescue greyhounds, never drinking beyond a thimble of sherry on Christmas Day and all these sensible but sporty teens everyone seems to have

Spot on. And the comments comparing paid nail salon workers owners to slaves (because they happen to be ethnic minorities) are deeply offensive.

It's not confusing though is it? That other people can do what they like with their own nails. Did you head tilt when you wrote that comment?

Classism is the fuel that keeps the MN fire burning.

A couple of years ago there used to be regular threads about how awful those big JoJo hair bows were.

Angel wings and welly boots - adorable. My child looks like she could be in a Boden catalogue

Ginormo hair bows – someone might think my child is working class!

I agree. DD had these and while I don’t believe unhygienic by God she couldn’t do anything. Picked something up, one snapped. Washed dishes one lifted or whatever, repeat, repeat. Help take the garden waste out, there goes another. So she fixed it by doing sfa. I told her she could either do without them in the future or move as fucked if we were all putting up with her not being able to pull her weight in fear of her nails😡.

to be fair, a number of nail bars staffed by Vietnamese workers have been shut down due to modern slavery and human trafficking

She needs to find a better nail salon.

I've been having my nails done on and off for over a decade and only ever snapped one, and that was stopping my garden gate from slamming. I do housework, have four kids, work etc. the only thing I don't do is garden - and I wouldn't do that anyway!

Well then that is a completely different point and anyone using a salon where trafficking is suspected is complicit in the abuse, regardless of whether they get their natural nails filed and painted or whether they put on 12 inch acrylics. That issue is completely irrelevant to nail length.

Some of these generalisations 🙄

People with long nails can do this crazy thing where we wash them to keep them clean. Most things can be done with your fingertips without needing the nails.

Also, how are you all wiping your bums that it's getting near your nails?! Even without nails I don't have that problem.

My friend's mum was a casualty nurse and told us several stories of things people had stuck up their bums. False nails were a favourite.

I have talons.

There is nothing I cannot do with them. Just changed a nappy with no issues.

Last weekend I did the gardening, built a play house for the kids, and painted it. I wipe my arse with no injuries.

Sounds like she went to a shit salon. Mine don’t budge under nuclear grade force.

I totally understand why people get them

They can be artistic, colourful and provide an expression for personality.

They indicate that someone is happy to spend time and money on themselves.

They’re non-judgemental in terms of a person’s size - a bit like shoes and bags.

Almost anyone can have them and feel a little uplift that they’ve done something positive for themselves.

They’re an overt expression of femininity and indicate that a person is comfortable with that.

I don’t agree that it’s a feminist issue that women are spending their resources in this way as most women I know feel no pressure to have this kind of nail, it’s completely their choice and not something like hair removal where there is a lot of pressure to conform. Although it could be argued that spending money on one’s appearance in general as a way to feel good about oneself is more of a women’s issue.

Personally I find them revolting and can’t even look at them without wanting to heave. But that’s a me problem.