BBC removes article that says women who don't wear nail varnish might be white supremacists.

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/30/bbc-removes-article-linking-bare-nails-trend-white-supremacist-standards-beauty

I think that's the gist.

It's so fucking barking mad I'm not actually sure.

My issue with this was that it seemed to be condemning those who choose not to meet a very specific beauty standard, or to not invest large amounts of money in unnecessary consumerism. I don't get my nails done cos I don't need to, I can paint them if I have an event but I'm not shelling out £££ every month like some women choose to. Suggesting that if a woman isn't spending money to adhere to this trend then they must somehow be a bad person is massively sexist.

Yes exactly.

Just curious what a black beauty trend is?

Some trends are tacky but it's rarely only black or white people (or any other group) who follow them.

Fashions always change. That's the nature of the beast. How else would people show that they are on the cutting edge?

Over the top nails were in, so now it will change.

Hems change, skinny jeans go out, side parts are back, and round it goes.

Personally this is one I'm glad of as I hated the giant fake nails. They made people's hands look like monster hands and its very unhygienic.

There has been a class element to long nails, which I think is actually more prominent than the race element. But trends change even within class groups.

I read an article that said Martha Stewart was promoting white supremacy because she painted a Halloween pumpkin white to be ghostl. The article said it was emphasize that her magazine has a supremacist agenda. No. It’s Halloween.

In the area where I live, people with long, blinged out, highly decorated nails often also wear exaggeratedly long thick false eyelashes. Has anyone else noticed this where they are? Here, it’s usually women in their teens or twenties.

Yeah that’s bizarre. Weirdly I haven’t seen any of these articles but lately I have been thinking of doing just that.

Going and getting my nails done; ie cuticles and general shape care. With no colour.

My cuticles are a mess. Never been bothered to do it myself. Been thinking about getting my feet done too (ie. The tough skin).

How is this anything to do with anything but my own body! People are nuts.

What are People of Color to think if they like and wear neat, trimmed, unpolished nails? Is it internalized racism or simply a matter of personal choice? What about shoes? Umbrellas? Rucksacks? Eyeglasses?

And got to say that’s nonsense. I worked as a gardener for decades. My nails are fucked in terms of shape and overgrown cuticles (because I have never bothered to maintain them/ shape them). But they certainly are long strong and healthy and I wouldn’t say my diet or health is in particularly good shape.

Maybe it’s all this nail ‘care’ that’s fucking up peoples nails.

I expect (in the UK at least) there are many Black women with long, well-kept but undecorated nails, many women of other races with long, boldly coloured nails and many women of all ages and races whose nails are short and practical.

All Black women must have blinged out nails (I loved that expression, thanks) to show that they're Black, otherwise how will we know.
No White woman is allowed to have blinged out nails, otherwise how will we know they're White supremacist's.
Everyone must follow the colour coding rules otherwise it's just chaos, chaos I say.

So all the men who don't wear nail varnish are supremacists?
Oh, wait ... (some tongue-cheek correlation)

I find influencer videos with hands in very telling.

Yes I agree there's definitely class elements going on here.

Black people who do Irish dancing or ballet tend to get a lot of vitriol on their social media from some white people

That's awful, isn't it? I've known a black ballet dancer for a long time. He and my DD danced together years ago when they were kids. He's now a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet.

Jesus, can we do anything to our bodies without it being commented on. 😬

I've never worn nail varnish but always had black Labradors. Doubly damned by the left!

Has anyone shared this very relevant Guardian article yet?
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/aug/09/naked-nail-trend-manicure-debate-recession-racial-erasure

“I only wore black and had naked nails before the BLM movement. Now I’m leaning into nail art and wearing pink as I don’t adhere to old social structures any more.”

Wow, capitalism really has won, hasn't it?

I read that paragraph twice and still couldn't grasp exactly what her point was.

I’m leaning into nail art and wearing pink as I don’t adhere to old social structures any more

Because 'nail art' is anarchy, and wearing pink is subversive? Post-subversive? Fuck knows.

Yep, and this is the thing. No matter what the topic or oppressed group, ultimately if there is a way to make money from it capitalism will drive that.

I hate that women have so many pointless standards put on us by society but I absolutely recognise the role and value of beauty, fashion, hair etc as part of culture. No woman should feel she has to do x, y, z but we should be free to express ourselves and share and celebrate these means of expression. For me, that looks like opting out of alot of the nonsense and where I want to engage, doing stuff myself instead of buying into capitalist bullshit. But there is a very fine balance in terms of the harm to women and girls overall. I try not to make judgements on individual women's choices but I do think that more of us refusing to go along with the bollocks would really help. For example, I think it is extremely unhelpful in a world where women are judged harshly simply for aging, to see a growing number of women using botox and the like and acting like it's normal or even essential. Society needs to change it's view of women, not women change the way we look as we age. I know it's obvious but it really pisses me off.

Dominated by wealthy, white women, [the clean girl aesthetic] has been criticised for co-opting black and brown beauty habits.

So, just so I’ve got this right, if I go with plain nails I’m “co-opting” black/brown habits but if I don’t I’m rejecting black/brown habits and am therefore a white supremacist?

So not doing your nails in a way popular with Black/Latino/Asian people makes you a white supremacist. But if you DO get them decorated in that way, surely that’s cultural appropriation?

Following on from Ed Sheeran being pilloried for NOT wanting to state his political opinion, it now seems we’ve reached a point where you literally cannot win.

Nude nails is white supremacy, and coloured nails are cultural appropriation.

These professors who make these comments are professional grifters who say someone controversy to get paid airtime etc. Shame on the BBC for getting them to say something.

People who have got enough time to worry about the cultural implications of nail vanish have got nothing better to worry about. Sums up the media like the BBC and The Guardian. And probably a lot of this comes from social media where the people's other main concern is about doing their homework for school.

This kind of crass pish undermines actual worthwhile analysis of feminist/race/class issues.