The God Laughed!

Peace Y’all,

My God sometimes reads this blog. He agreed that I needed to have a sewing space separate from my reflection on my life as Earth. He made a suggestion that I blog on my nail habits. Since it is part of my refinement. Wow. Even after years together, this man surprises me!

When I was a small child, I had 3 wishes: long hair, straight teeth and long nails. Well weaves supplemented me until I went natural. Now I have locs and you know locs will grow. So I checked off Long hair. I checked off straight teeth when my braces came off in the 11th grade. But the nail thing was tricky.

I have soft nails. Really soft. They will fold as soon as they grow past the fingertip. That folding causes cracking and loss of the nail. These nails are just like my mother’s nails. Skinny and sharp. As thin as they are, they are like razor blades and used to tear my skin up when I scratch. That is actually a big problem for me because I suffer from eczema. I have tried every hardener, every vitamin, every damn thing that reported that I could grow those long beautiful thick and strong nails. Even my toenails are thin and are prone to grow inward.

When I was 22, I went to a ball hosted at my dental school (I managed to graduate with long nails. I have the graduation pictures to prove it!). I decided to get some acrylic nails. I have never looked back. I have had some sort of acrylic on my nails since that day 19 years ago. Acrylic nails make life easier. When I get my nails ‘done,’ I’m done. Meaning I feel put together and since polish doesn’t chip off acrylic nails like it does natural nails, I don’t have to worry about my hands until my next nail appointment. That is a huge relief. Before acrylics, I would have to paint and repaint my nails every 4 days. That’s a HUGE inconvenience because of all the down time it takes to dry. It was like and additional hair washing day. And y’all know how long it takes a Black woman to completely wash her own hair from start to finish!

Folks act like this is an expensive venture. As soon as I hear that nonsense I KNOW it is coming from a place of frank ignorance. A full set is $20 here in GA. Fillins run between $12-15. I get fillins ever 2-3 weeks. For some reasoning the winter my nails grow more slowly. So there have been the occasional months where I only fill once. That’s maybe $12-25/month. You waste more than $25/month.

The thing that made the God laugh was all the rules and regulations I have set up for myself with regard to shapes and color. Nail techs think I’m crazy and I’m not far behind them in that appraisal. When I get a fresh set, I go with round nails and light colors. More than likely some sort of American. I won’t cut them down until my own nail grows back in. As my nails get longer, I will have them shortened to the actual nail but cut square. The reasoning is this… I prefer round nails, but they have a tendency to separate from the natural nail. That leaves sharp snags that cut me, pulls my hair, ruins stockings, etc. So as soon as the natural nail grows in good, I swap round for square. Square makes my fingers look longer. I have really stubby digits.

I will NOT wear frosted polish in the spring or summer. I just won’t. Makes me look ashy and looks like something that should be worn around the holidays. The ONLY exception would be for a special occasion or if it is a sparkle and not a frost. Meaning like a top coat with those big sparkly pieces in it. Pastels and bright colors for spring and summer only.

In the winter frosts and dark colors abound. After the autumnal equinox, that’s when I’ll entertain, browns, deep oranges and reds. I don’t think red looks good on me. But I will rock red and gold at the winter solstice. Just seems like the right time to do it then. I will only wear Black or dark blues in the fall/winter too.

On the toes, anything goes. I don’t generally tip my toes. I will admit that there has been the rare occasion that I have put tips on my toes. I don’t generally do this because it is uncomfortable to wear closed toe shoes. Don’t judge me. But I will wear ANY color on my toes I fancy at any time. I just feel that way about feet. I DO NOT like for my finger nails and toe nails to match. Nope. Don’t like that at all. It bothers me and I don’t know why.

I rarely do nail art. I feel like that’s for kids. I’m grown. I don’t need flowers and swirls on my fingertips or toes. I might add a sparkle color to the top of my color but that’s about as intense as I go. I pay attention to colors of the seasons. I bet you didn’t realize that nail polish companies come out with spring and fall lines of color. I know. I was blown away when I found out. But that’s why it’s hard to find a color that you always wear if it’s not in style. Those colors come and go.

So that’s my build on nails. You can call me vain… excessive…. High maintenance…. Whatever. But just know when you do it, my nails and hair will be perfectly on point while you’re talking.



Proper Education Always Corrects Errors!


My toes in Tiffany blue and my nails done "Stiletto" style.