Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 13 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 21 years, 2 months ago by
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- Why does it seem that some African-American men (moreso than white men) allow their fingernails (all of them or just a couple on one or both hands) to grow long, like a woman's? Is it bad hygiene, or a fashion statement of sorts? I fail to see the attractiveness of this rather disgusting-looking practice.
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Name : SW27516, Gender : M, Age : 26, City : Sterling Heights, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I've seen this not just with black men, but men of all races. I don't know if this is always the case, but I know that serious cocaine users often grow out their pinky fingernails. It's a convenient place to put some coke when doing it in a hurry.User Detail :
Name : SR28425, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Humanist, Age : 22, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,While it is true that some cocaine users grow a nail long for convenience sake, I would venture to say that most men with long nails are not drug users. I know many men with longer nails who do not use drugs of any kind. In general, white people's fingernails are much thinner than those of blacks and Hispanics. As a result, blacks and Hispanics can naturally grow their nails longer. Their nails also tend to grow faster than white people's.User Detail :
Name : Lucy-H22650, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 26, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,There's a reason not known by most for having long nails on one hand, besides drugs and ethnicity. It's being a musician of certain string instruments. Although the population of guitar or harp players is minimal, it still counts. I used to play guitar (spanish & classical), having longer than average nails on my right hand. My wife thought it was disgusting when she met me, of course until she heard me play. So I use this forum in the name of string instrument players worldwide. Please world, spare our nails!User Detail :
Name : Nelson A., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 30, City : Caracas, State : NA Country : Venezuela, Occupation : Lawyer/Business, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I'm disturbed that the first responder would automatically link black men to cocaine users. If the question had been about white men, would the same association have been so readily made? To answer the original question, I don't think long fingernails are a cultural thing, but even if they were, why would they be a reflection of bad hygiene? Women have long fingernails, and they aren't seen as 'dirty.' I suppose some men think longer fingernails make their fingers look attractive, while most probably do not. It's probably an individual preference thing, not a race thing.User Detail :
Name : T.R., Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Newark, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,As far as I know, many other cultures have a practice of growing one nail longer than the others as a display of status and prosperity, the reason behind this being that 'if my nails are this long, then it's obvious that I am not a manual laborer, and in fact have people to take care of those sort of chores.' Similarly, one has the ideal of having a light skin tone (for one's ethnic background), showing that one is not out in the outdoors working all day.User Detail :
Name : Iteki, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Recovering Catholic, Age : 25, City : Stockholm (Via Dublin), State : NA Country : Sweden, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I was in the military a while back and had more than a few black roommates. I asked a couple of them why they let one or two fingernails grow, and they told me it was to show that they didn't do manual labor. It's hard to keep long nails when you're doing back-breaking work. Maybe times have changed (this was in the '70's-early '80s), but it made sense back then.User Detail :
Name : TRC, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 40, City : Frankfurt, State : NA Country : Germany, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,If you had read my response correctly, you would have noticed that I said that I'd seen this among men of all races and not just black men. I don't think it's a race thing either. I live in a liberal college town and when I see a long pinky nail on *anyone* who has nine shorter fingernails, I generally make the cocaine association...now that I've read the other responses I won't do that.User Detail :
Name : SR, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 22, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,I have also seen this phenomenon with Asian men. In fact, I recently saw a middle-aged Asian man who had grown out (and polished) all the nails on one hand, but not the other. While I do think the long pinky nail frequently has to do with cocaine (whether the hand is black or white), but am also baffled by the multi-nail scenario.User Detail :
Name : Jules, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Methodist, Age : 30, City : San Francisco, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Mid-level manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I'm not trying to say this is right or wrong, I just want to point out that when someone only has one or two long fingernails, I always assume it's coke use. Reading these comments, I see that I may not be right as often as I had previously thought. But I do believe I'm right some of the time about this, and this applies whether someone's fingernails are dirty or not, or whether they paint their one long fingernail red (I have seen this, too). I also assume it's coke use no matter what gender or race the person is. What I have never understood is, if someone wants long nails, then why not grow them all out? Why would you want just a few? This is probably because of my upbringing, because my mother taught me that if I grew my nails long and some broke, I should repair the broken ones or cut them all off and let them grow back out the same length. Having nails of different lengths for white girls in the South was seen as a bad cosmetic practice, like letting your roots grow out an inch or more before re-dying your hair.User Detail :
Name : Nancy, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 35, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : education, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,It is a horrible notion that any topic of conversation that includes African Americans and also has a negative comment at some point is so quickly dubbed a racist remark. You assume that the person who associated long nails with coke use is assumming that it is an African American problem. WAKE UP!!! Not everything is about 'Us'. As an African American woman I am sickened by the fact that so many other African Americans cry 'Racism' at the drop of a hat. When a true racial crisis arises, no one wants to listen, because the public has been saturated by small whimpers and complaints of racism. Racism is never excusable, but not every instance needs to be or is even worthy of mention or complaint.User Detail :
Name : Kyla, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : Union City, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Administrative Assistant, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,All three of my uncles have long pinkie nails, and I never understood that growing up, until one of my uncles told me that it was easier to pick your nose with nails than without. I think it's as simple as that.User Detail :
Name : Simone28015, Gender : F, Age : 20, City : White Plains, State : NY Country : United States,I must say, no disrespect intended, that this is an amazing stereotype. Sometimes I only have a few nice nails, and I hope that people don't see them as cocaine inhibitors! My husband has better looking nails than I do, and I always thought it was because men grew them faster and are less likely to get a manicure. He also has no desire or couldn't care less about his fingernails!User Detail :
Name : Maria, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 34, City : Buffalo, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Accounting, Education level : 2 Years of College,
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