Why women don't wear long nails any more

[Italiandude]

Hi. I'm new to this site. As I am 45 years old I was a kid during the 1970's when long nails were in fashion and very popular and common. But with today's women it's almost non-existant. What happened? Well, besides more women working.....

[kinkydomina]

I think this is the most common issue indeed: women working.
Whenever I engage in a conversation about my future, people tell me I will eventually have to cut these nails and get a decent job...

[georges]

Yes Kinkydomina, it is not easy for you LNB's these days. Therefore you get all my respect for keeping long nails. To find a job that fits a woman with long nails it is difficult I think but not impossible...So keep them growing please, you are all wonderfull beautiful ladys

kind regards,x
Georges,

[dave aka pnl]

In addition....there are more girls having babies at a very young age and have no time to pamper their nail's, just babies. At one time many young teenage girl's liked to wear long nails to look older and as a right of passage to becoming a women. As mentioned, many women in the late 60s and 70s ( including mom's, teacher's, cashiers etc. ) wore their nail's long, not just movie and t.v. star's.

Speaking of which...hollywood and t.v. no longer have women wearing long nails except when their the villian, tramp or whore. This is very stereotypical and irritating to me as well as I'm sure most of us here. :mad:

I think culture and ethnicity are a factor as well as some culture's still encourage thier girls to carry on the tradition of long fingernails. When I was growing up I lived in a mostly Jewish populated area and from grandmom to mom to daughter to sister.....all had long beautifully manicured nails. It was a sight to behold. Italian, Oriental, Polynesian, eastern European countries, Russia and yes.....some middle eastern countries still rever long nails as cultural icons and identity. :cool:

[jwdimont]

I think it is a combination of things...with work or more specifically the computer being the biggest reason. How many times have you seen blogs where the womens complains she can't type because her nails are getting too long.

[indi500fan]

I think it is a combination of things...with work or more specifically the computer being the biggest reason. How many times have you seen blogs where the womens complains she can't type because her nails are getting too long.

That's the one I think is most relevant.
Computers and cell phones.
The world today is all about pushing buttons.
Compare the dashboard on a 2009 car with one from 1975.
Our few ardent lnbs will overcome the challenge, but most women won't bother.

The ironic part is that today we have great materials technology for lnbs (tips and overlays) but our pushbutton technology mitigates against it.

[dave aka pnl]

The world today is all about pushing buttons.
Compare the dashboard on a 2009 car with one from 1975.
Our few ardent lnbs will overcome the challenge, but most women won't bother.

A very intresting observation and true BTW. Wasn't it the iphone not long ago that possed a challenge to the LNBs ? The dashboard in all early car's were mainly knobs you pulled to turn on and pushed to turn off. The radio was the most prevelent push button accessery in the dash with the pre set buttons.

[davag1]

I've given this a lot of thought-- i also remember a bit of the 70s. don't forget 80s had nails too, and also the first half of the 90s. nowadays, it's extremely rare--if before you could see long nails maybe once a day, now you're lucky to see them once every month or two, at most. The most you generally see is a woman wearing them just past the fingertip. Even if she could grow them longer, she doesn't because it's no longer fashionable, for whatever reason (probably because fashion models don't have nice nails)--a waste! Nowadays, if a woman does want long nails, she can get them done fake, have them for the weekend and go back to short when she takes them off. I don't think this was such an option in the 70s. the nail salons that are all over everywhere really did not pop up everywhere until the mid 90s, I don't think. Of course, artificial nails don't look or feel the same. And only guys like us know the difference or care. Honestly, it's very sad, and I think it will be a long time before natural nails, in the style of the beautiful women who are kind enough to post here, become fashionable again. Keep bucking the trend, ladies!

[Italiandude]

Here are some statistics between then and now:

Models, especially in department store catalogs ALL had long nails back in the 1970's. Today, to quote Tyra Banks: "Nails extending past the fingertips looks slovenly and unprofessional."

At one time you could count on a beauty pageant to see LNB's. Today God forbid the teeniest tiniest little bit of nail dare show past your fingertips and you would be disqualified faster than you can say "Barbra Streisand."

Famous people who used to wear their nails long who don't any more:
Barbra Streisand, Cher, Mary Tyler Moore, Diana Ross, Karen Valentine, Dyan Cannon, Brooke Shields, Valerie Bertinelli, Oprah Winfrey, Cheryl Ladd, Tina Louise, Farrah Fawcett, Shirley MacLaine, Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig, Lola Falana, Stevie Nicks, Allysa Milano, Jennifer Lopez, Rita Moreno, Coko of the singing group SWV, former Miss America Phylllis George, former Miss California/singer Susan Anton, and many, many more I just cannot think of right now.

When I dated my wife (a fellow Italian) she had maybe 1/8 inch extending past her fingertips and she typed 100 words a minute with them (at least she claimed she did). But right after the honeymoon half of them mysteriously broke within a short period of time so she cut off the rest completely and has made no attempt to grow them again since (we've been married 17 1/2 years with 2 boys). She claimed her nails were just soft and broke too easily. When it's, let's just say, "Our Time," it's just not the same. It's like a cake without icing where the taste is still somewhat pleasant but something very noticeable is missing.

Also when we go to our annual family reunion, out of maybe 50 or so women I come into contact with only THREE have nails showing past their fingertips: My cousin's wife, her 30-something daughter, and HER 8-year old daughter. If Italians are known to have long nails, you will never find it on either my mother's, father's, nor my wife's side of the family with those lone 3 exceptions.

Also fake nails seemed to have died a quick death. I've been told that many if not all nails salons don't sell them any more due to the fungus issue.

In conclusion, I honestly think there are actually more men who wear their nails past their fingertips than women these days. Not to say there are that many men but THAT FEW WOMEN. I am so thankful for this web site for the few women today who still take pride in their long nails. Thank you everybody for hearing me out.

[dave aka pnl]

Well we all know it's a nasty no no for women to wear long fingernails of any length acording to Tyra Banks. You mentioned your wife cut her nails after the honeymoon and never grew them back....sorry to hear this. This happened to me with a few women I dated back in the late 70s and early 80s. Before we got serious their nails were long, beautiful, sexy and alluring. Once we started dating exclusivly the nails were gone and never came back. I asked her/them a time or two about it and she/they became very defensive and nasty about it. "Are you only dating me for my nails and not me" I beleive is how it went. Needless to say it went down hill from there. Funny thing though...they grew them back not long after that, like there using them as bait to seduce and lure men into there world.

[Italiandude]

Well we all know it's a nasty no no for women to wear long fingernails of any length acording to Tyra Banks. You mentioned your wife cut her nails after the honeymoon and never grew them back....sorry to hear this. This happened to me with a few women I dated back in the late 70s and early 80s. Before we got serious their nails were long, beautiful, sexy and alluring. Once we started dating exclusivly the nails were gone and never came back. I asked her/them a time or two about it and she/they became very defensive and nasty about it. "Are you only dating me for my nails and not me" I beleive is how it went. Needless to say it went down hill from there. Funny thing though...they grew them back not long after that, like there using them as bait to seduce and lure men into there world.

Did she know all along you had a thing for her nails? If she did then I guess the truth hurt her too much when you asked her about why she cut them off. Hey, it's her loss. My wife once tried fake tips but she was very uncomfortable with them because it's a sudden change as opposed to a gradual thing when she just grows them. As for growing them she was just fed up with one or two breaking every now and then. I thought of it as "Well, there's still 9 more" but she just didn't see it like that. It's just a distant memory now.

Here's another statistic: I remember as far back as First Grade a girl named Debbie grew her nails maybe 1/8" past her fingertips. For a girl that age (5 or 6) and allowing for her fingers being so small that's VERY long. By 4th Grade girls were competing with each other to see who could grow theirs the longest. By Junior High School there were several girls with about an inch past the fingertips with many more with a little less. By the time I graduated in 1982 about one out of every dozen or so girls had nails showing past their fingertips. I also think when Cindy Crawford came on the scene emphasizing her body in general and her very strenuous workouts that THAT'S when long nails hit the skids, because the mentality then became "You can be just as sexy without."

[dave aka pnl]

I never came out and said it but....from all the compliments and the attention I paid to them I thought she/they knew I had a thing for long nails. I graduated in 1978 and I know what you mean about your school experience's with the girl's. I also had teacher's with beautiful long natural nails also starting in elementary scholl and I loved there classes for some reason. Fifth grade was the best as I had a homeroom teacher with long beautiful nails and she also turned out to be my math teacher also.

[Andrew]

I think fake nails have a lot to do with the reduction in real long nails out there.

In the old days, before there were nail salons on the streets of London, if you saw a woman with long nails you knew 2 things:
- They were real
- They were her own doing ie she was passionate enough about them to care for them to that length.

Women who grew their nails achieved a certain kudos, respect and appreciation from men and women for their efforts, and of course from us nail fans.

When the salons came suddenly anyone, even nailbiters, could have long nails in one hour. With no effort on their part. The women who previously felt special growing their own nails were suddenly lumped in with the fakers "are those nails real?" and there was nothing special about them anymore.

When I meet a genuine long nail woman these days she will say 100% of the time "everyone thinks they are fake, thank you for noticing". I am afraid the nail industry has done the most damage to real nails, in more ways than one ;)

[dave aka pnl]

You hit the "nail" right on the head Andrew. I've felt this way for years about the fake nails, it has been a detriment to the real women with beautiful long natural nails. Give me the good ole days thank you very much.

[Italiandude]

At least in the part of America where I live fake nails have died too because of lawsuits due to fungus that grows between the fake nail and the real one. The thing that's all the rage today is especially in high school and college girls is the flashy-colored or jet-black "spot" on the end of each finger that's completely surrounded by skin. It looks so half-@$$ to me. It's like "Why stop at 99%? Go the other 1%!! Will it kill you to show a little length?" Every nail polish ad I see also shows painted rectangles that are completely surrounded by skin. There was once a TV commercial I saw while flipping through the channels that showed a hand model showing off a diamond. Back in the day GUARANTEED her nails would have been 1/2" past her fingertips. But this one showed off a French Manicure with a thin-as-thin-could-be white stripe across the top of each nail.

Also at my work I collect tickets. Not that I go out of my way but I notice peoples' hands when I take their tickets. Out of maybe 600 people (figure half are women) that I see per week, maybe 6-8 women at the very most (and beleive it or not about the same amount of MEN!!) show at least a little past the fingertips. Had this been 1980 I will guarantee you about half of the women would have had good nails. Again this web site is very valuable for obvious reasons. Probably the majority of all the remaining LNB's left in the world are pictured here on this web site.

[dave aka pnl]

What part of the USA you from ? I'm from Balt. Md. and I rarely see nailpolish commercials. It would appear we're old school polish scheme's and haven't caught on to the new style's. I work outside on roads and bridges and I notice the ladies driving by and check out their nails religiously and see very few long nails, fake and or natural. I do notice it's mainly mature ladies with the long nails and usually their natural.

[dave aka pnl]

Oh DAH.....I see you are north of me in Harrisburg. I hate when I do or say dumb, stupid stuff :o .

[dave aka pnl]

BTW, Italiandude...does the wife know your here :confused: . You could be in for a sticky :o situation if she dosn't and your caught :eek: .

[Italiandude]

BTW, Italiandude...does the wife know your here :confused: . You could be in for a sticky :o situation if she dosn't and your caught :eek: .

Yeah you're right. But it's A LOT better than cheating!! Also I'm referrring to ads in the local pharmacy, not on TV. The one with the hand model was an infomercial, probably on QVC.

[arindastormweaver]

When II first got the job I have today, my fingernails were a mere 1/2" or so long. I was asked in my interview how they would affect my typing. I assured the lady I could type well and part of the interview was a typing test any way. Now look at me LOL BTW, the lady that asked how I could manage with them...she's not there any more.


I think this is the most common issue indeed: women working.
Whenever I engage in a conversation about my future, people tell me I will eventually have to cut these nails and get a decent job...

[MJ2]

I have to disagree with everyone. Forty years ago, Tina Roberts made worldwide news because her nails were 4 inches long. Well, maybe one or two were if measured from the cuticle. I would guess that the average length of her nails was about 2+ inches. I didn't see any others in that class until around 1974 when Ybona Price made the Enquirer with nails on her left hand up to 8 inches long. A couple of years later, Glodean White showed up with 3 inch nails. In 1985 Brenda Long made the local news with nails up to 15 inches long on her left hand. Then, along came Lee Redmond with 8 inch nails and Diz McNally with very long nails. In the mid-80's I heard of many other women with nails in the 4 - 7 inch range, but I never saw them.

Today, if you look on the internet, on this site and on nailpassion's site you will see nails Like you never would have seen before. There are probably 100 women on these sites (and others) that have nails way beyond what Tina Roberts was displaying. And the number of women with great nails, if not in the superlong range showing up here is very impressive. In the sixties, I would guess that I saw from all sources, maybe 5 women with nails one inch or longer. Back then, most any woman with nails extending past the fingertip caused excitement. Polly Bergen of To Tell The Truth got my attention. If you watch the reruns of that show on GSN you will see that she almost never had any signifigant growth at all.

If nails weren't so prominent today, then why are there so many nail salons? It's hard to go a block in any major city without coming across one. Back in the 70's, Minnie Smith who built Cher's porcelain nails said in an interview that one in a thousand women had great nails. So go to the mall and watch 1000 women go by and tell me how many women with good or great nails you see.

Another great thing we have today is interaction with many of our nail goddesses. We never had that in the past. Arinda, Linda, Margo, Francois, Dr. Purdy Talons, and many, many more, past and present. I never had any of that in the 60's, 70,s, or 80's.

This is the best time ever for nail lovers. And do you know what else? I don't believe that we have seen as much as 1% of what is out there. So enjoy these great times.

Just my 2 cents - MJ2

[Italiandude]

The nail salons near where I live don't do fake nails any more because of lawsuits over fungus that forms between the real nail and the fake one causing permenant damage to the real nail. All they do now is just manicures and pedicures. But as I mentioned in an earlier post I see so many many especially younger women who insist on wearing the flashy-colored or jet-black "spot" on the end of each finger that's completely surrounded by skin. As half-@$$ as it may look to me I might see at least 5 or 10 such women in a day. But at least where I live fake nails (unfortunately) are history. :(

[Italiandude]

Here's another reason I suspect why women (at least here in the U.S.) don't wear their nails long any more: Radical Feminism. It seems more women here in America have big heads than in Europe. They take what they hear from people like Oprah Winfrey the wrong way and use it to throw their weight around ("I don't need a man to make ME happy!" "Men are jerks!" "Men are pigs!"). By contrast, most women in Europe seem to have more of a tendency to go out of their way to please their man. I once dated a LNB from Russia who was not on the best of terms with her husband due to a set-up marriage. They were not in love with each other. We had a BEAUTIFUL courtship that lasted about 10 months. But it came to the point where she had to choose either me or him. She ended up staying with him for the sake of a stable enviornment for their son.

[Italiandude]

I never came out and said it but....from all the compliments and the attention I paid to them I thought she/they knew I had a thing for long nails. I graduated in 1978 and I know what you mean about your school experience's with the girl's. I also had teacher's with beautiful long natural nails also starting in elementary scholl and I loved there classes for some reason. Fifth grade was the best as I had a homeroom teacher with long beautiful nails and she also turned out to be my math teacher also.

The vast majority of my teachers throughout school were men. The only women I remember who had long nails were my 11th Grade homeroom teacher, and my art teacher in Jr. High school.

[mike]

Great post, I-dude. Really got the mental juices flowing and the opinions running strong.
Hard data: I don't know how nail lengths today compare statistically to nail lengths 20, 30, or 50 years ago. Going by memory, I remember that a more glamorous look was widespread in the 60s (when I was a preteen), but actual nail lengths may not have been longer. Again, going by memory, I recall that women cultivated a softer, "more feminine" look: pencil skirts and flirty day dresses (I never saw a woman wearing dungarees on a weekday), nipped waists, girdles, hose, high heels (they're back in a big way, of course), and elaborate, sprayed-in-place hairstyles plus heavy makeup. Being kittenish or slinky was a general style, and nails went with it. But again, nothing like the claws women get at salons now.

Still my opinion, what seems to have changed is women. I think they still love to look attractive, but they've got a broader range of style options now. It's in fashion to look more assertive, tomboyish or androgynous. Women's fashion has borrowed a lot of cues from menswear. And women embrace athletes and hard bodies as inspirations now. Long nails may have an association with a more demure era when women were expected to be retiring, inactive types. Not today's woman at all.

And of course sexy is different today. It's a bolder, more aggressive tone in a woman's style portfolio, so to speak. You've had influences from rock, punk, metal, riot, hip-hop plus a spectrum of movie archetypes, from Sigourney Weaver's Ripley to Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor to major and minor celluloid ass-kickers in between. Not to mention real-life power chicks: Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, Courtney Love, the Slater-Kinney girls, Mia Hamm, Serena Williams . . . .

Today's woman can turn on the glamour just by throwing a little black dress over her toned and kick-boxing-strong body (and slipping into some heels that make her taller than the boys). I just don't think nails are as big a part of the toolkit for a lot of women.

But when women do wear nails today, they embrace their fetish diva, in my opinion. I'm sure it's just camp and dress-up for them, like much of femininity is, but they seem to be very conscious of being vampiresses and nail goddesses. They're channeling hip-hop chicks like Eve and Princess Superstar or rugged rockers like Ruyter Suys or dangerous tarts like Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Tilly. The nails are longer, more wicked. and more suggestive than I've ever seen them. But that's what's going into my memory banks now. Twenty years from now, I may recall this as an age of demure nails.

I just have to believe that in an age where women are showing off enhanced chests and making other declarations of sexual intensity, nails haven't disappeared. They've probably shifted horizontally to a sector of the female population (i.e. working class) that we usually overlook.

[scot]

Over the past few decades more women than ever are working outside the home, in formerly-male occupations, trying to break through stereotypes of women being weak and incapable of this or that. They're also more into athletics. From a practical standpoint as well as a psychological one, long nails have disappeared. Women today do not want femininity to preclude them from doing anything a man can do. When I was a lad, I recall many nurses who kept quite long nails. That was before today's hygiene knowledge and before rubber gloves were mandated.

Given that less and less women are wearing long nails, and young girls tend to follow what their idols do, it's entirely possible that in time, young boys will not see a girl or woman with long nails except in old movies or magazines or on the internet. Since many men trace their obsession with nails to a childhood encounter, I wonder if in time the fetish will cease to exist. Of course, fashion trends do tend to swing like a pendulum, so it isn't impossible that long nails may one day see a resurgence. One can dream...

[Italiandude]

Over the past few decades more women than ever are working outside the home, in formerly-male occupations, trying to break through stereotypes of women being weak and incapable of this or that. They're also more into athletics. From a practical standpoint as well as a psychological one, long nails have disappeared. Women today do not want femininity to preclude them from doing anything a man can do. When I was a lad, I recall many nurses who kept quite long nails. That was before today's hygiene knowledge and before rubber gloves were mandated.

Given that less and less women are wearing long nails, and young girls tend to follow what their idols do, it's entirely possible that in time, young boys will not see a girl or woman with long nails except in old movies or magazines or on the internet. Since many men trace their obsession with nails to a childhood encounter, I wonder if in time the fetish will cease to exist. Of course, fashion trends do tend to swing like a pendulum, so it isn't impossible that long nails may one day see a resurgence. One can dream...

Absolutely correct. But I don't see long nails EVER coming back, at least not in our lifetime.

[mike]

I hope that even if the long nails look shrinks to a tiny little corner of womanhood, there'll still be a hardy contingent keeping the faith alive.

What I first loved (on sight) and believed about long nails is what I still believe: long nails express a woman's knowledge of her power to dominate. I continue to believe that nature will always women who have that knowledge. I believe there will always be a few of us around too.

[Lon]

I too believe long nails will make a comeback one day. It may be some time, but they should return. There are nail salons all over the place, but most women these days just want tips or extensions, rather than having their own. Most of the asian salons just want to slap plastic on you and get you out the door. They don't want to care at all for the actual nail. It sounds like an end to real nails, but I think this trend will change. True, many women have had to keep their nails short because of work or computers or cell phones and other electronics with small buttons, but technology is always advancing, and soon, more of our electronics will be touchscreen. If they are pressure sensitive, then this is a thumbs up for long nails. If it's heat sensitive, forget it. Still, technology advances, and soon, we will control our electronics with our voices, eye movements, or our thoughts. In a hands free electronic world, why can't women grow their nails long again? Athletics and long nails never seem to mix well, but then you get beauties like Gail Devers and Flojo. I doubt either of these ladies could play pro basketball with nails like that, but in rare instances, an athletic woman can have long nails.

Let's hear it for optimism! All we need now is for the women to have the desire and not go to the factory environment asian salons.

As for fungus in the salon, that's just wrong. They are doing something seriously wrong if they are causing fungus. Fungus does not grow between the nail and enhancement unless there is already a problem. Fungus grows because there is a break in the skin, then it gets under the natural nail. This can happen just as easily with a manicure or a pedicure as it can with nail enhancements. All it takes is a cut in the cuticle, or an ingrown nail. Using dirty tools and a dirty environment and being careless causes fungus. Normally what you see between the natural nail and the enhancement is bacteria. Usually, this just causes a discoloration, but if taken care of, should not have any longterm affects on the nail. So, the techs should not discontinue services for fear of a lawsuit. They just need to discipline themselves in keeping a clean environment and not being aggressive around live skin.

[Italiandude]

Great comments, thanks guys and girls. :D This thread has gone futher than I expected. I, too hope long nails come back to where it was in the 1970's when EVERY model had them and when half the women on TV had them. But unfortunately too many women today think if anything at all shows past the fingertips it's disgusting, gross, and just plain ugly. They see long nails as being synonymous with wicked witches. :mad: But I would love to see the '70's come back. If anybody remembers "Barker's Beauties" Holly, Dian, and I forget the other blonde's name from "The Price Is Right" but THEY are perfect examples of what it once was.

[jwdimont]

good point on the teen idols and some of the recent ones do have some nails ... at least past their tips..... Fergie and Rihana ... and if you scan Yahoo answers, you will see some girls asking if guys like them at all ... and in the polls that occasionally ask "long or short nails" there plenty of women/girls that say they do have long nails...

[Italiandude]

I think at least compared to the 1970's I think more women today chew their nails today, possibly due to less tolerance of stress.

Just a thought....... :confused:

[kinkydomina]

The fungus issue: I never heard about that in Romania.
I know many girls who wear fake nails, I've been wearing a gel overlay since October 2007, so I went to quite a few nailtechs. The issues were related to liftings at the base of the nail rather than fungus.
Also, many girls are not careful enough with the nails, this is why they prefer to keep them shorter.

[MarkA]

I think if you have a good woman and she want to make you happy, then you can ask her to wear her nails long for you, and she will comply.

[Italiandude]

I think if you have a good woman and she want to make you happy, then you can ask her to wear her nails long for you, and she will comply.

Trust me I've begged her and begged her but her response is, "They break too easily plus I have to type and I do all this housework and yada yada yada.........." I've just taught myself to beleive that there's much more to a woman than just her nails.

[Francoise]

Its not impossible to work, to clean the house...to cook and to have long nails. I know that because my mom can, she does all that and she never had short nails...even when she had babies.
If u want ur g/f / wife to have long nails then tell her to use more polish coats...to do her manecure often...to polish them on sides too(most important) and to be careful...thats what i suggest to all the girls that asks me how do i manage to keep away from breaking (in fact i don't cook or wash dishes...but shhh! can't tell them that lol)

[Italiandude]

Thanks, Francoise. Out of all the LNB's I've seen on YouTube yours are the ones I like to look at most. I'll discuss it with her.

[Stanton]

...For not only your optimism (which makes LOTS of sense) re long nails coming back, but also for your candid take on the fungus issue of fake nails.
I does sound alot like those who had issues with the fungus didn't have professional manicurists doing their nails, or worked in a clean environment. Soundd more like negligence on part of both the wearer of the nails (for actually applying the nails when their real nails needed time to heal) and the manicurist (for not relaying to the wearer that she should rather not wear them just yet) than actually issues with the actual nails themselves.

I am someone who doesn't really get bothered by wether the nail is real or not. Why so many feel that fake nails don't count really astounds me, but then again everyone has their loves and hates, and everyone is entitled their opinion. :rolleyes:

I personally would have NO issues if the woman in my life could not have long real nails all the time due to work and family reasons, but who also didn't mind applying "falsies" once a month for those "special" occasions. That way, I get my "nail fix", and she still is able to go about her life. Life is all about give and take :)

The sad thing is that more and more people are being turned off from long nails, and actually see extremely long nails as (strangely) dirty, gross or disgusting, why this is only the good lord knows. I have been to news sites that covered the car crash that Lee Redmond was involved in where she (sadly) lost her nails. Out of an average of 100 posts, only ten were remotely interested in the health and welfare of Lee and the people involved, and strangely enough most of those concerned were people who we knwo in this community. The vast majority of posts however were mostly comenting on how disgusting her nails were, or how glad they were that she lost them (her nails), or how they thought she was weird to such a thing. I even read one post that thought that she caused the accident because her nails got stuck on the dashboard and she couldn't turn the steering wheel!! Seriously!! Not only was this an extremely insensitive comment, but factless as well as Lee Redmond was a passenger in the car, she was not even driving!! As a species, humanity has a very looong way to go in terms of tolerance towards each other, specailly to people who are not "like us".

[burgie]

By contrast, most women in Europe seem to have more of a tendency to go out of their way to please their man. I once dated a LNB from Russia who was not on the best of terms with her husband due to a set-up marriage. They were not in love with each other. We had a BEAUTIFUL courtship that lasted about 10 months. But it came to the point where she had to choose either me or him. She ended up staying with him for the sake of a stable enviornment for their son.

I have to disaggree with you on this one. I don't think European women go out of their way to please a man more than American women do. Here in Holland women are willing to experiment with their own partners in a solid relationship. But that goes two ways. The men must also be willing to do more for the women as well. The women are not out there just to please men.
The example you write about is a bit out of place because Russia is not a part of Europe. That's the same as saying that Peru is part of North America. Completely different cultures!

Long nails are definitly not gone her in Holland by the way. But there is a difference betweem winter and summer. Nails tend to be a lot longer during the summer. And there is also a difference in character types. But I'll start a new post for that one :)

[Italiandude]

I have to disaggree with you on this one. I don't think European women go out of their way to please a man more than American women do. Here in Holland women are willing to experiment with their own partners in a solid relationship. But that goes two ways. The men must also be willing to do more for the women as well. The women are not out there just to please men.
The example you write about is a bit out of place because Russia is not a part of Europe. That's the same as saying that Peru is part of North America. Completely different cultures!


Most of Russia is indeed in Asia. But Moscow, St. Petersberg, and many other cities are considered part of Eastern Europe. I remember being taught as a child that the Ural mountains were the boundary within Russia between Europe and Asia. But if the cultures are that much different between Russia and the rest of Europe, so be it. I guess I should have sampled a little more. :rolleyes:

[NickM]

Not sure how it used to be, but among university-aged women in the UK, something like 5% have any nail visible past the fingertip, and maybe 1% have nails longer than 1/4 inch past the tip (what I would call decent-length). Consider yourself very lucky if you find anyone with more than 1/2 an inch of growth.

So we're definitely living in a nail 'ice age'...

[Italiandude]

Not sure how it used to be, but among university-aged women in the UK, something like 5% have any nail visible past the fingertip, and maybe 1% have nails longer than 1/4 inch past the tip (what I would call decent-length). Consider yourself very lucky if you find anyone with more than 1/2 an inch of growth.

So we're definitely living in a nail 'ice age'...

I would say here in the States, as far as college age girls you would be lucky to find maybe one girl out of 100 with any nail at all showing past the fingertip. That translates to only 1% TOTAL. You have an abundance over there compared to here. But about 1/3 insist on wearing nail polish, so there's a good many here that insist on showing that annoying flashy-colored or jet-black "spot" on the end of each finger. YEEEECH!!! :eek:

[Italiandude]

I talked to a few women at work who wore fake nails for YEARS but don't wear them any more. The reasons? First of all, all of them said it got too expensive. Secondly, one woman grew more and more afraid that she might accidently scratch another and that it would result in a lawsuit. And thirdly, it's just so much easier to use your hands without anything "in the way." In her words, they were just "too heavy-duty." :(

[indi500fan]

I would say here in the States, as far as college age girls you would be lucky to find maybe one girl out of 100 with any nail at all showing past the fingertip. That translates to only 1% TOTAL. You have an abundance over there compared to here. But about 1/3 insist on wearing nail polish, so there's a good many here that insist on showing that annoying flashy-colored or jet-black "spot" on the end of each finger. YEEEECH!!! :eek:

sad but true
I really think the button pushing culture is a huge factor
that age group pretty much lives to "text" nowadays and cell phones aren't very
user friendly for lnbs

[Jabbypants]

I see lots around here in the uk with long nails, most are false ones but that doesn't bother me as i like to see french manicure with false acrylics as they always look perfect, i can walk down town and always get a good look at some i just need to get the courage sometime to say to some of them how good the look.

[Italiandude]

I see lots around here in the uk with long nails, most are false ones but that doesn't bother me as i like to see french manicure with false acrylics as they always look perfect, i can walk down town and always get a good look at some i just need to get the courage sometime to say to some of them how good the look.

One thing's for sure, there are A LOT more LNB's in Great Britain than there are here in the States and Canada combined. :mad:

Or so it seems..... :rolleyes:

[Italiandude]

If long nails were as common now as they were back in the 1970's we wouldn't have this web site or others like it. :rolleyes:

[LeniCano]

Having been away for 3 weeks, I've been catching up including looking through this thread.

The girls in China do grow their nails, but from what I saw, when they get to about 40 yrs old, this phenomenon ceases! Why? I don't know, but the youngsters do grow them.... not to great lengths, but maybe up to half an inch.

They also have the habit (and I like this) that if some break, they don't cut them all back, they seem very happy to have just one or two long nails.... I have photographed many examples of this.

What I did find exciting and disturbing at the same time is the number of young girls (10 - 15 let's say) who grow long nails.... beautiful shapes and lengths... I didn't venture to photograph any of these, but I could imagine what these beauties would be like in 10 years time.

I only saw 3 sets of ultra long (3"+) nails and at each sighting I was not able to film them for all sorts of reasons.... that really upset me.

They do not wear colour, I hardly saw any
They do not do fakes / overlays / acrylics etc
They do not put on these coloured tips
They do not even have manicure parlours... well they might have, but I didn't see a single 'nail shop'

The shapes of the natural ungrown nails and internail in so many of the girls are just amazing, true perfection...

China has caught up with the rest of the world and in many instances is more advanced in all sorts of aspects and systems, I really hope that the nail scene will continue as it is, almost naive and reminiscent of the 50s.

For me, this was the holiday of a lifetime, and I have to thank my dear wife for putting up with my sudden disappearances when I saw an LNB...

She even helped out on many occasions with the filming.

Nobody spoke English out in the streets, but we got by very well, just a smile and a shake of the camera in the direction of the woman's hands and they understood what I wanted... I'm sure they didn't understand why?

I can't wait to go back!

[LeniCano]

If long nails were as common now as they were back in the 1970's we wouldn't have this web site or others like it. :rolleyes:

You could well be right..... After seeing all the LNBs floating around in China, almost like an everyday occurrence, I checked the stats on my web site.

The viewers from China represent less than 1%
Chinese nail lovers don't need our web sites........

I wonder if other webmasters have similar statistics?

[Mr. Blue]

This has been a really interesting thread so far! I do keep thinking about one thing.......... What about long toenailed women? Take the percentage or statistical number of women with long fingernails in the U.S. and divided that by half or even more! I have only seen a few long toenailed women in public maybe 5-6 times in my lifetime!!! What I found in those times:
-unkept toenails that were yellowish and had seen better days
-slighty past the toe-tip with the french-white tip
-long toenails that were beat-up with chipped polish
-My favorite: 1 women who had them long (1 inch past the toetip at least) :eek: , professionally done, perfectly polished, and wearing very alluring strappy heels. (Geez, that was a great day!) :rolleyes:

I know long toenails has never been an excepted form of beauty in the U.S. and for those women that try it.........thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :cool:

[Italiandude]

This has been a really interesting thread so far! I do keep thinking about one thing.......... What about long toenailed women? Take the percentage or statistical number of women with long fingernails in the U.S. and divided that by half or even more! I have only seen a few long toenailed women in public maybe 5-6 times in my lifetime!!! What I found in those times:
-unkept toenails that were yellowish and had seen better days
-slighty past the toe-tip with the french-white tip
-long toenails that were beat-up with chipped polish
-My favorite: 1 women who had them long (1 inch past the toetip at least) :eek: , professionally done, perfectly polished, and wearing very alluring strappy heels. (Geez, that was a great day!) :rolleyes:

I know long toenails has never been an excepted form of beauty in the U.S. and for those women that try it.........thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :cool:


Good point!!!

[Italiandude]

....the past few days I came across maybe 300 women and out of those 300 only ONE, yes UNO, had maybe 1/4 inch past her fingertips. LOTS of women with red or black "spots" on the ends of their fingers, though.

I hope Dolly Parton can hold out a little longer. She's been talking about losing the wigs and nails for a long time now. The day she loses her nails will be a VERY sad day indeed. Long nails WILL be officially *D*E*A*D* in America. :( :(

[Pills]

....the past few days I came across maybe 300 women and out of those 300 only ONE, yes UNO, had maybe 1/4 inch past her fingertips. LOTS of women with red or black "spots" on the ends of their fingers, though.

I hope Dolly Parton can hold out a little longer. She's been talking about losing the wigs and nails for a long time now. The day she loses her nails will be a VERY sad day indeed. Long nails WILL be officially *D*E*A*D* in America. :( :(

Wow....that's certainly a low number. I think I usually see more women with 1/4"+ nails than that, but certainly they're scarce.

[Italiandude]

I saw under the most popular videos on YouTube one called "Glitter Nails." she had these gaudy green glittered "spots" on the end of each finger COMPLETELY surrounded by skin. I felt compelled to suggest to her if she could perhaps grow her nails maybe 1-2 mm past her fingertips. Her answer:

"Nails will not grow that long without chipping or breaking."

[timelike01]

I know this is a longshot, but you know we could attempt to popularize long nails on women. Needless to say, a lot of us are doing that now. But if you can't wait for the long nail trend to come back "naturally, we definitely need to find a wait to speed up the process.

[Italiandude]

I know this is a longshot, but you know we could attempt to popularize long nails on women. Needless to say, a lot of us are doing that now. But if you can't wait for the long nail trend to come back "naturally, we definitely need to find a wait to speed up the process.

Trouble is that all women today think it's as "un-lady-like" today as it was "lady-like" in the 1970's. Showing 1/4 inch past the fingertips is really SOMETHING today ("Oh wow how do you get your nails to grow so long?").

[Flat Top]

I don’t think today’s women think long nails are un-lady. It’s the opposite. I believe every woman will always admire and want long nails; it’s just that long nails take great dedication and trouble to maintain. Just about every girl or woman that I know of well enough has at least experimented with long nails some time in their life, no matter how brief. Just that today there appears to be no competition or incentive for them to persevere with this “inconvenience”. Of course, glamorous celebrities with neglected stubby nails don’t help. Has anyone been aware of the hand/nails of Spider-man’s girl?

[LM]

"... Of course, glamorous celebrities with neglected stubby nails ..."

Unfortunately, this is OUR FAULT! Let me say it again, THIS IS OUR FAULT! By sheer fact that we allow the term "glamorous" to be used to describe skanky, blunt-fingered, bland-handed celebrities! Nasty, ugly, un-cared for nails are NOT glamourous, and SHOULD NOT be overlooked! Everytime I look up, there a new actress with nails worst than those before.

Just when my stomach had settled after trying to understand how Julia Roberts qualified as a "Pretty Woman", Hollywood gives us the appropriately named Hilary Skank (oops, Swank,) complete with the chewed-down nubs.

This is our fault; GLAMOUR includes cared-for nails! And when we desribe a glamourous women it MUST include nails!

L
'-)

[LM]

On my previous post I only considered the easy reasons; there is a more powerful, sinister force taking long-nails out of society. In the mid/late nineties there was a "push" to make long, polished nails on men. There are some names on this board, that can remember this. It is this sinister force that wants to promote removal of gender-specific traits, and characteristics; they permeate Hollywood, they create a FALSE, and incomplete impression of what is acceptable, of what is normal, of what is natural!

High value celebrites (try @ 3pm ch.7) disparagingly call long-nails, "hooker-nails." This is the bigger problem, to remove difference, between boys and girls, it's the MEDIA, they are trying to remove sexuality.

L
'-)

[Italiandude]

I don’t think today’s women think long nails are un-lady. It’s the opposite. I believe every woman will always admire and want long nails; it’s just that long nails take great dedication and trouble to maintain. Just about every girl or woman that I know of well enough has at least experimented with long nails some time in their life, no matter how brief. Just that today there appears to be no competition or incentive for them to persevere with this “inconvenience”. Of course, glamorous celebrities with neglected stubby nails don’t help. Has anyone been aware of the hand/nails of Spider-man’s girl?

You mean Kirsten Dunst? She has N*O*T*H*I*N*G for nails, like every other Hollywood celebrity. Also I was watching the "Sex & The City" movie and Sarah Jessica Parker I would swear has man's hands.

[timelike01]

And Cynthia Nixon's hands are even more manly than Sarah Jessica Parkers!
:mad:

[Flat Top]

You mean Toby McGuire's girl in the Spiderman movies? I forget her name but she has N*O*T*H*I*N*G for nails, like every other Hollywood celebrity. Also I was watching the "Sex & The City" movie and Sarah Jessica Parker I would swear has man's hands.
Her name is Kristen Dunst. When I saw her nails’ close-up in Spiderman, I felt creepy. A high power, “glamorous” celebrity with nails like that? What message is it sending to the girls next door?

[timelike01]

What if there were a new TV show that featured one or more long nailed women characters who are not the sterotypical long nailed women? And what if this TV show became a hit? Could that help reverse the horrible trend of short-nailed women? Whatever the case, I say somebody should get to work on this show now!

[Italiandude]

Use "Three's Company" as an example. Both Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers back then had gorgeous long nails. :)

[Italiandude]

What if there were a new TV show that featured one or more long nailed women characters who are not the sterotypical long nailed women? And what if this TV show became a hit? Could that help reverse the horrible trend of short-nailed women? Whatever the case, I say somebody should get to work on this show now!

Like a "Sex And The City" but with LNB's as a cast. Then again you would have to have a heck of a plotline because today's generation of women would be turned off from seeing long nails.

[JOEY624267]

I Think 3/4 Of The Women Are Not Able To Grow Their Own Nails Out,do To Health,or Nerves They Enjoy Chewing Up Their Hands,just Take A Good Look ! A Lil Jealousy Too U Know How Women Are. Come On,think About It ? Maybe A Lil Lazy Too !

[Italiandude]

I think at least compared to the 1970's I think more women today chew their nails today, possibly due to less tolerance of stress.

Just a thought....... :confused:

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. :)

[Italiandude]

Well, I went 4 days without seeing (or at least noticing) any women with any more than a few millimeters of nail extending past the fingertips and that's out of maybe 100-150 women I see a day in my line of work. Finally yesterday I saw a 20-something girl with about 1/2 inch extension past her fingertips (unpolished) and I just had to complement her that she is literally one girl in a million these days.

[Italiandude]

I went to my local pharmacy for my weekly supply of Propel Mandarin Orange water and I noticed an ad for Revlon nail polish. What I saw totally disgusted me. It was a picture of a bunch of high school-age girls with one about to take a photo of all of them holding the camera in front of them. The hand that was holding the camera had an orange half-moon shape painted on the end of each finger, COMPLETELY land-locked with skin. I had to take a second look to make sure it wasn't a boy. Sure enough she was indeed female. It really gets to me sometimes as to how such a half-@$$ed look could be so popular.

I want the 1970's back. :( :(

[timelike01]

And the 1960s were pretty good for long-nailed women too!

[LM]

You could well be right..... After seeing all the LNBs floating around in China, almost like an everyday occurrence, I checked the stats on my web site.

The viewers from China represent less than 1%
Chinese nail lovers don't need our web sites........

I wonder if other webmasters have similar statistics?
Don't you think statistics can be mis-leading, when void of qualifying references? I don't doubt or challenge your number, however:
Communist China (not Nationalist China ) censors web browsing.
The percentage penetration of computers in the home is nowhere near that of western nations

1% is relevant to what? Like, what are the 2 or 3 top hit countries, what are 2 or 3 lowest(and %)? If you have hits from 100 nations, is 1% [I]really that low?

Just a thought...

L
'-)

[LeniCano]

Don't you think statistics can be mis-leading, when void of qualifying references? I don't doubt or challenge your number, however:
Communist China (not Nationalist China ) censors web browsing.
The percentage penetration of computers in the home is nowhere near that of western nations

1% is relevant to what? Like, what are the 2 or 3 top hit countries, what are 2 or 3 lowest(and %)? If you have hits from 100 nations, is 1% [I]really that low?

Just a thought...

L
'-)


I didn't see any censorship of web browsing in hotels or internet cafes, maybe po*n sites, however Nailbytes came up everywhere I went and I even checked into my site successfully.

Regarding percentages, over a certain period of time, the USA topped the number of log ins, 88,000 representing 31% of total 'clicks'
China had 259 showing 0.09%............. even Saudi Arabia had more viewers!

Yes, stats can be misleading within a few percent but we're looking at very small numbers for one of the largest populated countries in the world.

142 countries are shown and half of them have less than 100 hits over this same period.

[Italiandude]

And the 1960s were pretty good for long-nailed women too!

Very true. I've seen photos going back to the 1920's of women with long, dark-painted nails. It's been around so long, why did it stop?? It still bugs me.... :rolleyes:

[georges]

Very true. I've seen photos going back to the 1920's of women with long, dark-painted nails. It's been around so long, why did it stop?? It still bugs me.... :rolleyes:
Same question for me, why did it stop, those were nice times I think..

best regards,
Georges,

[Italiandude]

I think we have come to the following conclusions as to why long nails (including fake nails) have disappeared:

I think most of us can agree that the number one reason is the push-buttons, especially on cell phones and computer keyboards.

Number two would have to be a general laziness ("What's the use? They're only going to break.").

Number three would have to be, to quote Tyra Banks, "Because nails extending past the fingertips looks slovenly and unprofessional."

And fourth, because most women associate long nails with witches and an otherwise "low" calibur, like ho's.