Men's nails - A question for the ladies

[Salvanas]

Since I was a kid, I've been biting my nails until recently. I stopped around 2 weeks ago, and started growing them again, mainly for my guitar playing.

However, I started to have thoughts. Here are a few questions I'd like answered by the ladies.

1: Hygiene is no doubt a huge part of what attracts a woman to a man, however, what do women think when they see a man with slightly longer nails than usual? (Long as in approx. 1 and a half cm from the meat of your finger.)

2: Does it look feminine in any way?

3: If I was to keep it long, how would I look after them, and make sure they don't snap, while at the same time, not making them look feminine?

Thanks.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Salvanas

Since I was a kid, I've been biting my nails until recently. I stopped around 2 weeks ago, and started growing them again, mainly for my guitar playing.

However, I started to have thoughts. Here are a few questions I'd like answered by the ladies.

1: Hygiene is no doubt a huge part of what attracts a woman to a man, however, what do women think when they see a man with slightly longer nails than usual? (Long as in approx. 1 and a half cm from the meat of your finger.)

2: Does it look feminine in any way?

3: If I was to keep it long, how would I look after them, and make sure they don't snap, while at the same time, not making them look feminine?

Thanks.

"Slightly longer"? I'd say 1.5 cm is pretty much overgrown to my mind. Most girls I know don't keep their nails that long! Provided they're not ragged and sharp at the edges and clean underneath though, I don't notice mens nails. Except the creepy randomly extra-long little finger nail thing you sometimes see. That makes my skin crawl for some reason.

So yeah...I don't think my first thought at meeting a guy with nails that long would be 'Wow, what a ~girl~' but more like "Jesus! What's with the horror-show talons?! DON'T WANT."

You can easily maintain long nails without making them look girly, but considering you might end up tinkering out putting on hardening varnish to stop them being brittle, and filing them to keep the shape neat, that's still pretty feminine in and of itself. Or you could go to a nail bar. Apparently there are some that cater to men only but i have no idea what that would entail.

[iPhantom]

Originally Posted by Columbine

So yeah...I don't think my first thought at meeting a guy with nails that long would be 'Wow, what a ~girl~' but more like "Jesus! What's with the horror-show talons?! DON'T WANT."

Not really, because he would have long nails only on his right hand fingers (see above, he mentions guitar playing).

Since I've tried the same thing for playing guitar with fingerpicking, I can say that it was a bit uncomfortable for me. I wasn't used at it at all, it felt a lot different. If you are determined, you can get used to it... but I did that just to finger pick for a song, so it wasn't that needed. I ended up cutting them and playing using a pick.

You might want to check fake finger picks, they usually might not provide the same smooth tone as real nails, but they are pretty good and you don't have to wear them all the time.

[Salvanas]

My bad, I made a typo in my initial post. They're only like half a cm long.

Here's a picture.

[Columbine]

Guitar playing still wouldn't leap straight to my mind.

Never mind, anyway, .5 of a centimeter is roughly the length of my longest nail, I wouldn't even notice that on a guy.

[SHAD0W]

I know you asked for ladies opinions but I can't help but comment..

I feel that men shouldnt have anything more than a milimeter of fingernail? Enough to get under the ringpull of a coke can, but no more.. anything else looks really weird and girly. Especially the grubby "one nail longer than the rest" that Columbine mentioned.. thats just WIERD. Why do people do this?!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by SHAD0W

I know you asked for ladies opinions but I can't help but comment..

I feel that men shouldnt have anything more than a milimeter of fingernail? Enough to get under the ringpull of a coke can, but no more.. anything else looks really weird and girly. Especially the grubby "one nail longer than the rest" that Columbine mentioned.. thats just WIERD. Why do people do this?!

You can be an honorary lady Shad0w.

Actually, I just went and asked someone this; apparently it's popular in China as a good luck thing?

Worse than long fingernails though? Long toenails. That is disgusting; go and clip them at once boys! You'll also ruin all your socks.

[darksyndrem]

In your case Salv, this is not feminine at all. It has a purpose. If anyone questions you, it's easy enough to explain. If anyone hates you for it, fuck them.

[Allene7]

Originally Posted by Salvanas

Since I was a kid, I've been biting my nails until recently. I stopped around 2 weeks ago, and started growing them again, mainly for my guitar playing.

However, I started to have thoughts. Here are a few questions I'd like answered by the ladies.

1: Hygiene is no doubt a huge part of what attracts a woman to a man, however, what do women think when they see a man with slightly longer nails than usual? (Long as in approx. 1 and a half cm from the meat of your finger.)

2: Does it look feminine in any way?

3: If I was to keep it long, how would I look after them, and make sure they don't snap, while at the same time, not making them look feminine?

Thanks.

Well I think long nails on guys is very unattractive and honestly gross. I don't mind if they're not super short but they shouldn't be long. I understand why you're growing your nails but I think it's still not good on guys. The picture of your nail isn't too bad but personally I think a bit shorter is better; definitely not longer. I don't like it when guys have longer nails then me. I don't keep mine real long but they're also not real short. I do think it looks feminine on guys and sometimes even creepy (when they're really long).

If you have brittle nails they do make things that you can apply to your nails to help harden them so they won't break as easily. Aside from that I'm not sure there's much else you can do. Be careful with what you're doing so as to not break them. I like to file mine and trim them frequently to keep them at the length I like. If I start to let them grow too long they easily break on the edges even though my nails are pretty hard.

[Nyororin]

LONG nails are one thing - that length in the photo is well within the normal bounds for a guy. At least in my opinion.
My husband bites his nails, and they`re incredibly short... I cannot even begin to express how frustrating it is to watch him have tons of trouble doing the simplest things that would be laughably easy with nails a bit longer. (Picking up flat things off the floor... etc)
I wish he`d grow them out a bit longer, but it seems every time he tries he ends up nibbling on them at work and they disappear again.

As long as they`re not extremely long, are cut cleanly and roundly, and are not painted or anything like that - I wouldn`t think of any guy with long fingernails as feminine. "Well groomed" is more likely the reaction I`d have.