How do you feel about long real natural fingernails?

That’s why I bite my nails. Don’t have enough time in the day for that stuff.

Not a fan of long nails. I think there’s too many things you can’t do if you have them, and the annoyance of always having to take steps to protect them and maintain them would make me shudder.

I have short nails and always have. I keep them cut down so they don’t get in the way while I’m on the keyboard or cleaning or gardening.

I think they look nice if they’re 1/8 to ¼ of an inch beyond the finger. Much more than that and they look la-di-da foo-foo.

Hard to be a musician and/or artist with them, so I’ll pass. However, if that’s your thing, grow away. You be you, it’s all good.

I don’t like them on me for sure. Not just how they look but they get in my way. On other people it just depends on the look they are going for. I do prefer natural ones to fake ones for sure though.

If I had them, I wouldn’t need a back scratcher. ;)

I have beautiful nails. Both nails on my hands and feet are nice and grow fast.

WELCOME BACK!!!

When I allow my natural nails to grow too long, they tend to break off almost in the quick & that is VERY uncomfortable!!! I don’t care for the acrylic nails on me because I find them to be MORE trouble than they are worth. So, I keep my nails short long & that seems to stop the breaking off problem & still look reasonably well.

I have a friend who loves the really long acrylic nails. She has the pretty paint job done on them so they look pretty for the design, but I don’t care for the really long length. She has a really hard time picking up anything. They have also destroyed her natural nail. At the same time, I see it as if that’s what makes her feel good, it doesn’t bother me. I just don’t want them on me because I prefer a more natural look!!!

I like them, natural is so much better than the current ridiculous trends. That being said I am far too active to keep them more than a few months at a time, they start annoying me or limiting cleaning or activity, they’re gone.

They seem limiting and impractical (kind of like high-heels). I don’t know how people type or use touch screens with those things, let alone do basic activities like chopping an onion, shuffling a deck of cards, or planting flowers in the garden, etc. That said, I’m not going to judge someone else if they like it. It could also be the case that they’re not as limiting as I expect them to be in my head since I’ve never had nails like that.

They need to be just big enough to pick up a penny from a smooth surface. Longer nails are useless.

I like them slightly beyond my fingertip and filed rounded. I have no feelings about fingernails in general, other than to say Two-inch fingernails seem, to me, to be dirty and awkward.

Hello @LadyMarissa I don’t like the fake acrylic nails either. Mine are about a quarter inch past my fingers, sometimes I let my index and pinky get a little longer.
Oh, and shuffling cards is a breeze plus I can cut the deck with only one hand, in either hand. lol

^^ It sounds like yours are reasonable without being tacky!!! I don’t like these but it’s really NONE of my business!!! Can you imagine working as hard as it appears to take to get them that long & have one break???

@gorillapaws I bit my nails when I was younger & was learning how to touch type. Then I stopped biting them & they grew out just a little bit. I was ALWAYS typing one row above where my brain told my fingers to type!!! I almost put my eye out several times trying to rub it & the nail got there before the finger.

^^OMG! Those are ridiculous:D

^^Those are gross! Can you imagine the bacteria that must live there? You’d have to soak them in bleach and scrub them with a toothbrush everyday to keep them clean. And without being too TMI, how does one go to the bathroom??

LOL @LadyMarissa I like how you put that…the nail got there before the finger!

@smudges “How does one go to the bathroom?”

Maybe they go Roman style (xylospongium)?

@RayaHope I agree!!! It was popular 30–40 years ago to let them grow out almost 2 feet. Not only did it look ridiculous but also looked very uncomfortable!!! I couldn’t find a pic of those.

@smudges I’ve never known anyone who let them grow that long so I don’t know the answer to the bathroom Q. I WILL ask IF ever given the opportunity!!!

@LadyMarissa There are people even now who let both their toenails and fingernails grow out to 2 feet or more. They must just sit at home and care for their nails all day and let everyone else take care of them. Gross!

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2021/5/people-with-the-worlds-longest-nails-and-why-they-grow-them-660111

^^ That’s the guy that I remember. I hadn’t heard that he finally cut them. I imagine that it is just as debilitating to no longer have them as it was to grow them.

@gorillapaws I really didn’t need to know that!

@chyna You understood the context and still clicked the link. I’m not going to feel bad and you learned a new word (and if you ever happen to be on an archeological dig in Europe and find one buried, you’ll know to leave it in the ground).

@gorillapaws I didn’t click on it and by what @chyna said I’m glad I didn’t :)

I’ll be honest, I don’t understand them. They’re a nuisance.

I work with my hands. Long fingernails get in the way.

It’s not my thing at all. Like natural is better than some of those wilder acrylics, but to me the whole style is just a projection or attempted projection of class. Like all they signal is that you don’t work with your hands.

Unless you’re neurotic about cleaning your fingernails when you wash your hands (which I assume most people aren’t), I think they’re kind of gross.

^^I guess I am a little neurotic about cleaning because I keep them very clean.

^^I appreciate that!

A friend who is a Professor of Nursing said the nursing students (and the nurses) are not allowed to have long nails with polish on them because they harbor bacteria, no matter how clean you think you are keeping them. No long nails, no polish, even if the nails are “real” and not fake.”

@jca2 We have that policy at the hospital I work at, but it’s not enforced. Most nurses and doctors wear nail polish and have long nails.

@jca2 uhggg!
@chyna YAY!!

@jca2 et.al. When I was in med tech school, red polish wasn’t allowed because if blood was being drawn it reinforced the thought of blood to the patient. ¯\(ツ)/¯ Just the rules.

Personally, I don’t want a nurse or doctor handling me or my wounds with even long-ish nails. Course, they should be wearing gloves anyway. But with no nail polish and no gloves, I’d be able to actually see if their nails were dirty. Hey, if I can’t wear polish when I’m having surgery, neither can they!

I am guessing that the reason why the rule about nails isn’t enforced where @chyna works is that since health care is chronically short staffed, especially now, the last thing they want to do is send people home because they’re violating a nail rule. Also, the nail rule is probably difficult to enforce, unless the boss lines the workers up first thing and inspects them, otherwise, the nurses start working, bosses are busy, who has time for dealing with nails. Whereas in the college, where my friend is the professor, working with students in Clinical on the hospital floor, if at any time she sees they’re violating the rules, she just sends them home and it’s on the student because they’re not getting the required hours and then their graduation may be postponed. No biggie to the professor.

I know she had also mentioned that the students are not allowed to wear hats or any head covering, and it’s a State rule. She said if the state inspectors come in and find the rules violated, the state can shut the school down or fine them, so the professors have to enforce the rules.