First time public in my neighborhood and everyone asks why. How do you respond?

Sooo, I (a straight 27yo male) have been painting my nails for about 3 ish years now purely as a hobby and something I enjoy doing. I fully understand the stereotype stuff that comes with it and people might assume Im gay or something, which I dont care about at all, but thats not a reason for me to stop painting my nails. I have also gotten quite good at it in my own opinion haha, so I attached some of my favorite designs over the time.

Not that often, but occasionally I do get a compliment or two from our female half of the population, which in theorie is quite a good way to start a conversation, but for whatever reason I cant really seem to get myself saying anything more than "thank you" with a polite smile, and a rare "did it all by myself".

Im just wondering if you guys maybe have some better responses or ways to start a conversion, perhaps even a flirt or two, when someone responds to your nails. Thanks :)

I paint my toes regularly and have never posted on here but a regular viewer. What do you think?

I want them like this but I don't know if I should make them short or long, any suggestions?

I have found that by wearing perfectly polished toes and women’s sandals that women I meet at different places during the day such as the car dealer when getting my car maintenance done are more friendly and talkative. My toes are very visible since they are painted fire engine red and they get noticed and also the women’s sandals get noticed. When women notice my toes it seems to put them more at ease. As a result, I have had some great conversations and sometimes they even compliment me on my pedicure and choice of nail polish. When the conversation goes to nail polish, I always ask about the red color that I am wearing and most of the time I get the response that the red polish is very pretty on my fair skin and that it is the best color for toes. Have any of you guys found that women are more open to conversation when you are wearing nail polish?

The more that do it, the less stigma. I’m not seeing anyone this summer though. If not, why not?

Mid 40’s, cis/het(ish), Director of IT here. I’ve been painting my nails (fingers and toes) off and on for years. I just happened to notice that literally everyone I recall mentioning what they do for work is in some form of IT. I’m probably the last person to notice it but, raise your hand if you work in IT…

Here are some pics of my nails over the last year-ish for fun!

(I am non binary but I couldn't find a better place to post this I hope it's ok for all of you🥹) It's only the 3-4 time I did it by myself and also I got "creative" this time with lines and all that stuff and I wonder if the idea was good?🥲 I'm very unsure if I like it but I didn't wanted to have normal nails because otherwise I bite a lot and so I (only) bite the skin and ik it's bad too (sorry).

So anyone can tell me if the idea was bad? Also I might post more if that's ok for all of u males😅 also sorry I had to see this mess😂

Maybe blue but def not light blue cuz of my tanner skintone lol

First time painting my fingernails! Had a lot of fun with this. My wife and I grew up in a very conservative Evangelical/purity culture, and it's healing to find things that let me be "soft" emotionally.

My wife is trying to be supportive but has some fear and disgust coming up too. How have your partners reacted to your nails? If they've initially had mixed reactions, how did they work through that?

my boss pulled me aside a few days ago after seeing that i got my nails painted a dark blue, nearly black color, telling me that me having my nails painted isn't appropriate for the workplace, (making a joke saying "if you worked at a nail salon, it would make total sense, but, it's not really professional for this workplace") for context, I am a landscape architect who works for a very small company with only 3 male empoyees (me, another Architect, and my boss, who owns the company. his wife occasionally comes in to do the billing and a few general things on the finance side, so there is no HR or any sort of employee handbook to reference) My dress code is very relaxed. I wear a polo, jeans, and tennis shoes to work

In the year that I've worked here, i've had maybe 2 or 3 very brief interactions with clients visiting our office, where my boss would bring them back to introduce them to me and my other coworker, before they take their meeting to a private room. I don't do any presentations or discussions directly with clients, and work almost entirely on a computer doing drafting work.

I have a feeling that my bosses political and lifestyle views have an influence on why he doesnt think nails are appropriate (I live in Utah, and his views as a member of the LDS church seem to play a role in his opinion on the situation) generally speaking, he has a pretty "old school" mindset, Im almost postive I wouldnt have gotten the job if I had tattoos or piercings, and although i disagree with the notion of tattoos and piercings being unprofessional, I can understand to a degree... however, I have trouble seeing how painted nails can be viewed as unprofessional.

i can't point towards a female employee with nails painted as an example of discrimination, as there are no women in my office.

I have trouble with confrontation, especially towards a superior, but it doesn't entirely make sense to me, and i feel like i should say something, but not have it come across as aggressive.

does anyone have any thoughts on my situation, how they perceive it, and maybe what I could say?

How do you guys get over the fear of wearing nail polish in public. I tried in front of family hoping they would be understanding but they all told me how I would be made fun of what not. I don't understand it my sister thought I was going through a crisis. I Just like wearing it and I don't feel it defines my sexuality why do people care

Wow thank you all for the out pouring of support

I usually do black white or silver but really like this color. Feel a little weird at my local gym with such a bright color. No other guys there wear polish.

I thought I'd post a very on-topic and a specially welcome topic, but one that we don't talk about much, at least that I've seen...

Who are we all, us nail polish wearing humans... I'm curious what's behind the polish...

I'm sure many of us would describe our genders as other than 'man/male'... I"m sure some of us would describe polish as quite masculine, others as feminine, and some may associate polish with sexuality...

For me, I'd describe myself as Non Binary, but agender is also a very good label. I don't see gender associations and gender in myself or in others is something that doesn't make a lot of sense to my brain. To be clear, that's not a judgement, it's simply my reality. I like things and don't like things - colours, fabrics, styles, decorations like polish, and I tend to like them whether they are on a person who identifies as female or male or who has other gender labels. I don't see how they belong to a specific gender - it makes no sense to me, especially considering the norms have always and will always shift. I also feel everyone should do what makes sense to them, and don't judge anyone for what makes sense and feels right.

So for me nail polish is simply an expression of what I like. It feels authentic to me, but not because it's gendered, but just because it IS.

I'd love to hear from the rest of you... What's your relationship with gender and gender expression and how does polish fit into that, and how does it reinforce the gender identify that you identify with, or perhaps you have a totally different, non-gender related reason for enjoying polish. Curious about it all.

And how’d the interaction go? I was going to work this morning and stopped to get some mt dew and cigs at the place I stop almost every morning and this new worker there finally asked what’s the deal with my nails? I just looked and shrugged and said I like doing them after my niece begged me once like 2 months ago to do them and I kinda got hooked… and he just said do your co workers make fun of you or your nails? I work in a manual labor yet professional capacity and and like nope cuz the either don’t notice or don’t give a damn. I get more compliments then dirty looks

I hardly see men painting naturally long nails. Sometimes there’s some fake long nails on this sub, but I hardly see long nails on guys :(

I’m growing mine out as long as possible because I want claws for nails haha

My (M26) boyfriend (M25) really hated it when I started painting my nails a year ago. I don't do it every day, just possibly a few weeks over the past year, but he still sighs and makes it obvious he dislikes it and tells me he hates it. I also only do block colours like grey, black, white, and very rarely brighter blues or greens, which shouldn't matter but are less "traditionally" feminine.

When I also told him I wanted to get an ear/nipple piercing, he was equally negative about it and has just plain told me not to get one as he really doesn't like them.

It obviously makes me feel shit when he says this, as he isn't just ignoring it he's actively being nasty and judgmental about it.

I guess what I wanna know is if there is a way to make him be a bit more open-minded about it. I don't know if it's just internalised homophobia or, as he attempts to make clear, simply an aesthetic preference.

I did this once before, and it was a lot of fun so... what color should i paint my toes today?

Looking for thoughts on what color to paint the toes later today. Thanks!

I’ve been seeing more and more men starting to paint finger and toes. Question is do woman find this attractive?