A reflection on painting my nails which takes up about 20% of my week
For years, I kept myself from indulging in beautiful nails (and make up, and clothes and all things glamour) because:
1.) it’s expensive
2.) it takes time
For any young woman who is studying, working or doing both— time and money are valuable resources. So I just decided to stop doing my nail’s entirely so that I didn’t have to “waste” my money and time on something as “frivolous” as dead keratin that sits on the tops of my fingers. Rewind to three months ago when I made my dad Buckley my shoes for me because I wasn’t about to mess up my freshly painted nails! But during my no-nails era, I would feel so basic compared to a girl with a perfect set of nails. I felt smaller inside of myself whenever she would stretch her perfect hand to shake my stubby, hand. In that moment, the time or the money I “saved” didn’t rescue me from the feeling that I was inelegant and inferior.
Upon reflection, I now understand that feeling small came from the fact that undone nails made feel like I was more poor than the girl with beautifully manicured nails. I didn’t realise how much my approach to nail maintenance was defined by a desire to perform a bourgeoisie class. What do I mean by class performance? Sociologists Berger and Luckmann argue that:
“Identity is a phenomenon that emerges from the dialectic between individual and society."
In other words, the things that formulate our identities are not inherently real, but are realities that are co-created between the us as people and our societies. An easy example is astrology and horoscopes. We all know that there is nothing real about being a Capricorn. But when our friends are into it and we see it pop up in our favourite magazines and blogs, we take a look to see if we can identifying with Capricorn traits. Even when the traits feel spot on, we understand that we are participating in making these star signs applicable to our lives— it’s not objectively real. Astrology and horoscopes are a social construct because there is nothing real about it. While the theory of social constructivism has come under scrutiny in some circles, the idea of class identity being a social construct is an argument that still convinces me. Getting back to nails: So having beautiful nails is some part about look wealthy— but getting your nails done is also about reminding one’s self of their class positionally.
Let’s first think about hands. We do everything with our hands— from loading the dishwasher to applying our makeup. We all know that the less you do with your hands, the better your hand will look and feel. It’s not even an implication to say that well manicured nails reflects a hand that does not engage with menial labor— hand washing clothes, cleaning tiles with bleach (you get the picture).
Now let’s think about going to the nail salon. A huge part of the experience is about sitting across from a woman who is dressed in dreary black uniform, whilst you are wearing your Nike leggings. It’s about spending an hour when someone silently hunches over your fingernails, whilst you get to text your friends with a free hand, or chat to the technician about your most recent boy drama. When you go to the nail salon you are the the one who is waited upon and the nail technician is the one who waits upon you. You are the wealthy and they are the worker. Now remember, this is a social construct which means that there is no reason why the mail technician can’t wear her own clothes with an apron to protect her clothes from the nail dust. There is no reason for her to be silent or to listen to your life problems. There is no reason why she can’t put in headphones and listen to an audio book while doing your nails. Her response toward you is an elaborate performance called “customer service” designed to make you feel like you are the most important person in the world because you have the money to pay for this service. It’s an experience that makes you feel powerful because you can pay and many others can’t.
Similarly, painting one’s own nails is also a form of class performance. Although buying nail polish and doing it yourself is cheaper than going to the salon for a manicure, carefully painting your own nails with two coats of colour and then a top coat, allowing them to dry and then gently removing the spillover from your cuticles with an earbud takes a lot of time. Let alone redoing your nails every 4-6 days to prevent having chipped nails. This is a practise that working class women may not necessarily have. Many women may not have the time to paint as often as they need to keep their nails in shape. Chipped or undone nails quickly become a signifier of class, especially in South Africa— the most unequal country in the world. Typically speaking, time and money are the biggest signifiers of wealth privilege.Finally, the class implications of nail maintenance can be very quickly conflated with practises of femininity. If being more feminine is having beautiful nails, and beautiful nails requires time and money (which presupposes financial and time privileged) then we unintentionally link femininity with the availability of money.
In conclusion, there is nothing wrong with going to the nail salon. There is nothing wrong
with press-on’s or painting your nails. I love going to the nail salon or spending insane amounts of time buffing, filing and painting my nails. And at the same time, I am realising that my desire to have beautiful nails is primarily located in my desire perform class.
I can’t ignore the fact that when my nails are done, I present as more polished (ie moneyed) to the outside world and that it makes me feel good about myself. I suppose all that anyone can do is become aware of where their desires from. That way we can understand why beautifully maintained nails makes us feel better beyond their association with femininity.
Works Cited: Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor, 1967.
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