MANicures

What's up caffeine addicts,

In class on Friday, there was a big focus on the fact that men are rarely ever seen in a nail salon or otherwise getting themselves pampered, so I would like to share my experience on the first couple of times I went to get a manicure.

My first time getting a manicure was at about 10 years of age. Before this, I had gone to nail salon's several times with family friends of ours, who are both men, but I always refused to get a manicure and instead just sat in one of the chairs and spun around until my heart was content--or until I became way too dizzy. The thing that was holding me back was the constant stigmatism in my head that men don't get manicures. It's something that is reserved for women as their own little sanctuary. I also believed that if I did get a manicure, I would be frowned upon or immediately considered gay. The whole idea of fearing the thought of being considered gay as a child is a whole problem in itself which I won't get into right now. Finally, after some convincing from my mom, because my nails looked like garbage and she believed girls like guys with nice nails, I decided to go. Well damn. The massages were incredible. I don't think I had ever felt so pampered in my life and it was unbelievable, to say the least.

After this initial experience, I started to like getting a manicure. I first realized that a tiny amount of people realized I even got one and the ones that did notice actually liked it. And even though I still had that stigmatism in the back of my head, I just decided to say fuck it because it felt good. After maybe my third time I even started holding competitions between my two family friends and me to see whose nails can become the shiniest by the end. It was both fun and relaxing, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The moral of the story is that all men should give up their stereotypical views for a second and remain open minded to trying things outside of the tight constraint that "manliness" brings us. Even if it means adjusting the name to something as ridiculous as "MANicures" so that you can wrap your head around the idea of trying it.

Stay Awesome