Why do women paint their fingernails?

Question

There's gotta be a reason why girls paint their nails and men don't. What's the history behind it?

Answer 1

The history...
A status display. The painting of them with brightly coloured varnish was to draw attention to the fact that these are hands which never have to toil.
The growing of long nails and the painting of them in many cultures was done as a sign that they are not required to undertake any form of manual labour.

With the female, red nail varnish (Nowadays) is probably to match the colour of the lip-stick (usually red).

Red Lip-stick...
When woman becomes sexually aroused the lips of the vagina and the lips on their face become engorged with blood making them fuller and redder.
Women (subconsciously) use lip-stick to mimic this function.
That is why (most) men find women with lip-stick more attractive than those without.

Answer 2

I have thought about this question some and I think it may be perhaps because painting fingernails prevents you from seeing dirt beneath the tips. We take cleanliness for granted nowadays, but go back a couple hundred years without all the advances in interior plumbing and water distribution ... back when baths were seen more as a luxury than a necessity.

Of course this has all changed with times. Personally I don't care for women to paint their nails (other than the French tip style) as I think it looks a bit gaudy and unattractive.

Answer 3

Don't know the history, but I paint my nails to strengthen them so they'll stay long. Plenty of men find long nails attractive and the more natural the better.

Funny how we'd expose ourselves to chemicals like formaldehyde just to appear more alluring!

Answer 4

that's a count number of inner most style. I agree about nails too lengthy and sq.. also, i don't love authentic pink or neon colorings. Hate black, grn., blue, some thing unnatural. I keep mine merely extremely lengthy, with a coat of 'nude' coloration. and they are oval, not sq.. yet, I disagree about painted toenails. i imagine contained in the summer season even as ladies placed on sandals the toenails should be painted. a life like colour of pink, coral, or a dusty pink or rose. coloration ought to consistently be saved up. No chipped paint on them! That help? : ) and do not tell them what you imagine except they ask.

Answer 5

There are people out there who paint them to cover up insecurities and all, but that doesn't mean that all people who paint them are. Some people just paint them because it's something that they enjoy. Others paint them because they want to be attractive... Does it really matter?To each their own. And as for men, some men do paint their nails... We just don't commonly look for it, so it's not as often spotted.

Answer 6

They do it to be pretty, and so that there nails can match there shoes, hair, makeup, eyeliner, and so on. They also do it, cause most women are crackheads, and love the smell of lead based paint.

Answer 7

in my history in high school i learned that tatoos or body paint symbolizes a 'real man " and i guess painting nails is somehow related to that...we put paint in our nails to make us look a "real woman" with beauty and strenght.

Answer 8

My polish doesn't contain formaldehyde. I only paint my toenails. Simply because it looks nicer with open shoes.

Answer 9

I got 2 answers...~
1. it looks prettyful :)
2.they do it mostly red so it looks like blood and makes them look dangerous.
out nails are part of a secret weapon...we scratch people!!

Answer 10

I do it because I enjoy it. I find it relaxing. However, I know a LOT of guys who paint theirs....