For Lauren it was a point of lesbian insecurity, whereas for me, getting acrylics feels like confirmation of Black lesbian femininity. When I get my nails done, I’m not countering a culture that frowns upon long nails like in mainstream white lesbian culture. Long acrylics made me feel like a cat with its claws extended-a femme fatale.
One Twitter user, aptly named “The Acrylic Fem,” wrote that she has been wearing acrylics since high school saying, “the more confident I became and more powerful I feel-the longer my nails get as I evolve.” My experience was similar: After my first set of active-length acrylics, I felt such a boost in confidence that short nails no longer did me justice. When I responded to Lauren’s piece on Twitter, explaining how my experience had been so different from hers, my sentiments resonated with other Black lesbians. It runs so deep that we’ll keep our nails done even while winning Olympic gold medals.Īnd i wholeheartedly agree, ive been wearing nails since highschool, and the more confident i became and more powerful i feel – the longer my nails get I didn’t understand why Lauren felt such anxiety about it, but that’s because my experience was shaped by the decades-long cultural practice of Black women being at the forefront of nail art. It shows that you’re polished-pun intended. For Black lesbians, keeping your nails done shows that you’re put together top to bottom. In the piece, she described how she has progressed through her nail journey as a femme lesbian, first struggling to reconcile her love of long, artificial nails with her desire to fit into a community where short nails are the norm. I hadn’t given this personal mission much thought until I read my friend Lauren Strapagiel’s FLARE essay. “Strap grabbers,” as the nails are sometimes known colloquially in the Black lesbian community, became my idea of peak lesbian femininity-and I wanted to be read as close to that identity as possible. ( FYI, lesbians also love astrology.) Every time I saw a look on my timeline that really stood out, I’d save it to my camera roll. Their nails were so bold, so feminine and so gay, with plenty of tarot and astrological designs that reminded me of divine femininity. Getting my nails done for my 25th birthday was a decision influenced by the Black lesbians I interacted with daily on Twitter. I’d been interested in getting them done professionally for some time, but I felt committed to the low-maintenance lifestyle I was living in my early 20s in Toronto and couldn’t justify the splurge. I used to keep my nails short out of habit after years of playing the cello. From there, stiletto nails became my brand-matte black talons for Halloween, a deep hunter green set for the rest of fall and then purple ombre fairy nails in the spring. After a few weeks of those, I got more confident and went with a sparkling stiletto set as a perfect summer-wedding accessory. Two weeks later, I traded them out for gold coffin nails. slightly longer than my fingertips) and perfect for a beginner like me.
#Coffin gay pride nails full
I got my first acrylic full set for my 25th birthday: lime-green coffin-shaped nails that were active length (i.e.