It’s funny how great minds think alike when it comes to beauty.  Since yesterday, I was thinking of writing a quick piece about post-rocking fake nails since I just took mine off.  Earlier today, I visited Coco and Creme and a fellow writer recently penned about her many years obsession with acrylic nails, though she’s now wearing hers natural.  I was giddy over the piece because I shared similar thoughts.  For the last few days I’ve been looking off and on at my newly and hapless ridden real nails, unearthed from might as well had been tons of powder gel.  It was so hard to come off, I still had a little bit left atop of at least three of my fingertips when I left that Layafette Street salon.  Ugh.

I don’t wear fake nails or acrylics as often as it seems but when I can afford to, I love to get my nails done with the addition of tips (essentially nail extensions).  While I’ve had some trips to a nail spot in which the technician clearly gave me what they wanted because I was too sheepish too speak up, (I wanted oval not square!), getting tips is normally a fun occasion because I know it adds an element of glamour and is a prolongation of my creativity.  I change my polish at least every two days to begin with, I adore nail art, and I’ve always wanted long nails ’cause my real nails were already weak to begin with.  Now…they’re just brittle.

After I took off my last set, I was happy to get rid of them because it was time, but I felt bad for my nail beds.  Clearly it was torturous for them all those weeks I was showing off my oval lovelies–which I knew–but the proof was glaring back at me, and I felt really bad in return.  I started to think, “Was it worth it?”  Maybe I should’ve just taken care of my real nails in the first place.  All I could do was sigh as I brought the nail clipper closer to end its misery a bit more.  It was fun, but damn! My nails are havoc city!  They grew too, but the growth was useless.

If you’re remotely into beauty and especially nails and nail polish, you know talons and stilettos made one of the biggest beauty comebacks in recent memory.  Tips became routine of getting glam.  The ghetto or hood stigma it had over the years, had finally been eradicated, as some of influential celebs when it came to their fingertip choices definitely helped the movement such as Lana Del Rey, Rihanna (of course), Fergie, Lady Gaga, Cassie, Adele, Rita Ora, and sometimes Beyonce and Ke$ha.  Gwen Stefani had been shown appreciation for talons since at least 2001 in which you can peep her wearing them in the clip with Eve for “Let Me Blow Your Mind” and in the beginning scenes of her “Luxurious” video.  Even fashion’s chosen elite cover girls like Blake Lively wore them, as evident on season 3 of Gossip Girl and on the red carpet.  Fake nails, to be frank, had returned to the fashion fore-front, and I wanted in at least since it could be done with judgment.  It wasn’t so much the celebrity influence though at made me want to get tips (I just peeped the trend).  I really wanted my polish to last longer and to have longer nails because I felt with certain colors, like dark colors, just looked better.  I fawn over an inky navy blue or burgundy-purple.   Yet I think I may be cooling off on my every couple of weeks habit.  My nails are thirsty for health.

I may get some of those Sally Hansen growth products to help get the healing process going, which is a journey itself.  I definitely don’t discourage anyone from getting tips! I’m just sharing the reality that the aftermath of when you do decide to take them off and give your nail beds a break, it’s kind of a matter of self-reproach which is unfortunate in beauty .

-C. Shardae Jobson (@lavishrebellion)