So, it all began when I was a young pup, and I had a set of Crayon Markers. One day while working in my coloring books, I thought, man, I should color my nails with this stuff! So I did, and then my mum came home and was not too happy, so off my hands were washed, but it was an idea, a thought that stuck in.
When I was around 5-6 years old, I lived with my Dad and our Step Family, including my sister, who liked to treat me like a little sister. The moment that she saw me rubbing the surface of her nails wanting that for myself, she started to paint my nails on a semi-regular basis. I wore red apparently a lot, looking at some of my pictures as a kid. When I got to 1st grade and such, I faded out of nail polish mainly because I was busy doing nerdy boy stuff, but still, the thought still remained.
I was reacquainted with painting my nails when I was in 5th grade, one of my brothers had left a bottle of clear nail polish in our communal room as he was going for the well manicured thug look at the time. I used it for practice, until I happened to be sick one day, and wandering into my Dad and Step-mom’s Room, I saw a bottle of some Wet-N-Wild lacquer. It was a nude shade that in hindsight I would probably not be caught dead wearing today, but at the time it was pretty magical, that I was able to give my nails color like that, and from then on I decided that I would do my damnest to wear nail polish as much as I wanted.
Life does have a funny way of getting in the way on that, I was scolded many a times by my Step-mom for even doing such a thing as she was really strict on gender roles, then for a time I moved in with my Mom for a bit in which I would run over to my cousins house all the time to borrow their nail polish only to make sure I had it off by the time I was home. As I was in my teens, I knew I was 100% guy, that I wanted a giant beard and to be a rugged and nerdy as possible, but I also knew I wanted to be able to wear nail polish. I figured when I crossed over into adult hood I could finally get what I wanted, but again, life does throw some curve balls.
I did wear polish as a main feature of how I dressed when I worked as a server, but when I left that job to become a cook in Pizza, I learned it was a big no no due to sanitary reasons. I accepted that and resolved to simply wear polish after hours, and while I ran out of places to live and ran out of a job, me having quality time panting my nails was one of the few things that kept me going, kinda of like how a lot of other guys use their cars or ladies use their wardrobe. A few years back, I got a wakeup call. My Dad had become ill, and I was to become his caretaker. This meant moving to Memphis, where my love for nail polish ended up contrasting with my job and co-workers.
I once again worked in Foodservice, but for once I decided on many variables to say screw it and wear polish at many functions and shifts, which needless to say earned me a lot of crap due to their need to stick to gender norms. I was rejected so badly I ended up not wearing polish for a long time, the sad part being that I could’ve had a couple of really great gal pals to help me out but me being too afraid to reach out for fear of rejection. I ended up taking in a roommate who was also very narrow minded, so I decided to throw away all of my nail polishes, and try to live according to what everyone else wanted of me.
A little bit over 2&1/2 years ago I left Memphis and came back here. At first I stayed in the same mindset I had back in Memphis of not talking to anyone about nails or painting my own, but during recent times I got the itch again, mainly spurred on by a lovely lady who goes by the name of Peach. We met as friends on OKCupid, then IRL at a Con and exchanged FBs. When I finally broke down and got the courage to talk with her about nail polish, I was really relieved that she actually thought it was cool that I was into nails and she’s been really supportive ever since. From there I talked to another one of my gal pals and things have been looking up ever since. With that in mind, I decided to learn how to do nails professionally for many of my Cosplay Friends, and also because it’s something I really enjoy and it allows me to express myself in a manner that words cannot convey. This blog is also an extension of that. I’m still technically hidden out of respect for my roommate and my Dad, but I feel that I now have a lot of support and an outlet to share what colors and trends I’m most passionate about. Hopefully you all will come along for the ride. Also, to paraphrase Nikki Sixx, just because I wear nail polish does not mean I can’t kick your @$$.
