Hair, Nails, Lashes, Brows, Etc.?

[apollosdrawer]

Sorry if this is the wrong section to post this in! Feel free to correct me if it is.

But! I was wondering who else here grows out their natural nails in lieu of fake ones, who likes to apply oil to their lashes and eyebrows as well, or even if anyone chooses to maintain their body hair rather than shave for example.

Because of quarantine and health concerns, I stopped growing my nails out and cut them super short. Maybe in healthier times I'll grow them out again. I've actually heard it said that if you leave your nails long, more nutrition will go to your hair instead! But I won't claim that as fact lol!

I'm just curious to see a discussion about our thoughts on other "beauty norms" and defying them or our relationship to them. The hair on your head is one thing, but you may feel completely differently about other aspects of your appearance.

[SelenVinland]

I keep my nails short as a personal preference and I've never used acrylics. I like the occasional nail polish application though. And I do mean occasionally; I tend to pick it off after a few days, and I'm sure that's awful for nail health.

I haven't done anything to my lashes (no extensions or anything like that), but I don't put oil on them either. I'm a little afraid to, since they're so close to my eyes! I do pluck "stray" eyebrow hairs, though...

[apollosdrawer]

I keep my nails short as a personal preference and I've never used acrylics. I like the occasional nail polish application though. And I do mean occasionally; I tend to pick it off after a few days, and I'm sure that's awful for nail health.

I haven't done anything to my lashes (no extensions or anything like that), but I don't put oil on them either. I'm a little afraid to, since they're so close to my eyes! I do pluck "stray" eyebrow hairs, though...

Getting oil in your eye does suck! I'm not sure it hurts anything, but you won't be able to see right the rest of the evening. I avoid it by washing my hands, dabbing the oil on my fingernails, and then what very little remains I gently brush against my eyelashes and that's it. I figure even a tiny bit is more than enough.

[desisparkles]

I grow out my nails naturally. I have never been the salon type so hair and nails are done by me. Plus I’m very very sensitive to smells so it was never really an option as a relaxing thing for me. I no longer polish my finger nails either bc they get caught in my hair. Toes, I use nail stickers on bc it’s fast and fancy, just like me. I kid, I kid.

I haven’t plucked my brows in years, not a single one. I plucked them to half their width in the 90s but thankfully they grew back almost completely. I do use cream bleach around my brows to kinda clean up the area if that makes sense. I don’t bleach the actual brow but the baby brow hair around them. I have always loved full bushy brows on men and women.

I use rose hip and argan oil on my face and put it on my brows and lashes at the same time. I dunno if it helps anything but It’s just my routine.

I think it looks nice on others who get their nails and brows done, I just prefer more wild style on myself.

[Servana]

I don't do anything to my eyebrows, lashes or nails, just let them be. This means I've always had very long nails until I choose to cut them.

[Laurab]

I've always had long nails, it's a comfort thing. My nail polish collection is huge, over 100 bottles, many of which I've had since high school.
This is largely because my nails grow fast and strong, I'm lucky in that way. I don't like them TOO long, I find it uncomfortable, but they have to be at least a little past the finger. I probably trim once or twice a month.

I don't do much to my brows and lashes. No growth sirums, oils, or tweezing.
Mascaraevery once in a while. My brows are tricky, they aren't dark and full but my eyes are pretty deep set, and a little extra brow can make me look like I'm scowling. It's tricky to find balance.

In general, as far as beauty norms go I like to dress more feminine (mostly easy dresses and sandals, I rarely wear jewelry apart from a ring though), I almost never wear makeup (only reason i've done so recently is boredom), I wear nail polish everyday because I love it, and I rarely style my hair.

I like what you said about feeling differently about different aspects of our appearence.
When I was a kid I'd read those "i'm not like other girls" books where the main character would judge other girls for always wearing dresses and applying makeup while the main character would never do anything feminine. I didn't relate to either extreme, and I think most of us switch it up sometimes.

[purple_omelette]

I hate the feeling of long nails, plus I work in a hospital and have pets, so they've always been kept very short :) while I like the look of long, well-groomed nails, my lifestyle in general kind of makes them an impossibility, so I'd rather have short, clean nails that look neat, than long, unkempt nails.

I don't do anything to my brows or lashes, other than the occasional tweezing for brows and curling for lashes. I'm fairly low-maintenance (don't really wear makeup either, except lip balm (and eyeliner when I'm feeling extra fancy))

[SleepyTangles]

Nail biter here, so no pretty nails for me. I'd keep them short anyway, but my nail bed is definitively shorter and rounder than it should be.

I care for my lashes by keeping them clean. There's something in mascara that trigger my lashes to fall at an alarming rate, so I only curl them and condition them with a bit of lanolin. When I have a big shed I apply cold coffee on them for few weeks and it always help.

I like my brows shape, but the hair is quite sparse so they look lighter than my hair, and a bit feathery... But hey, it's a look ;)
I usually brush them clean and remove any foundation that overlapped on them. Sometimes I fill them in, sometimes I do not. They don't get any special oil or cosmetic, but when I moisturize my face they get serum and face cream I guess.

I personally remove legs and armpits hairs, but I have nothing against people who do not :)

[Feral_]

Short ie no nails - for my job, and no nail polish. Also with working dogs long nails aren’t practical. Toe nails are the same, cut really short. I’m barefoot a lot and do lots of walking and running. Years ago when I had long finger nails I never felt they were clean, even though I scrubbed them, the fact stuff gets under them isn’t pleasant. And I bake bread so.... eeww!

Never seen the appeal for the sharpie eyebrow thing, prefer a natural look, don’t need to pluck. And false eyelashes just look so fake and attract dirt, so nope. As for oiling lashes, I do the oil hot cloth face cleanse so some oil goes on my lashes and brows during that. I’m very low maintenance.

[ioanaxena]

I hate long nails on myself - I always tend to break them and dirt accumulates under the nails even if I wash my hands frequently. But I do color my nails every now and then in a really natural colour, it really depends on how I'm feeling that day.

Thankfully my eyebrows forgave me for plucking them too much about six years ago. I have thin/medium sized eyebrows but I think they suit me better than those extremely thick; I went once to a salon to colour them with henna and I disliked them - thick eyebrows make me look angry, haha.

As for the lashes, I apply a growth serum every night. It's still a bit early to have an opinion on it, though my boyfriend commented that my lashes look fuller, so fingers crossed that it actually does something :).

[Ylva]

I've gone through periods of maintaining this and that about my looks, but in the end, I always return to the natural state. I simply don't have the desire, I don't see the importance of maintaining anything other than my genuine self. Hats off to anyone that bothers, but it's not my thing. I don't feel like myself that way. Instead of doing my nails or hair colour, I now focus on health routines instead.

My nails are kept short and polishless. I wouldn't mind some strengthening stuff, though. My nails are very soft and bendy. However, I have no desire to grow them long so I guess that doesn't matter in the end.

When it comes to body hair, I frequently shave my armpits, but I'm very reluctant about shaving other locations as my skin is very sensitive and I go as long as possible between shavings. It's not my desired aesthetics and I'm very hairy but I don't really care, life is much better with happy skin. :D

I don't pluck my eyebrows either. They're allowed to grow wild. I have, however, destroyed them in the past and that still shows. Oh well.

[Bri-Chan]

About nails, I love long, natural pointed nails. I like them in general and I think they suits my hand so well, because I have big palms and not long fingers, so long nails make my hand look more proportionate. And I like them without nailpolish, they look like vampire's nails.

For the lashes, I don't do anything but makeup.

For body hair, I shave my armpit regularly. I shave my arms and legs when I think it's too long, or if I'm supposed to go to a special event or to wear shorts or similar.
For facial hair, well, I'm a Mediterranean girl. This often means thick ad dark facial hair. I do my mustaches every other day, and my eyebrows everyday ... if I want to look tidy. My eyebrows are very hard to manage. So hard that it's more simple to just shave them completely and to draw them from zero. And sometimes I do. Now I have half of each my eyebrow shaved, to make me easier to deal with them.

[MusicalSpoons]

I like longish nails, but the very longest I can get them before they split into oblivio is about 5mm beyond my fingertip, though more often they've started to split before they've even reached the end of my fingertip. I sometimes use clear polish or some strengthening thing to try to hold them together, with limited success. Usually they're bare.

Lashes, I don't do anything. They get my moisturiser on them once or twice a day, and the cream cleanser most days :shrug:

Eyebrows, I tweeze a handful of strays to keep them in some kind of shape. Not too thick but not thin either - and again, they get the cream cleanser and moisturiser on them. No make-up because I can't be bothered and I now don't trust my skin anyway.

Armpit hair I do shave if I'm wearing a sleeveless or very short-sleeved top and seeing anyone outside my family, although last time I wore a T-shirt I just trimmed it so it didn't poke out :lol: Leg hair I'll shave if I'm going to be wearing something with my legs seen outside of family, but that's rare and only in the warmest of spells to be honest. I actually realised the height of decadence during lockdown would be to expend the time and energy to shave my legs for no reason other than *just* for me, just because I feel like it and to feel them smooth :laugh: I haven't yet, though.

[And just to say, no judgement here for people who don't remove body hair - at this point in time, it really should purely be down to personal preference without societal pressure. For me I think I do feel it's still an expectation, but it's not such a hassle that I don't want to do it; it's warm enough so rarely that it feels like marking a special occasion :grin:]

[godivawannabe]

I don't like growing out my nails, so I keep them relatively short.

I used to compulsively pick out my eyebrows and eyelashes, so I have somewhat sparse eyebrows now. I don't oil them for fear of getting things into my eyes or causing breakouts. I apply stratia's lg all over my face, including eyebrows. I hope it does something.

[jane_marie]

Occasionally, my nails grow long but I am also occasionally a nail biter. My family can tell when I'm stressed vs when I am in good spirits based on the length of my nails at the time.

I used to keep up with body hair but I've become pretty lax about it the last couple of years. I shave my underarm hair twice a month or so and significantly less for other areas. I guess I just don't care that much about it anymore.

I wear mascara everyday and moisturize the area around my eyes with coconut oil every evening but don't put any oil on my lashes specifically.

As far as brows go I have a full angular brow. I tweezed it when I was younger but mainly just clean up strays and wax my unibrow now. If I didn't do my brows I might be able to pull off a pretty convincing green eyed Frida Kahlo look.

[GeoJ]

I usually keep my nails short, because I’m an active person and they tend to get damaged (& that can be painful) when longer.

I have recently started using castor oil to remove my eyeliner and eyebrow tint. I often wear eye makeup because I like the look, but also because some of my eyebrow hairs and eyelashes have lost their color & I don’t like that. It makes me look sickly like I have hair loss if I don’t color them in now. I use loads of moisturizer because I have dry skin, but don’t wear foundation because I hate how it feels on my skin & it makes me look older.

I do shave my arms, legs, upper lip, chest and chin when needed. I have very long dark hair on my arms and legs, and get some mild hairs in unwanted places. I just prefer my look that way. I also pluck my eyebrows to keep the space between them slightly wider than natural.

I also henna my hair sometimes. It helps my hairline look better by coloring all the baby hairs at the front that have become colorless (not truly colorless, faded such that they match my skin color).

[Lucy McLucyFace]

I don't like how long nails feel. But I like to leave my eyelashes and eyebrows be, they're both pretty bushy and I've learned to be ok with that. I realize I should curl my eyelashes because they keep getting my glasses all dirty but can't be bothered and the curling tool is simply terrifying!
Also since I started getting into modest dressing, body hair removal has decreased to the bare minimum which has been amazing both for my skin, my wallet and my self esteem :o

[Dung Beetle]

And here I thought I was special. ;)

I never polish my nails. My fingernails can grow quite long and pretty. I let them go until they get on my nerves one day and then snip them right down and start again. I generally wear open toed shoes, so my bare toes are probably grossing someone out, but at least folks can see that they're clean!

My makeup routine has been reduced to eyeshadow only. I will sometimes add a bit to my brows as well, but it's easy to overdo and then I look like a Muppet.

I still shave pits and legs daily. Since I do it so often it doesn't take much time.

[RunOnCaffeine]

I try to keep my nails long because I prefer them longer but I won't have fake nails. I go through stages where I paint them a lot and I'm trying to use better products when I do. I tidy my brows and other facial hair because dark haired and pcos gives me hair where I don't want it. It's mostly soft peach fuzz but there's a lot of it. Some of the blonde hairs are coarse and I do have the odd coarse black ones that need to go. I have a mono brow if I don't tidy it up.

I tint my lashes at home because they're both blonde and black, not even brown. I don't do my bottom lashes because they're long and fine so they look odd when I do them, especially because I have a spare patch on one.

Body hair I remove it when I feel like it. I've shaved my legs three times since last September and my armpits I tend to do if I'm wearing sleeveless tops. If I haven't removed it, it tends to be one or two cm in length. :) tbh the excess fluff on my face bothers me more than my dark leg and pit hair.

[MeganAimee]

I just started putting castor oil on my eyelashes and eyebrows 2 weeks ago, and I see a huge difference in how they look already.

[ynne]

My top eyelashes are annoyingly long and when I put mascara on, they look fake, so I just leave them be. (They still touch my glasses so I should curl them, but nothing I tried actually holds for more than 5 minutes.) Eyebrows depend on my mood, nails get no special treatment. :)

[MeganAimee]

I recently started using castor oil on my eyebrows and eyelashes, and I've noticed a nice difference already in how they look! I'm hoping it really works in growing them thicker, I'd personally never wear false eyelashes.

[PallasAthena]

Interesting thread!
My nails can actually grow pretty long and strong but they get on my nerves once they are long enough to affect my typing so I tend to keep them short. My brows are kind of sparse, probably because I overplucked them in my 20s (it was the 90s). I sometimes pencil them in and use a brow mascara if I'm feeling fancy, but that's pretty much the only make-up I ever use except for lip stuff. My lashes are long I think but they are transparent and I can't stand the feel of mascara or trying to take it off at night so I just leave them be. I'm so used to seeing myself without makeup it doesn't look right when I wear it anymore.

I pretty much let my body hair grow except for in the summer, then I'll shave my legs if I think it will look better with my outfit (when I wear a dress or go to an appointment where I care what people think of me). I don't really wear sleeveless anymore but will sometimes trim the armpits if they get on my nerves.

My mom is a 70s style feminist, so she never encouraged me to wear a bra or make-up or to shave. So, of course, I did those things in my youth to rebel! Now I'm more like her. I do have very thin and sparse body hair, that probably affects my attitude towards it. If it was thicker and darker I'd probably get rid of it more regularly.

[Kriegerin]

I have to admit I like my hair natural (without extensions) but I love acrylic nails and lash extensions right now!

[lapushka]

Natural hair, natural nails, natural lashes, natural brows. I don't even get the mascara and all the "face paint" LOL, but to each their own. :shrug: I did sometimes used to wear a black line right at the cusp of my waterline (stays longer). Loved that. No longer do it though.

[alewyn]

I pluck the perimeter of my eyebrows a little bit to keep the shape nice, and any other stray dark hairs that pop up on my face. I do color my eyebrows with henna to match my hair.

My lashes are long and fairly dark, so I typically leave them alone unless I'm wearing other makeup. Sometimes, if I feel like I look dead on Zoom, I'll just curl them.

I love having long nails, but my DNA does not, lol. They peel and tear super easily. I usually wear a clear nail strengthener and keep them fairly short. I love having them polished, but it doesn't stay on well so I don't do it often anymore.

I don't shave any of my body hair. I have a skin condition (keratosis pilaris) that results in small bumps around some of my body hair follicles, and when I would shave, those bumps would get snagged and sometimes infected shudder: no matter how careful I was or how regularly I changed razors. So, I stopped shaving altogether in 2015, and my skin is much happier for it.

[Outmoded]

Well, my nails are natural, I never put anything on them, and I never cut them except to even out jagged edges/lengths when one breaks, so, I have very long nails for a guy (it was a sensory issue as a kid - cutting them hurt, and anything shorter than the tips of my fingers still hurts non-stop until they grow out again). I am so accustomed to long nails now that I feel slightly handicapped when they are short; my finger's sense of touch feels off, I can no longer type accurately, and I also lose my ever-present multi-tools (my nails see use as tweezers, tongs for when I need to pick up something hot that would otherwise burn my skin, exfoliators, paint scrapers for cleaning up drips and spills without damaging my wood furniture and floors, knives for cutting through the tape on packages or opening plastic bags etc. etc. etc.). I do not know how short-nailed people cope without carrying around some kind of Swiss-army knife to make up for their lost utility.

I have never applied oil to my eyebrows or lashes specifically, but as I use oils as both moisturiser and cleanser, they get some anyway.

Like nails, I rather contravene the norms for body hair as well. I cannot stand the feeling of body hair (itchy, uncomfortable, hot, etc.) but I also have very sensitive skin, so cannot tolerate shaving anything other than my face; I use an adjustable electric-razor, designed for beards, to buzz everything close whenever my body hair has grown to the point I can feel it.

[namarieyyy]

I kindly ask my sister to thread my brows about 1x a month, or every 3 weeks. Nothing drastic, I like to preserve the natural shape of my brows but just to get the stray hairs that take up my eyelid real estate (I like putting on eyeshadow specially during these mask-mandated times, and those hairs get in the way of blending brushes in the outer corner/brow bone area).

As for nails, I'm a musician :D so long nails have ALWAYS been out of the question. Back in high school though, i was determined to learn how to make nail art on short nails so I built up a small collection of tiny stickers, nail art brushes, as well as varying colors of polish. It would wear off within 2-3 days so i'd acetone it off and try again. This eventually led to my nails peeling and cracking from the end going inwards, so i stopped altogether. My nails are all good now. These days, if I feel like it I'll visit a salon for a gel polish instead of any classic nail polish I can do myself, which I honestly believe is BULLETPROOF and lasts through anything.

I use Heroine Make's waterproof mascara when I go out if I feel like it (my holy grail of volumizing/lengthening mascaras haha), which comes off really well with a cleansing oil that emulsifies with water. I don't deliberately apply any oil on my lashes BUT i did notice that they seemed to grow thicker/stronger just from using the cleansing oil every day? O_o

[elaina]

ive noticed my lashes getting longer with the use of rosehip oil, ive been using it on the tails of my brows too but have noticed a much more minimal difference there, where im hoping to grow them more to cover up a sparse area. i have to pluck my eyebrows or they get out of control, i forget how wild they truly are until i do them up perfectly and then forget about touching up for a month or two, i look a bit crazy when that happens. as for the rest of my facial hair, im sure my mustache could use a wax every once in a while, but its not like i wear foundation so its really not that visible, and since moving i really cant be assed to get my wax warmer out. i dont shave because it makes my skin worse and i dont really see a point, even if i find being hairy a tad embarrassing sometimes, and i love to grow my nails out, but if i dont oil them often enough they break really easily, i like to keep them painted but for some reason can never seem to get a top coat on them, so that never lasts long.