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Pink Nail Polish

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We can usually expect beauty trends often live up to societal standards. From women opting for Brazilian waxes to men making the scruffy aesthetic look sexy as hell, there are certain beauty trends we can expect men and women to adopt. But, when they don’t, it can stir up some controversy. Case in point: men wearing nail polish. Yeah, I’m going there.

If you’ve been paying attention, over the last couple of years, the lines often beauty have been a bit blurry. Sure, as men and women, we are free to adopt any beauty trends we see fit. However, for some of us, when we sit down and think about what’s acceptable, we can cause that to hold us back. And we’ve seen it everywhere. From Black girls who use to avoid wearing their natural hair in corporate spaces to men who feel that showcasing their masculinity 24/7 is the right thing to do.

So, when we have men like Yung Thug wearing dresses, Jaden Smith wearing blue nail polish on the cover of Vogue Korea and A1 Bentley and Ty Dolla $ign following suit, it can give us pause. While I personally believe that as humans we should be able to express our creativity and individuality as we see fit, unfortunately not everyone shares that same sentiment. Especially when it comes to straight men adopting trends that are deemed acceptable for women and homosexual men.

While many of us consider nail polish to be a feminine thing, history actually points to it having masculine roots. According to Mic, “men have been wearing nail polish since 3,200 B.C,” the publication shares. “Following an excavation of royal tombs at Ur of the Chaldees in southern Babylonia, it was reportedly discovered that most men during that era wore nail polish with different colors signifying different classes. Made primarily with kohl, the darker the color, the higher the class of the man, from warriors to leaders. Lighter colors were reserved for lower class men. In fact, prior to battle, warriors would take to primp and paint their nails just so.

While history often has a way of keeping us in check, there are still some people who feel the need to conform to societal norms and expectations in the present. While it’s still considered to be taboo for men to wear nail polish, depending on who you speak to, I personally believe that wearing nail polish does not dismiss a man’s masculinity.

What say you? Do you think that men should steer away from wearing nail polish? No matter which argument your choose, let’s discuss in the comment section below.

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Can Nail Polish For Men Ever Be Normalized?  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com