# Hair extensions and acrylic airsprayed fingernails **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 20, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410 "2003-05-20T22:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/41 "2003-05-21T21:13:20Z")
Well, QGG, one has to pick one’s battles. I usually just tell her it hasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![deb2world](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@deb2world](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deb2world)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/42 "2003-05-21T21:33:02Z")
**JuanitaTech** I too missed that you were being sarcastic. My bad. As I said in my 2nd post, this is a sensitive issue. I was just giving reasons why someone would want hair extensions. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/43 "2003-05-21T22:03:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JuanitaTech \* > \*\* > I guess I didn’t get the memo about staight hair being the social norm. \*\* Speaking as someone with curly hair, I can tell you that the styles are always for straight or permed hair. The stylists are trained to cut straight or permed hair. When it comes to style design and haircuts, permed DOES NOT EQUAL curly. If you have curly hair it is very hard to find a stylist who knows how to cut it, and cut it in a manner that jives at least somewhat with the latest trend. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older, mine is relaxing. That, a good non-layered undercut, and a blow dryer allow me to wear my hair straight. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/44 "2003-05-22T02:33:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lorinada \* > \*\*Speaking as someone with curly hair, I can tell you that the styles are always for straight or permed hair. The stylists are trained to cut straight or permed hair. When it comes to style design and haircuts, permed DOES NOT EQUAL curly. If you have curly hair it is very hard to find a stylist who knows how to cut it, and cut it in a manner that jives at least somewhat with the latest trend. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older, mine is relaxing. That, a good non-layered undercut, and a blow dryer allow me to wear my hair straight. \*\* **Preach** it sista! I refuse to get my hair cut at a salon anymore. They _always_ give me a hack job. But I’ve been getting a lot of compliments since I’ve started growing it out (I used to keep it at shoulder length) so I guess it’s working for the better. **Irishbird** Thank you, I’ll be here all night. Don’t forget to tip your waitress! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/45 "2003-05-22T09:37:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by deb2world \* > \*\*Straight hair as the norm is fortunately changing. I guess I should define what I mean when I say “norm”–it is the condition to which others hope to achieve. I know this is a sensitive subject, especially since I am a blond blue eyed person whose hair has to be permed to even start to get a curl. But unfortunately racism made very curly hair something that means that the person is somehow inferior in a woman. I do not think this is right or correct and people who believe this are ignorant, but the effect of this is for women who have very curly hair to straighten it. > \*\* It just kills me that people can’t accept themselves, or others, the way they are. Like Caucasian people tanning themselves darker and darker (and risking skin cancer\*), but cringing from people who were born that shade. And black women using chemicals to straighten their hair, while white women (seem to) think straight hair is synonymous with being a frump, and use different chemicals on it, often to an effect very close to “nappy”. \*BTW, that red spot on my nose, that Mr. Rilch got me all anxious about, turned out to be a zit after all. A very deep rooted one. When I got the the dermo, he electric-shocked it a few times, and it came off with regular washing. Hallelujah! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/46 "2003-05-22T15:06:21Z")
I can only answer for myself. I have a thick head of hair so extensions never appealed to me. but my hair is fairly short now so I am limited in ways to put it up. I have a couple of hair styling pieces that I use for fun to get me thru the awkward stages. One is a sort of scrunchy made of hair about 3 inches long. Wrap it around your shortish pony tail and it looks just fine. The other is a long ponytail clip I put over a short pony tail on top of my head and it looks like a long tail. Purely for fun but an alternative for someone with short hair. I had acrylic nails for five years and loved them because my nails looked neat all the time. I’m an RN and probably wash my hands 40 times a day. A few months ago my employer banned them for anyone involved in direct patient care due to studies done by the CDC that said persons with acrylic nails have 50% more bacteria on their hands than persons without. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by me and probably 30% of my cow-orkers as we had to remove them and just suffer through the grow out. My nails are just now starting to look passable. :sniff: ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/47 "2003-05-22T16:49:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\* > > \*BTW, that red spot on my nose, that Mr. Rilch got me all anxious about, turned out to be a zit after all. A very deep rooted one. When I got the the dermo, he electric-shocked it a few times, and it came off with regular washing. Hallelujah! \*\* Hey, was it an old zit or a new one? I popped a zit on my upper cheek when I was 13 and I STILL have a red dot 12 years later, maybe a little less than a 1/4 inch across. I heard that electric-shocking could get rid of it. It’s quite noticable but not enough of a big deal that it bugs me that much. Was just wondering. ;j ---
**Author:** ![irishbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishbird)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/48 "2003-05-22T18:06:26Z")
lezlers, do you live in here? lol!😉 ---
**Author:** ![spinningplates](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@spinningplates](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinningplates)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/49 "2003-05-22T18:07:13Z")
Mermaid, are you not allowed even silk wraps? If not, you could try clear nail polish on the undersides of your nails to add a bit of extra strength. As for the OP, my guess is the same as many others; they think they look swell. The people they admire have 'em, so they get the same thing. Personally, while I can understand wanting to look silly/crazy with wild extensions and nails color, the airbrush stuff leaves me icy cold. It’s Bad Art and that makes me sad! ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/50 "2003-05-22T18:58:16Z")
Never had fake nails. Luckily, I have nice hard nails that grow well. However, for those who were asking for a good product to aid in growing your nails, buy Formula10. My sister swears by it. I will admit to having had, erm, _unique_ paint jobs on my nails, and I have pierced my nails before, but I have never gotten into the airbrushed dragon nails. That’s just scary. When nails are long it’s hard to type, hard to dial the phone, hard to do many things. Re: fake hair. I look back at my college years as the “years of living alternatively”. Although my hair was down to my butt, thick, and very curly, I also had multicolored braids added just for the heck of it. Now that my hair is very short and (alas) thinning, I still cannot think of “faking it”. No extensions, no wigs, nada. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/51 "2003-05-22T19:53:22Z")
On my LJ right now, are two pictures of me. One with extensions in black and white, one without. For the one with, that morning, I woke up and washed my hair. If it took 3 minutes, I’m shocked. At the end of the day, it looked exactly the same. I happen to think it doesn’t look horrible, and it’s nearly no maintenance. The one that’s just my hair was taken 20 minutes after I left the salon, where the woman there spent 2 hours detangling it and blowdrying it. Nothing else, but detangling and drying. (by the time she was done the entire place was filled with smoke and that lovely smell of partially burnt hair.) And she had leverage, could position my head and hair exactly where it needed to be, and see all of it … it would take longer for me to do something similar. As can be seen, 20 minutes later, it was already looking different and worse than it did when she finished, and within a few hours, it was sticking nearly straight out and required another 1/2hour of detangling that night. (There was mist in the air that day, and silly me, I moved. The only way to keep it looking the exact same way would be to sit still in a cool, dry room. Any moisture at all makes it curl again.) Now, where could that appeal be… hmmm… let’s see if I can find it. Of course, I have a feeling (based on past experience with people who asked the same question that **irishbird** did) that if I did leave my hair it’s natural state, it would be called dirty, ugly, sloppy, at worst - at best, it would be called “unprofessional” to my face and mocked and ridiculed behind my back. So, I’m willing to bet it’s a can’t win situation with someone like her - either “false” and “ridiculous” or otherwise hideous. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/52 "2003-05-22T22:45:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by irishbird \* > \*\*lezlers, do you live in here? lol!😉 \*\* Only when I’m avoiding working. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/53 "2003-05-23T00:03:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lezlers \* > \*\*Hey, was it an old zit or a new one? I popped a zit on my upper cheek when I was 13 and I STILL have a red dot 12 years later, maybe a little less than a 1/4 inch across. I heard that electric-shocking could get rid of it. It’s quite noticable but not enough of a big deal that it bugs me that much. Was just wondering. ;j \*\* About two years old. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/54 "2003-05-23T02:19:07Z")
No kidding? Did the electric shock hurt at all? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/55 "2003-05-23T03:42:17Z")
It hurt like the dickens, but he only shocked me four times, for a fraction of a second each time. So it was “zzzzt”, “ack!”, “zzzzt”, “ack!”, “zzzzt”, “ack!”, “zzzzt”, “ack!”, “Okay, that should do it” “whew”. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/56 "2003-05-23T03:44:09Z")
Oh, and he said beforehand, “You’re gonna love this.” I do appreciate honesty. None of this “You **might** feel a little twinge”. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/57 "2003-05-23T05:20:21Z")
Aww man. I was _really_ hoping for an “naw, I hardly felt it!” I’m such a wus. :sad: ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410/58 "2003-05-23T07:52:29Z")
_Il faut souffrir pour etre belle_. (Francophones, by all means correct me if I worded that wrong.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hair-extensions-and-acrylic-airsprayed-fingernails/176410.md?page=2)