# Manicures need tools, not gadgets

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 20, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266 "2026-05-20T23:18:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266/21 "2026-05-22T19:14:08Z")

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One reason you might have trouble with nail clippers is that they seem to be designed more for narrow fingers on women’s hands. If you have wide fingers, you might have more luck with toenail clippers. They are wider and longer. You can get more leverage with them. And because the cutter is curved, it’s easier to get your cut nails to have a curve to them rather than with the straight edge of a diagonal cutter.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266/22 "2026-05-22T21:16:03Z")

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Every 8 weeks a podiatric nurse comes to our place and does my wife’s and my toenails. He mostly uses a dremel, although he does a final trim with a cutter.

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**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266/23 "2026-05-26T14:19:58Z")

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You could try hoof trimmers.😆

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**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manicures-need-tools-not-gadgets/1030266/24 "2026-05-26T21:01:42Z")

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> [@filmore](#):
>
> One reason you might have trouble with nail clippers is that they seem to be designed more for narrow fingers on women’s hands. If you have wide fingers, you might have more luck with toenail clippers.

I’ve used toenail clippers for my fingernails for decades. The quick at the end of the finger is almost straight across and the smaller radius curve of the former didn’t suit them while the larger radius of the latter did. For years I wondered why fingernail clippers were made that way until I had lessons in massage and looked closely at a wide variety of other people’s nails.

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