# Tough guys get manicures? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202 "2007-05-31T15:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/1 "2007-05-31T15:50:30Z")
Thursday’s Chicago Tribune had a special man section. One of the articles was about how to look tough. Drink bourbon, Joe schmoe drinks a Bud! Show off for your lady by winning at mini-golf! Get a fucking massage and your nails done? It read like a guide for an in the closet gay to try to trick his family. Last time I checked, men don’t need guides to tell them how to act. Especially guides on how to pick out a fro-fro flower print shirt to make you stand out at the office. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/2 "2007-05-31T15:53:16Z")
If a man can have manicures and wear flowered shirts and still be a hunk–you know he’s a REAL man. I didn’t read the article, but that’s the way I interpret what you reported. And I agree. And I’ve known men who could pull it off. I agree with you, though, that a REAL man probably wouldn’t be looking for cues in the lifestyle section of the paper. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/3 "2007-05-31T16:15:33Z")
Maybe the point is that you can be a tough guy and relatively civilized at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/4 "2007-05-31T16:20:19Z")
Does “relatively civilized” = manicures? If so, would “civilized like a motherfucker” = pedicures? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/5 "2007-05-31T18:10:41Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Maybe the point is that you can be a tough guy and relatively civilized at the same time. [/QUOTE] No, it was along the lines of if you’re a wimpy dude, then do these things and you’ll be a tough guy. Hence the “beer is for pussies, drink whiskey.” I agree that tough guys or “real men” can wear flowered shirts and such, perhaps my title is misleading. I just don’t think that’s what makes them men. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/6 "2007-05-31T18:19:37Z")
I recently had this conversation with my wife. it went like this. Wife: Honey, your hands could use a manicure, you are always working in the barn and cutting them all up, they look gross. Phlosphr: No. Wife: Pleeease, for me…{smooches} Phlosphr: No. Two days later we are at a family picnic. Wife: I tried to get Phil to get a manicure and he won’t do it. Big Burley Biker Uncle: [looks at me] did you do it??? Phlosphr: No. BBBU: Good. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/7 "2007-05-31T18:25:49Z")
‘Tough’ like a biker or ‘tough’ as in a successful businessman or, say, a suave mob boss. Because I know a few of the latter type, and they get manicures. And pedicures. And own little dogs. And does being gay (and therefore not having a girlfriend) prevent one from being tough and/or a man? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/8 "2007-05-31T18:27:13Z")
A few years ago, Brainiac4 and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. We have kids (at that time pretty little) - who we sent to Grandmas for an overnight, but that was sort of the limit of being able to rid ourselves of children. So we took Friday off and made a couples appointment at a day spa. Couples massage, pedicure, manicure. I think Brainiac4 was impressed at how nice (and non-girly) the whole thing was. They have “guy pedicures and manicures” - no polish, just a buff - and manly lotions. Everyone has cuticles, and most people could benefit from having someone push them down on occation. And nice looking hands aren’t “unmanly.” Then we went to dinner at a very nice place and spent the night in a hotel that didn’t have toys on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/9 "2007-05-31T18:36:12Z")
Chuck Norris gets manicures… …with a chainsaw! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/10 "2007-05-31T21:06:11Z")
Oddly, male manicures must have been more mainstream at one time. I’m sure that the title character of _Babbitt_ had regular manicures because at one point he has an affair with the manicure girl (or maybe he just daydreamed about that). And I’m sure I’ve come across the same plot point in old movies here and there. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/11 "2007-05-31T22:37:52Z")
My husband gets both manicures and pedicures, on about a monthly basis. We were camping in Yosemite this weekend and both wearing flip-flops. I looked down at his feet and said "Honey, your feet are better groomed than mine! " And I was serious. They were perfect. Which is a good thing really, because snaggle toe is just not my thing. I was actually a little jealous. 😉 He went for a pedicure a couple of weeks or so before we left, and I’d only just given myself a half ass one. I’ll have to get one this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/12 "2007-06-01T01:23:51Z")
Getting you opponent’s blood from under the cuticles is a real bitch. Only a trained professional at a local minimall can be trusted with such a task. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/13 "2007-06-01T03:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] Last time I checked, men don’t need guides to tell them how to act. Especially guides on how to pick out a fro-fro flower print shirt to make you stand out at the office. [/QUOTE] I’ve made that point before. As far as I’m concerned, there is no “real” man _OR_ woman. A strong, self-confident person does what he or she wants…and doesn’t let others decide how to behave or what to do. I got three manicures…about two weeks apart. I stopped because I noticed that within 24 hours my fingers went back to looking the same. I decided to save the money. I’m a guitar player, and the first time I got a manicure, the woman looked at the callouses on my three fingers. She asked what was up with that (they are VERY thick and rough). I told her I play guitar. She said, “Oh.” Then SNIPPED them all off! I said, “Hey! I need those.” lol… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/14 "2007-06-01T04:06:00Z")
I’m not even sure what a manicure **is** , except that it’s something to do with your hands. (Right?) Beyond investing in a $1 nail clipper and keeping my fingernails trimmed, what on earth would my hands need? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/15 "2007-06-01T15:40:08Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I’m not even sure what a manicure **is** , except that it’s something to do with your hands. (Right?) [/QUOTE] Normally, they also do the left one. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/16 "2007-06-01T15:59:37Z")
[QUOTE=Snarky\_Kong] Last time I checked, men don’t need guides to tell them how to act. [/QUOTE] Neither do women, despite what all those magazines and lifestyle sections try to tell us. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tough-guys-get-manicures/406202/17 "2007-06-01T16:57:45Z")
A warm foot bath, followed by a massage of the feet and calves, followed by someone cleaning and cutting your toenails, followed by another foot massage. All done by a very cut Asian woman. That was my pedicure experience (my wife got me one as a birthday present). I loved it, and while I was there 5 soilders from Ft. Lee came in and got them done. They said, “Man, we’re on our feet ALL the time. We take care of them.”