# What's worse: excessively long fingernails or drawn-on eyebrows? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291 "2011-05-26T14:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/1 "2011-05-26T14:49:38Z")
That is all. What’s worse, [Excessively](http://blogs.smarter.com/blogs/long%20nails.jpg) [long](http://www.electronichouse.com/images/uploads/nails.jpg) [fingernails](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dBgyBc2UwKE/SXCAq8wIbAI/AAAAAAAAIfU/0EW6oc6yr3Q/s400/l_d20da22d3c5ab739e5822b75f05c6aaa.jpg) or ([badly/obviously](http://www.kisforkinky.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/drawn-eyebrows-1.jpg)) [drawn-on](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_K5ks3AU-LOk/SjG8EYZOIVI/AAAAAAAAA-g/xewapz6d0fE/s320/eyebrowsdrawn.jpg) [eyebrows](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v83ipv8YjV0/TROddI0tgcI/AAAAAAAAA48/6C4ZWnAN3o0/s400/z218149203.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/2 "2011-05-26T15:02:48Z")
The eyebrows can’t hurt anybody. Fingernails are downright dangerous, and they are a nuisance, like cashiers who can’t do their job because they might break a nail. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/3 "2011-05-26T15:03:46Z")
Eyebrows. They put me in ncanny valley territory. ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/4 "2011-05-26T15:09:12Z")
it depends if they are on girls or guys. Long fingernails on a guy - cokehead or gangster or wannabe - it all makes my skin crawl. Eyebrows drawn on a guy? depends on how artfully its done and how long his fingernails are . . . 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/5 "2011-05-26T15:12:36Z")
They’re both equally terrifying, but the fingernails are a little more equal than the eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/6 "2011-05-26T15:13:42Z")
Either is better than excessively long eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/7 "2011-05-26T15:15:21Z")
Fingernails. Eyebrows just sit there. Really long fingernails hamper your dexterity considerably, and gather all kinds of bacteria and dirt underneath. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/8 "2011-05-26T15:16:53Z")
Or drawn-on fingernails! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/9 "2011-05-26T15:18:08Z")
Eyebrows are two dimension and easy to igore. Fingernails, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/10 "2011-05-26T15:22:32Z")
They’re both horrifying. Fingernails a bit more, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/11 "2011-05-26T15:24:02Z")
Fingernails. > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > gather all kinds of bacteria and dirt underneath. So gross. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/12 "2011-05-26T15:32:54Z")
Worse yet are excessively long toenails. I’ve only seen that once, but that was one time too many. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/13 "2011-05-26T15:42:27Z")
The fingernails in your links are way beyond excessive. They look like they would make normal every day things like eating a challenge. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/14 "2011-05-26T15:44:25Z")
The fingernail thing just leaves me puzzled. I cannot figure out how on earth they can manage to do anything with those nails. Eyebrows - that freaks me out. I just recently started carefully tweezing my eyebrows (at the ripe age of 37) to keep them a little neater. I remember watching my grandma draw her eyebrows on with a pencil, and thinking that I never wanted to look like that. I much prefer my non-shaped eyebrows to the pencil lines some ladies end up drawing on their face. (Sorry grandma - you’re still beautiful but your eyebrows are not for me!) ---
**Author:** ![Giltathriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b38774/32.png) [@Giltathriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giltathriel)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/15 "2011-05-26T16:13:03Z")
A friend of mine from college has a neurological compulsion to pull out her eyebrows and eyelashes (trichtillomania), so she really doesn’t have any eyebrows left at this point unless she draws them on herself. It looks a little strange, but not as much as no eyebrows at all would. I can’t imagine why anyone would need long fingernails though and they must get in the way of normal life. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/16 "2011-05-26T16:24:46Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > and gather all kinds of bacteria and dirt underneath. I have decently long acrylic fingernails (not anything at all like the ones in the OP-- those are a special kind of long (gross) fingernail :D) and I honestly find them easier to keep clean than my short, natural nails. It’s much, much easier to lodge the bristles of a lil nail brush under longer finger nails than short ones. Why? I’m not sure-- maybe the slightly longer nails give you a little leverage to place some upward pressure or something. Either way, I assure you that my long nails are much cleaner than my short nails. Sure, some people are fucking foul and don’t scrub under their nails each time they wash their hands, but I feel like they’d be like that whether they had long nails or short. > [@otternell](#): > > The fingernail thing just leaves me puzzled. I cannot figure out how on earth they can manage to do anything with those nails. My nail lady has really long nails-- not quite as long as the examples in the OP, but darn close. All day long, she wears her dragon lady nails while doing other people’s nails (which is a pretty intensive process, to be honest) and styling hair. I would have totally been in this whole, “How the fuck do they do ANYTHING???” camp everyone else is in . . . until I met her. She can do everything I do, just as quickly (and that includes me with no nails-- though there’s literally no difference in time in me doing things with acrylics than without. The only thing I do differently is open soda cans-- without nails, I use the end of my finger, with nails, I use the side of my finger). Anywho, to me, I’m far more horrified by bad eyebrows, but that’s probably since I notice them more. Don’t get me wrong, if someone had crazy long nails and was serving me food, I’d definitely be a little turned off :p. But yeah, there’s just no excuse for badly drawn on eyebrows. I once had a lady literally thread off more than half of one of my eyebrows and I had to spend the next several months growing it back and drawing my brow in. I promise you, it looked as natural as something can look in those circumstances (ie: nothing at all like the pics up there. Properly drawn on brows is a process that goes much deeper than- get Sharpie, remove cap, draw semi circle). ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/17 "2011-05-26T16:44:54Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Worse yet are excessively long toenails. I’ve only seen that once, but that was one time too many. Here you go: [http://fake-nails-toes.nail-polishes.co/fake-nails-toes/](http://fake-nails-toes.nail-polishes.co/fake-nails-toes/) And I don’t actually think those are fake… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/18 "2011-05-26T17:02:10Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Here you go: > > [http://fake-nails-toes.nail-polishes.co/fake-nails-toes/](http://fake-nails-toes.nail-polishes.co/fake-nails-toes/) > > And I don’t actually think those are fake… _Shudder_ The ones I saw were even longer, and were pointed in some odd directions. She clicked when she walked. And I figure that she wore sandals even in winter. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/19 "2011-05-26T17:02:50Z")
While excessively long nails might be annoying, fake eyebrows screw with a person’s ability to look human. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291/20 "2011-05-26T17:24:41Z")
Fingernails. The eyebrows are a matter of aesthetics. The fingernails are a matter of hygiene. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-excessively-long-fingernails-or-drawn-on-eyebrows/583291.md?page=2)