It’s a well known fact that everything Black people do everyone tries to emulate or recreate, but newsflash greatness can’t be copy and pasted.
One of the biggest things that people who are not Black try to take as their own is being a Black woman and everything we do. They try to take how we wear our hair, how we dress, what they think our mannerisms are, how they think we talk, how we dance, and what’s so trendy now is how we wear our nails. Thievery is ingrained in this worlds’ soul, down to every level that it’s actually very sad. Prime example is Black tiktokers going on strike due to unfair treatmeant/notariety of Black creators vs. White creators, as we’ve seen Tik Tok has become dry and white Tik Tokers don’t know what to do for their latest dance videos to our music (cues fake sympathy that they desire but won’t get).
Long acrylic nails are something that Black women have done for centuries, from regular girls to celebrities and track stars like Flo Jo that wore her long acrylic nails while she left people in her dust. Today you see everyone everywhere trying to get really long nails with intricate designs, but newsflash we aren’t new to this we’re true to this and they once again did not create this but adapted something from us and are attempting to…. steal, yet another thing. Just because its a trend right now doesn’t make it new.
My grandma, mom, aunties, and cousins always prided getting their nails done my whole life and I’m sure yours have too, all different lengths, shapes and designs you name it and we’ve had it, y’all didn’t. Black women are called ghetto for their nails, but now its trendy and something that is accepted amongst the masses for other people to do… make it make sense. I remember being a sophomore in high school and finally being able to get my nails done and went every two weeks like a ritual (its that deep).
What they do is they watch us to see what we’re doing, try to figure out how to adapt it, steal it and then x us out and resell it to us. So on this post I’m not only going to talk about the importance and history of nails and how its more than just a maintenance activity but a way of life for Black women and also shed light on how long "this “trend” stems back into our history. You can’t bash us for it, steal it then try to sell it back to us, you don’t get to force your way into our conversations, you don’t get to hijack our culture, you don’t get to tell us something is unacceptable and then turn around and try to make it your own.
Whether the nails are done with precision to go with the fit, current styles or whether this is a lifestyle and you’ve allowed your nails to grow so long that they curl over, this is our history that stems back generations down the line (it’s said that even Egyptians back in BC times kept their nails done) , they said it was ghetto but in the words of designer Naresha Willis (of Avenue N) it’s “Ghetto until proven fashionable” but you also have to realize that white people copying isn’t and won’t stop us or hold us back from doing the sh*t we created because unlike others we mind our business and we don’t have to want to be like anybody else because we create the trends. We are the sauce, the blueprint, the secret society, the elites and all of the above, and don’t you ever forget it. Take the nails off you look like you’re trying too hard.
For a great page that highlights Black girls and their nails click here
