Recently, I’ve noticed a trend appearing all over social media. Women are proudly announcing that they’ve stopped getting their nails done or posting videos explaining that bare nails are the new luxury. I’ve read discussions about how natural nails are chic, sophisticated and effortlessly elegant.
And honestly, I completely understand the appeal.
For some women, removing another appointment from the calendar probably feels freeing. One less thing to maintain. One less thing to think about.
But every time I see one of those videos, I find myself having exactly the same reaction.
I don’t actually want bare nails.
Not because I’m sticking my finger up to trends. It’s simply because my fortnightly nail appointment has always been one of my favourite parts of my calendar.
The funny thing is that it isn’t really about the nails anymore.
Every couple of weeks, I sit down in the same salon chair and spend an hour doing absolutely none of the things that normally fill my days.
I chat.
I laugh.
I switch off.
Sometimes we talk about life. Sometimes we talk about complete nonsense. Occasionally I spend an embarrassingly long amount of time deciding between two shades of gel polish that, to anybody else, look exactly the same.
And by the time I leave, I feel noticeably lighter than when I arrived.
The nails themselves are almost secondary.
Of course I like having my nails done. I love looking down at my hands afterwards and seeing them neat and polished. But what I’ve realised is that what I’m really paying for is the pause.
An uninterrupted hour where nobody needs anything from me.
That feels surprisingly luxurious.
Especially because it’s something I never really gave myself permission to prioritise before.
The older I get, the more I’m realising that luxury isn’t always about expensive things. Sometimes it’s a flower subscription. Sometimes it’s buying a cushion you definitely didn’t need in Primark Home. Sometimes it’s a quiet cup of herbal tea before everybody else wakes up.
Increasingly, it seems to be found in the ordinary moments I would probably have overlooked a few years ago.
And sometimes it’s a fortnightly nail appointment that creates a small pocket of time that belongs entirely to you.
Maybe that’s why the whole bare-nails trend doesn’t resonate with me.
The appointment was never about trying to look polished or put together. It was about creating a tiny ritual inside a life that spent a very long time being practical. A marker in the calendar that reminds me that I’m allowed to take up a little space in my own life too.
So whilst social media decides whether bare nails are in or out, I’ll be keeping my appointments.
Not because I’m rebelling against a trend, but because they’ve become one of the small things that make my life feel softer.
Besides…
An infill is still cheaper than therapy.
