A few weeks ago I became obsessed with the idea of getting long, claw shaped fake nails. Fun colors? Ombre? Glitter? Pointy AF? Yes please! I was feeling pretty fired up about the world and decided I wanted my nails to express the way I felt on the inside. Mostly love and light and a little go fuck yourself. LOL. I don't normally get my nails done so I took to my Instagram stories to ask what I needed to know, what to ask for at the salon, how much they'd cost, etc. etc. I've NEVER gotten so much engagement on an IG story! And I couldn't help but notice that there were LOT of parallels between my experience getting fake nails and many people's experiences with aesthetic fitness goals, particularly weight loss. I couldn't stop thinking about it so I decided to record a podcast episode about it!
On this episode we talk about:
- Why it's important to talk to the people who actually do the things (get fake nails/have the body type we desire) to understand what's actually involved in maintaining said look.
- How sometimes once you learn what sorts of things you have to do to achieve that goal, you may realize that you're not interested in doing that at all.
- How fake nails, much like certain body types, are hard to maintain, expensive, and involve sacrificing other things you want to do.
- Why some people have an unfair advantage, whether it's being genetically wired to be thin or to have nails that grow long on their own.
- The fact that walking around with fake nails afraid you're gonna break one feels a LOT like reaching your goal weight and living in fear that one wrong meal will derail it all.
- How nobody shows what happens after the "after" photo is taken. Whether that's regaining all the weight or having all your nails break and fall off.
- That sometimes you need to try it for yourself and have your own "fuck this I'm done" moment before you decide you wanna change your goal.
- Whether you're chasing fat loss or fake nails, in many cases what you're actually chasing is a feeling.
- Why something like fake nails is less risky than something like dieting when it comes to aesthetic pursuits .
- The difference between self-expression and participating in your own oppression.
- All sorts of other interesting insights!