Girly Obsession With Nail Polish

Guess what you can’t find out in the country? A nail salon. I think the nearest one is about 40 miles away, but I may be forced to locate one because my nails look terrible.

Obsessing about the deplorable lack of a recent “mani-pedi” made me think about my girly obsession with nail polish.

How long have we women been polishing our nails?

Nail Polish: Nothing New

Nail polish is nothing new. Back in 3000 BC, the Chinese polished their nails. In the Zhou Dynasty, around 600 BC, the royal house used gold and silver paint for their nails. That gave way to red and black in another dynasty. Red was also popular with the upper class in Egypt where the lower classes wore pale colors on their nails.

Auto Paint = Nail Polish

Yes, it’s true. The invention of auto paint brought nail polish to American women. Prior to that event,  tinted powders and creams were rubbed onto the nails and buffed until the nails were shiny. Then, in 1917 Cutex invented the first modern nail polish — from auto paint. In 1932, the Charles Revson Company, which later morphed into Revlon, produced their first bottle of nail polish.

This sounds gross, but instead of wearing gloves, people used nail polish to cover up dirt beneath the nails. Yuk.

Originally, nail polish was available in clear, red, pink, purple, and black only. Today, you can get it in every imaginable color and shade as well as various finishes and embellishments.

Takeaway Truth

I have too much writing to do to take off for a drive to the city. I guess I’ll give myself a manicure. {sniff, sniff} I miss the city.