Manly nails

[AlexD]

Ok guys, how do you keep your nails nice and short?

I'm currently in the habit of just letting them grow into claws for about a month until they start to break, at which point I'll put aside an hour or so to clip them down to guy length and file them so the edges are even and smooth. This, as you can imagine, is tedious and annoying, and I want to try something new, but I don't really know how guys deal with their nails.

[Natkat]

I dont really do anything about my nails. I cut them once in a while with a sissor to there half-long, sratch them in some random funitures and just let them grow untill they gret long and I should cut them again.

[ford]

I just clip mine every week or so. Takes about 2 minutes. Goes along with my eyebrow plucking habit I suppose. I get weird satisfaction out of these sorts of things... (also I can't stand the feeling of them being long)

And people have always joked with me about my 'man hands'...

[AlexD]

sratch them in some random funitures

Now I understand your avatar.

[John Smith]

When they get long enough to get bothersome, I clip them.

[Natkat]

Now I understand your avatar.

I really shouldn't get cats.. can imagine the situation.
"bad kitty! i´m the only one who can scartch the coach!

[Joe.]

I have the bad habit of biting them sometimes but other than that I just clip them when I feel they're too long for me. Since working in a supermarket though, I've noticed a lot, and I mean A LOT, of guys have fairly long nails. Not like manicured long nails but nails that have just grown naturally. I think it's whatever feels comfortable to you.

Joey

[PixieBoy]

I usually have them a couple millimeters long (the white part, that is) and then I either bite or tear them off, it's a bad habit of mine that I just can't seem to lose. I like having them a couple millimeters long, then they're not too short to be unusable, and not long enough to be annoying. To me, nails are tools and good for prying things open and such, so I like them when they're of a practical length.

[Proton]

I clip mine whenever the white part gets longer than a millimeter or so, and that takes me less than five minutes.

[AlexD]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Seems that clipping is the favoured method of keeping them short, but doesn't that leave them all rough? I like mine to be smooth, otherwise the rough edges annoy the heck out of me.

[Joe.]

Mine don't get rough, but you could always just file the rough edges slightly once you've clipped them

Joey

[Tossu-sama]

Short, yes. Nice, no.

Been biting my nails ever since I grew teeth in my mouth. There's no nail that's lighter in color - if you catch my drift - and my fingers look terrible. Aaaand few years back I got an infection to my right index finger which almost ended up with me losing the whole finger (or having a blood poisoning).
Tried to stop few times and once managed to keep myself from biting them for a year. But I start it again eventually. I guess it's my OCD or something.

So... I guess my nails are pretty manly. In a very bad way.
Don't do as I do, people.

[DriftingCrow]

My nails grow very fast and they're naturally quite thick so they don't break too easily. My nails used to always be about half an inch or longer. Currently I think they're at a quarter inch. When I need them shorter, I just cut them with some scissors (I lost my nail clippers and I keep forgetting to buy another). I tend to like them longer because they're useful in opening packaging, scratching my ears, and I always have to relearn to type when I cut them. It takes me maybe 5 minutes to cut my nails, and I can usually get them smooth enough where I don't need to file them.

[AdamMLP]

I picked up the habit of biting them from my girlfriend last year and just haven't stopped.  I've always liked them really short -- not neccessarily a masculine thing because one of my grandfather's has his longer than mine ever have been -- and biting them is just an easier way of keeping them short than remembering to cut them.  The only time I've filed my nails was when they got way too long and I just needed them shorter but didn't have scissors before I started biting.

[Tejas]

I just clip mine every week or so. Takes about 2 minutes. [...] I get weird satisfaction out of these sorts of things... (also I can't stand the feeling of them being long)
And people have always joked with me about my 'man hands'...

THIS.

I don't go to the extremes of mani/pedicures, but I keep them very neat and short. I hate the feeling of anything under my nails.
Haha, I've also been watching Queer Eye and picking up some grooming tips here and there.

[Nicole]

Bite them!!!

Just joking but you do see so many males who do

[Simon]

I don't think I've ever owned a pair of clippers. I bite them off.

I pull my toenails off cause biting them would just be wrong.

[Darth_Taco]

I use to let mine grow into freaking talons before trimming them off. I'm entering the culinary world now though, and that means keeping my nails clean and short for sanitary reasons XP. Ever had ground beef underneath your nails? Its more horrible than you think @_@... Anyway, I just use a nail clipper and file down the sharp edges. I have like 800 nail clippers, so I always have a spare :'P.

[Elspeth]

I keep mine very short.  I do a lot of things that require very dexterous fingers and I find that fingernails get in the way.  I also do a lot of dirty things, which means anytime there is enough nail to get dirt under, it's packed.  That's annoying.

I avoided work and hobbies for the most part that involved grime. One hint I recall, though, for dealing with nails exposed to grime, is to pack soap (solid bar soaps are probably best for this, under the nails, assuming you're not doing anything where the soap could cause problems). I expect I paid a lot more attention to nailcare than your average cisguy, though I do recall a conversation once with one of my bosses, when they were asking my opinion of someone they were interviewing, and commented on the applicant's nasty manicure habits. That boss was pretty metrosexual, though, a decade or so before I'd ever seen the word, "metrosexual." (In his defense, our business was all about projecting an image to our clients, so his concerns about this guy, who was applying to become an account exec, were in fact germane to the job itself).

[Zarathoustra]

It's very interesting, Virginia Woolf. Thanks. 

My nails is short because I cut them once time a week because they become tall very quickly! It's incredible!