Every time I leave the nail salon with a fresh manicure, I definitely feel a little boost in my self-esteem. You just hold up your hands and admire how cute they look all day.
Other people are checking out your nails, too. In a study, researchers Sara DeMichele and T. Joel Wade of Bucknell University showed 342 adults illustrations of hands that looked identical except for the nails. Participants rated each one on a scale of 0 to 7 for attractiveness, along with how desirable they thought the person would be as a romantic partner.
Medium-length nails were the clear favorite, scoring 5.1 for attractiveness compared with 3.2 for short nails and 2.5 for long ones. Researchers think medium nails suggest someone takes care of themselves without making everyday tasks unnecessarily difficult. Like struggling to open a can of soda with long acrylic nails.
Scientists Just Found the Most Attractive Nail Length and Color
White nails came out on top in the color department, earning a 4.6 attractiveness rating, with red following at 3.8. Blue and black didn’t do so well, scoring 2.5 and 2.3. The researchers suspect white polish gives people the impression that someone takes care of their appearance. But among non-heterosexual participants, black was actually the favorite.
The fact that red didn’t score higher caught researchers off guard. “One finding that surprised our team was the relatively lower attractiveness ratings associated with red nails,” DeMichele told PsyPost. After all, red has a long history of being considered sexy, and a 2008 study even found that men rated women as more attractive when red was involved. Other researchers have since had trouble replicating those results, so the whole red-attraction theory is still up for debate.
Of course, we can only conclude so much from pictures of illustrated hands. The participants were mostly White Western adults, and the researchers didn’t examine different nail shapes or elaborate designs. So if you’re devoted to your long stiletto nails or black manicures, there’s no scientific reason to abandon them.
DeMichele has also been looking into how getting your nails done affects your own confidence. Her early research suggests that certain nail lengths and colors might give people a little self-esteem boost, although those findings haven’t been published yet.
As for me, I’m going to keep getting my nails done because I like them. If someone else thinks they’re attractive, that’s a nice bonus.
The post Researchers Ranked Nail Colors and Lengths by Attractiveness. Here’s What Won. appeared first on VICE.
