I still love polish!

 

My current color

Hello,

In the past year I have been busy at work and also with my new hobby of ham radio.  I still wear polish 365 days a year, but I haven't been doing it myself.  I have been getting my acrylic fills and gel polish mani's done by a wonderful nail tech named Regina.  The gel polish holds up so well even with using my hands a lot doing my biomedical technician job.

My Christmas nails

I love that people have accepted me wearing polish.  It is fun talking polish with some of the nurses and patient care technician's.  It is a good diversion from all the politics and Covid-19 deaths and sickness.  I got my first vaccination a week ago since I am a healthcare worker.  I hope they get the vaccine to the general public ASAP.

Stay safe, social distance and wear your mask!

Jim

Sorry I've been absent so long.

This is me now that my hair has grown out

Hello,

It has been a while. Life gets busy and priorities change.  My nails are always still painted, but I haven't done much nail art lately.  I had been watching youtube a lot learning to take care of longer hair.  As my hair has grown out, it has decided to be curly.  So I am learning how to deal with that so it looks good and not a mess. I have also been experimenting with different degrees of makeup.  I turn 60 next year and really don't want to look it. 

Below are my nails for the last few month.  I wanted to grow my own nails out but it just isn't in the cards.  I have tried Biotin and many nail grow systems and they are always thin and peel.  I have gone to getting acrylic done.  I still love that women will comment on your nails if they like them.  They will grab my hand which used to freak me out.  I'm not a real touchy feely type.  Guys just ignore them.

Temperature changing acrylic nail set

China Glaze Frostbite

Same acrylic set backfilled with black

The snake skin is Color Street nail polish strips

Evolution

Hello friends,

This is about my evolution and how it has progressed in spurts. Ever since I was little, maybe 8-10 years old I remember being interested in both typical boy things and also girl stuff. I tried to ignore my interest in female stuff, but it always creeped back into my thoughts. I oet my hair get longer in HS at one point. I secretly trie curling it with curlers from our hall closet. (total fail).  A girlfriend from HS braided my hair in corn rows which I totally loved.  I was too chicken to keep them in back then. Things changed with my next girlfriend who became my first ex-wife. For fun one evening she put makeup on me. That really ignited my interest in makeup and back then crossdressing in private. I did that on and off for decades.  The only outward public signs were the multiple ear piercings in my left ear. none of which I would dare to wear to work or around family. I eventually pierced my right ear myself. It was a small step and it felt right.  I did that before it became so common place. Still dressing in private on and off for years.

The first big step came when my now second ex-wife went around telling anyone that would listen about my crossdressing.  At that point I said f@#k it and decided I didn't care what anyone thought.  I started getting pedicures with colored polish. After a year I started painting my nails and wore them to work painted. I got a little push back on that but the relented when I pointed out that there was no gender specific policy  The only policy was about  fake nails for direct patient care people. My patients are Dialysis machines and other equipment. I currently wear acrylic nails because mine are so weak and rip, peel, and break as soon as there is any free edge.

I also wear some makeup on a daily basis.  Usually eyeliner, mascara and a little shadow.

I have let my hair grow out and it is now half way down my back.  At work it is usually pulled back to keep out of my way. I am practicing being able to braid my own hair. I am good at doing other peoples since you can see what you are doing. Reaching behind you head and doing things is not easy. I lose track of which section goes where and just the reaching back there is a challenge for me.


Clothing has been my latest area.  It is hot here in Hawaii and skirts are cooler more comfortable and I like them.  I wear them in public. As with nail polish is you act like it is totally normal, people don't react often.I will get asked about the color polish if they like it. I love that they feel comfortable asking me.  No one has ever commented about the skirts.  I have a black denim one I love and a few light cotton casual solid color ones that are like heavy T-shirt material. Those I wear out of comfort on a hot day.

The point of my ranting is that I am way happier now than I think I have ever been. I can crawl under a car and change a transmission one day and wear a pretty skirt and makup the next. They are all me and I will no longer hide part of myself.

When Hobbies collide.

My 2 Meter Ham Radio and my Blue nails

This is me being non gender conforming with a little makeup.

It has been quite a while since I posted last. I have been busy with a new hobby.  The new hobby is Ham Radio.  This was prompted by our companies desire to become more proactive with disaster preparedness. I was huge CB nut in the 70's and early eighties.  It was suggested I get my license.  Having a degree in electronics made preparing for the test easier.  I took the Technicians level test and passed it easily.  They said why don't you give the general class test a try since it won't cost you any more.  I passed that also.  During this period My nails have suffered. I still keep them polished most of the time, but I haven't been doing much nail art.

I posted the picture of my new radio with me holding the microphone in a Ham radio facebook post about low cost radios.  I quickly found out there are some closed minded people in that group that made unkind comments about me being a weirdo or gay because of my blue nails.  On the plus side there were those that defended me saying what color my nails are has nothing to do with Ham radio.  The local Ham club I belong too has been good to me.  No one there has even mentioned my out of the norm fashion choices.  I have decided not to let small minded people change who I am.  I spent most of my life trying to be that average Joe and conform to the "norm".  I will not do that any longer. Life is too short not to be happy.  I am happier now than ever before.

Thanks for listening!

Jim

WH6FQI  (if there are any Hams out there)

Learning to use gelish PolyGel

Working on my work area for hobbies

All ready to start doing my nails

First try using PolyGel. Need some work but a good start.

Hello Friends,

I am trying to get my hobby better organized to make practicing easier. My nail stamping polish shelf is held to the wall with magnets Bolted to the angle iron (actually aluminum).  I put a clear angle molding to keep the bottles from falling off if we have an earthquake. It is nice to have good lighting and a dedicated work space. I also use it when I work on electronics too.

Prior to getting the PolyGel starter kit, I had been learning to do traditional acrylic nails. I am still low o the learning curve with acrylic.  I can do a passable set on myself. However, not something I would post in a nail group. I do post them if I have done stamping.  The people in stamping groups are concerned about the nail art and not judging your nails. They are a great bunch of ladies and a few guys like me. PolyGel is awesome! You apply it just like a bead of acrylic but with out the time constraint to get it done before it hardens. PolyGel is workable and stiff enough to stay where you put it.  You can take as long as you want. When your happy then you put your nails under the UV or LED lamp. I don't have an LED lamp, so three minutes is the tie they say. My left hand was three minutes, but I did 4 minutes on the right hand.  I noticed the underside of the nail wasn't totally cured.  I think I will get an LED lamp soon. I have to give polyGel a thumbs up!  Now I need to get rid of the lame nail forms that don't stick good and buy some quality ones.

Paws stamping!

Remember everyone deserves to wear color on their nails if they want!

Learning to do Acrylic nails

My nails with out acrylic extensions.

Did some stamping the other day on my last set of nails.

OPI "Give Me Space" is the polish I am wearing.

My new Nail drill for doing acrylic nails.

Hello Friends,

Since starting my nail polish adventure a number of years ago, I have learned to do nail art and do a pretty good job polishing my nails.  My natural nails are very weak and always break. So, for the a while I just polished my short nails. That was fine until I got into nail art and joined groups with nail art challenges. My short nails kind of limited me on designs and gave less room for the art. This started me down the road of wanting longer nails. I had acrylics done by a local salon for a bit, but that got to be too expensive on top of my pedicures every other week. Since I am diabetic, I like to keep my feet in good shape.  I also am tall and can't reach my own feet very well to polish them myself.  This has led me to attempting to do my own nails with acrylic. I bought a starter kit from Sally's beauty supply. I watched some great YouTube videos and pay attention in nail groups. All I can say is practice, practice, practice!  I am getting better with each set i do on myself. I ordered some fake fingers to practice on, but they haven't arrived yet.  I also decided to order the nail drill shown above.  The black looks very retro and industrial, which really appealed to me. The nail drill is only needed to speed up the process, it isn't really needed. I got tired of all the hand sanding to shape the nails. That will decrease as my application gets better. The ladies on YouTube lay the acrylic down almost perfectly and require little filing. I will get a finger come out nice like that once in a while, but for the most part I have to work to get the shape right.

On the aspect of a guy wearing nail enhancements, I get a comment on how long my nails are getting from female coworkers on occasion, but nothing really negative. The compliments on polish and nail art are more the norm,  Since I have been wearing polish for at least 4 years now, people have gotten over it. The most important part is I have gotten over caring if it bothers people. I love it and it is my body. The same as people with body art and peircings. It is their body and it isn't hurting anyone.

Life and polish

Magnetic polish with stamping.

Stamping and stamping decal.

My Halloween nails

Island Girl Holo polish

The pointy nails look fierce!

Hello Everyone,

I haven't been posting much. Between obsessing about the elections, work, and my health issues,  I haven't been doing as much nail art or blogging. My skin condition has flared up again. It seems to be worse when my irregular heart beat is happening often.  Doctors today seem to only treat each symptom as an issue all to its own. We need more Dr. House types that are just a little less reckless. Meaning, looking at all of a persons health issues and seeing if there is a common cause.

Because I get tired easy, I haven't been up for any really good nail art. I still love doing it and want to get half as good as the ladies out there. I have been wearing polish pretty 90% of the time for the last 3-4 years. If I do something nice I get positive feedback. I haven't had anything negative in a couple of years.  I am happy that I made the decision to do what I love regardless of what some may think. I am sure it may limit my chances of finding a girlfriend, but I would rather not have one than hide who I am.  People have trouble separating sexual orientation from gender expression. I identify as a male, but am interested in some typically female stuff. I consider my self gender non-conforming.  I have admired pretty nails since I was a kid. I have moved from admiring others nails to wanting them myself. I am still me. I still love football and hate opera.  I feel people should dress or present themselves however feels good and natural to them. Screw the whole binary concept when it comes to people. We are not computers. Binary thinking is what is wrong with politics and religion. Life is a spectrum.

Please try and look past my gnarly skin until it heals.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jim