Toenail Polish in Public

[Sophie86]

I recently got brave enough to start wearing my toenail polish in public. I've been to the store, the local swimming hole, and other places in my flip-flops and nail polish. So far, I've only gotten a few comments. One was from a lady I game with. Her reaction was pretty blasé. The other was not directly to me, but went from the wife of a friend, to my friend, to my wife. I've talked about the fallout from that here. It ended with me coming out to them, but I could have played it off if I had wanted. I just didn't realize they hadn't already figured me out, since they've seen me dressed for Halloween the past two years.

I've mostly avoided showing them off around family, but there has been an exception. A few weeks ago, I had them painted dark blue and my rather countrified sister-in-law noticed. We had this conversation:

Her: You have blue toenails...

Me: Yeah! Don't they look cool?

Her: Actually, it's kinda spooky.

Me: (Laughing.) Oh! Spooky, eh? I could chase you around the house with them! (Waving my foot at her, and using a scary voice.) OoooOOOooooo!

So I got her to laugh about it, and then went back to our previous conversation. I felt like when she left the house, though, she probably had a lot of questions bouncing around in her head. I thought she meant they were spooky, cause I was a guy wearing something girly, and it bothered her.

So yesterday, I came home from picking up my son and saw my sister-in-law's truck in the yard. I was a bit nervous going into the house, cause this week the toenails are candy apple red. Sure enough, she spotted them right off. What do you think she said? Did she scream, and say oh my god, you're gay!? Nope, she said with a tone of relief, "Oh they're red this time! That looks much better!"

Wtf??

Apparently, what bothered her about the dark blue is that it made my already pale legs look more corpse-like. She said the only thing missing was a toe tag. lol. So we talked about the color for a minute, and the conversation ended like this:

Her: Whatever floats your boat!

Me: It does.

Her: (Laughing) You're so crazy.

Once again showing that maybe we just don't need to worry about things quite so much.

[Eryn]

That's a great story. Beats the heck out of being boring!

[NathalieX66]

Sophie, I gotta do that.
....mainly because I'm sick of covering up my feet with socks & New Balance sneakers in this hot weather. I have metallic purple on my toes now, and I should just wear flip flops or thongs and not care. I'll try the Dunkin Donuts line with bare feet & sandals as a guy and see how it goes.

Going en femme in public is one thing, the whole shebang is out on display, and I can live with.
that.
Being a guy in public with purple toes is going to be an experience I need to try. The 8 mothns of hair growth and earrings, no problem. I really need to do the open toes, mainly because I hate to ruin or hide a nice pedicure job. It's too hot to wear socks where I am.

[HappyErica]

I paint my toes and go out all the time in sandals. Everything from pink to red to blue. My wife encourages my feet to free. And so far I have not had anyone every say anything

[Cynthia Anne]

Sophie! That is great! You handled the situation with class! Nent time include your finger nails! Hugs!

[Tina B.]

Good thing you didn't have them painted a light blue, she might have brought you that toe tag. LOL! Which is best, wow your a cross dresser! or Wow your CRAZY! Gee I'm not sure, did she smile when she told you, your crazy?
Tina

[Sophie86]

Sophie, I gotta do that.
....mainly because I'm sick of covering up my feet with socks & New Balance sneakers in this hot weather.

I know, right? Way too freakin hot!

I'm trying to decide this morning whether to wear shoes to my daughter's Rx appt. I did have that thing with my wife recently where she called me on wanting to wear flip-flops to an event we were attending with our son. Maybe I should go with deck shoes today... :/

Being a guy in public with purple toes is going to be an experience I need to try. The 8 mothns of hair growth and earrings, no problem. I really need to do the open toes, mainly because I hate to ruin or hide a nice pedicure job.

Yeah, eventually you start to think "what's the point of having the toenail polish on there if no one is going to see it?"

Gee I'm not sure, did she smile when she told you, your crazy?

Oh yeah, she was laughing, so it was cool.

[Anne2345]

Her: You have blue toenails...

Me: Yeah! Don't they look cool?

Her: Actually, it's kinda spooky.

Me: (Laughing.) Oh! Spooky, eh? I could chase you around the house with them! (Waving my foot at her, and using a scary voice.) OoooOOOooooo!

Brilliant response!!! I simply LOVE the scary ghost voice "OooooOOOooooo!" Fantastic story, and I think you have handled it quite well! Good for you!

[gender_blender]

My toe nails are usually pink and I go out everywhere in flip flops and I've maintained my acrylic fingernails, currently painted OPI Red with silver crackle, for years. Lots of compliments on them this week!

[boardpuppy]

Alright, pinkies are first, then the finger nails, what's next or is that another story. Waiting to hear....you go girl.

[Inna]

Funny how kids perceive transgenderism. I spent last 3 weeks over my sisters house where she has 3 little ones running about, and I mean running about! 12, 10 and 3, two girls and a little, not so little, man-oh boy is he a MAN. Anyway, the girls know about me being a transsexual and kind of know of my desire to one day be a full on girl. I had my toenails painted shimmery pearl and the oldest noticed, "Oh........your toenails are painted like a girl?" "yeap" I answered. "So you like girl things?" " I do" "Hm......." after a while she sais "moooom, Robert is wearing girls stuff and has color on his toenails", "Yes, he wants to be a girl like I told you before, that is what transgender means" mom answered. "OH......ok"
After that everything such as clothing or makeup was just a normal, dismissive stuff we all do, if the world was so simple and open such as the kids are we would all be free and living the life as we should.

[Kerrylee61]

No problem with polished toes in public as a guy but flip flops...... AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH

Not on my pretty little footies.

Kerry

[Julie S]

Thanks for posting this Sophie.

It's postings like this that help give us all confidence to be a little bit closer to who we really are.

J

[Patty]

I have my toe nails polished for the last 4 years and wear sandals about 75% of the time . Have only had good comments.

[Richelle]

My wife does not support me going out as Richelle, but she has been semi-supportive of us having mani and pedicures together. Both my toenails and finger nails tend to have some nail polish on all the time now. I have never had a person comment about my toes, but have received compliments on my fingernails.

Richelle

[NicoleScott]

That's a great story, Sophie. Yes, maybe we worry too much.
When it comes to transforming, I've done just about everything: shapewear, eyelashes, nails, wig, perfume, etc. I don't know why, but I've never painted my toenails. I can't explain it but it's going on my to-do list.

[ReineD]

There are many layers to this, as many as there are people who will notice your toe nails and their different relationships to you. I don't know if I'll be able to convey everything here, but I'll try. I'm looking at the bigger picture and if this is not what you had in mind, then please ignore my post.

First, congratulations on feeling more comfortable wearing nail polish in public!

And now the rest.

We all have many aspects of our personalities, CDers included, meaning the CDing, like any other "one" thing is never "everything" that someone is about. So the people who know you, who've interacted with you throughout the years, who like you or love you and who've seen you in many of your roles: husband, father, career person, friend, etc, will not look at a little thing like painted toe nails and use this to reframe their mental images of who you are.

It's a different matter with strangers, and it is further different depending on the types of strangers you encounter, from people at the beach or the local grocery store, to the parents at your children's school during a parent/teacher night, to girls you might want to date if you are single.

Random strangers won't care. They know they will never see you again and you are just a small blip on their radars. They might just chalk you up as being odd if they do not know any other CDers. Closer people such as the moms or dads whose kids play with your kids might have a small alarm go off, simply because of the stereotypes of men who wish to cross the gender lines. Depending on the person, they may chalk it up as no big deal (since they know you from afar and your child has been to their house many times and they know he's a good kid), to having a red flag waived where they may have reservations about their child having a sleepover, or going to a birthday party at your house. Again, the better they know you, the more likely they will be to have your SIL's reaction, which is "to each his own".

If you are interviewing for a job or if you are single and looking for dates, or if you are getting together with the new neighbors down the street and are hoping you will become close friends, then this means a potential greater relationship investment. Having painted toenails without these people knowing anything more about you may close doors that wouldn't close otherwise, depending on how liberal they are with respect to people crossing gender lines.

I'm not meaning to put a damper on your experience and I gather from having read your posts that you are well established in your life with your current relationships. So, you may not care what random strangers think, your life is full already, and as I've mentioned the people who know you already are not going to take this one little thing and change their views of everything they already know about you. But, if a CDer does not move among the liberal cutting edge people and he is reaching out to form relationships, or get a new job, or is new in town with young kids (or not), etc, he might want to rethink the viability of wearing nail polish ... or light makeup, or dangly earrings. When you think of it, the line is not sharp between any of these and slowly beginning to wear women's polo shirts and jeans, with a colorful scarf.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this. People need to honor who they are. But, if they are new in an area and they want to form various relationships with people who don't understand much about CDers, they risk eliminating potential relationships, beyond anything more than passing acquaintances. I wish it were different. I wish we lived in a world where it is completely acceptable for men to cross the gender lines in terms of appearance. But as things stand right now, although most strangers won't say anything out loud, I'm afraid they are apt to form rather pointed personal opinions (such as thinking someone is "weird") and keep themselves from getting closer to you, should the opportunity present itself. But again ... if expressing who you are is more important than winning popularity contests, then there is no harm done.

[Jessica Brynn]

I've had painted my nails ever since I came out as a crossdresser in March of this year. Right now my toe nails are purple glitter and my fingernails are light pink.

In guy mode, I don't try to hide my nails. They are fairly long, very strong, and nearly always painted. Some girls find it disturbing. Some are jealous. Some guys ask about it out of curiosity.

I've had several people comment on my fingernails. Nothing bad has ever come of it. Sure, I know I've been judged by a few, but most people are willing and able to look past a little polish and get to know the real person inside.

Don't worry about a little nail polish. I am blunt and tell people that I'm a crossdresser. If you are not out of the closet, just tell people that you have a five year old daughter and she likes to paint your nails for fun. Nobody will question that.

[Erika_bagels]

That's super cool! That was a fun read, and I'm glad your family is being rather cool about things.

[Patrice_CD]

My nails are always painted as well. Right now I have lady bugs on my toes and my finger nails are light pink. About a month ago I decided to step out and I was tired of putting on tennis shoes just to run to the grocery store. It was a great feeling and no one seemed to care. Since then friends have seen my toes and strangers I've met at gatherings have seen them. Had lots of questions and compliments but no negative feedback.

[Barbra P]

I received a pedicure, complete with polish for Father’s Day and today I had an appointment with my new Therapist. I wore flip-flops to the medical center and while some people obviously looked at my toes, nobody said anything. My Therapist thought they looked very nice. In the last few days a number of people in the neighborhood commented on my nails, none of the comments were negative. Most of the comments came from women, but a couple came from men. I really enjoy looking down and seeing my polished nails, and so far I’ve enjoyed showing them in public.

[sissystephanie]

I almost always have red toe nails (sometimes bright pink!) regardles of the weather. If it is warm, or hot as it is now, I wear open toe sandals out in public!! People rarely look at your toes anyway, unless you have them some really weird color!! Besides, they are my toes and I can have them any color I want!! So far there aren't any toenail color police!! At least I don't think there are!!

[Jamie Burton]

I've been walking around for a couple of years now with polished toes, although I only wear clear polish. I just like the simple shiny look as opposed to various colors. In recent weeks I've begun leaving my nails long and wearing clear polish on them as well. So far, no one has made much mention of either!

I teach yoga for a living, so I'm barefoot just about year round. Having pedicures done fairly regularly keeps my feet feeling good as well as looking nice.

[cd_in_de]

I recently got brave enough to start wearing my toenail polish in public. I've been to the store, the local swimming hole, and other places in my flip-flops and nail polish. So far, I've only gotten a few comments. One was from a lady I game with. Her reaction was pretty blasé. The other was not directly to me, but went from the wife of a friend, to my friend, to my wife. I've talked about the fallout from that here. It ended with me coming out to them, but I could have played it off if I had wanted. I just didn't realize they hadn't already figured me out, since they've seen me dressed for Halloween the past two years.

I've mostly avoided showing them off around family, but there has been an exception. A few weeks ago, I had them painted dark blue and my rather countrified sister-in-law noticed. We had this conversation:

Her: You have blue toenails...

Me: Yeah! Don't they look cool?

Her: Actually, it's kinda spooky.

Me: (Laughing.) Oh! Spooky, eh? I could chase you around the house with them! (Waving my foot at her, and using a scary voice.) OoooOOOooooo!

So I got her to laugh about it, and then went back to our previous conversation. I felt like when she left the house, though, she probably had a lot of questions bouncing around in her head. I thought she meant they were spooky, cause I was a guy wearing something girly, and it bothered her.

So yesterday, I came home from picking up my son and saw my sister-in-law's truck in the yard. I was a bit nervous going into the house, cause this week the toenails are candy apple red. Sure enough, she spotted them right off. What do you think she said? Did she scream, and say oh my god, you're gay!? Nope, she said with a tone of relief, "Oh they're red this time! That looks much better!"

Wtf??

Apparently, what bothered her about the dark blue is that it made my already pale legs look more corpse-like. She said the only thing missing was a toe tag. lol. So we talked about the color for a minute, and the conversation ended like this:

Her: Whatever floats your boat!

Me: It does.

Her: (Laughing) You're so crazy.

Once again showing that maybe we just don't need to worry about things quite so much.

I paint my toenails. Since warm weather started, I have been brave enough to wear sandals. I live in a small conservative town but nobody has stared. Because nobody has stared, that makes me wonder how many men have painted toenails under their shoes. lol

[CarlaWestin]

I regularly step out wearing sandals with painted toenails. My current color is hot pink. I also have no problem exposing mt shaved legs. Sometimes I'll even wear a bra with "generous" breast forms just because it feels good. I've never had a problem or a bad comment. GG's actually smile at me. My wife won't allow this presentation when she's with me and I respect that.

Carla