When was the last time you received a manicure?
A real manicure.
Not streaks of Plum Passion painted on by your 5-year-old. I’m talking about the real deal; professional nail treatment courtesy of a hired hand.
I’m pretty sure the last time I paid someone to push back my cuticles and buff my nails was the day before I got married. That was more than eight years ago.
I remember thinking how nice it would be to enjoy a day at the spa following the birth of our daughter. That was more than six years ago.
Back then I would spend hours breastfeeding in a wooden rocking chair dreaming of having my swollen ankles massaged prior to a pedicure, my winter-chapped hands lubricated and my disheveled nails replaced by shiny, new acrylic ones.
Of course, my dream would always end the same way: with me waking up and realizing that a.) the fake nails would last all of five minutes while I cared for a newborn, plus cooked, cleaned and finished moving into our new home and b.) oh, yeah, we didn’t have enough money for a manicure.
Let’s see… what’s more important to have? Clean diapers, running water, and electricity or a classic French manicure that I could admire when I changed diaper number 23 for the day?
Seriously, how many moms with young children budget for a regular manicure these days?
Oh wait, I know, the girls on MTV’s reality show “Teen Mom.”
Am I the only one who wonders how these supposedly “struggling” 16 and 17-year-old’s are able to walk around with immaculately manicured fake nails?
It’s bad enough that the cameras zoom in on the girls’ perfectly painted acrylics throughout the 60-minute show–a series that’s allegedly designed to “promote abstinence and prevent teens from getting pregnant”–but to have to watch these girls drag their infants into a local salon so they can get a fresh coat of Red Dahlia is not exactly Mom of the Year material.
Are you a financially strapped mom? When was the last time you paid to get your nails done?