I Stopped Doing My Nails and the Internet Lost It. So I Called the Queen of Nails | Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton

I Stopped Doing My Nails and the Internet Lost It. So I Called the Queen of Nails | Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton

From Not Alone by Valeria Lipovetsky

July 15, 2026 · 1h 10m

About this episode

Valeria discusses the societal implications of nail care choices with Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton, exploring beauty standards and women's relationships.

I posted a video in my car saying I stopped getting my nails done and my life got better. That was it. One less appointment, one less thing to manage. I thought I had cracked the code, and the code was nails. Then the internet lost it. Twice. The first time, women were relieved, like nobody had told them opting out was allowed. A year later, it came back and turned into something else entirely. First, I was broke for not doing my nails. Then, I was rich for not doing my nails. My little video ended up next to Carolyn Bessette in think pieces, and I am over here just trying not to drive to a salon. So I called Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton, who built Chillhouse from one SoHo salon into the brand that created the press-on category. She said the part I had not thought about at all: when I skip my nails, it gets called quiet luxury. When a woman of color skips hers, it can read like she is not keeping up. Same bare nail, completely different verdict. I had become the poster child of a trend I never signed up for, and I had not once considered whose hand it was on. We stayed there for a while. Why we go after each other so hard over our own faces. Whether we quietly judge other women, which…

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