Long ago, people grew out their pinky nails to show that they were so wealthy they didn’t have to work with their hands. Nowadays, people might use a long pinky nail as a painting aid or to play guitar. It can also be a symbol to raise awareness of violence against women and children or a sign of good luck.

Ancient Chinese people wore long nails as a sign of wealth. Men and women of the upper classes grew their nails long to show that they didn’t have to do manual labor, which would break longer fingernails.

 In some parts of the world, long pinky nails still symbolize prosperity, even when they aren’t worn by the wealthy upper class.

• The Chinese philosopher Confucius, often depicted as having long nails, was thought to have said, “Our
body,
skin,
and
hair
are
all
received
from
our
parents;
we
dare
not
injure
them.”

• Some believe Confucius’s philosophy began the tradition of growing long nails, but it hasn’t been confirmed.

Some Asian men grow their pinky nails to attract good fortune. In some parts of Asia, people believe that having a little finger that extends past the joint closest to the tip of the ring finger is a sign of good fortune. They grow their nails to extend the length of their little finger and draw good luck.

Some men grow long pinky nails to use as handy tools when others aren’t available. These men use their long pinky nails to tighten screws, scrape off labels, or cut through soft items, like plants or mushrooms. However, using fingernails as tools can tear or break them.

• The American Academy of Dermatology Association recommends avoiding using your fingernails as tools to keep them healthy and strong.

Artists use a long pinky nail to keep their hand off the canvas while painting.

 When painting, an artist often needs a steady hand for intricate work. Some artists grow their pinky fingernails and brace them against the painting so they don’t have to rest their hand on the paint to steady it.

• Famous television artist Bob Ross was known to have a long fingernail he used for this purpose.^[4]

• Artists also use a Mahl stick, a wooden stick with a weight on one end, to prevent their palms from touching the painting’s surface. They rest their hand against the Mahl stick instead of growing out a fingernail

Flamenco guitar players grow long pinky nails to play rasgueado. Rasgueado is a technique in flamenco music for strumming the guitar using 4 or 5 fingers in rapid succession.^[6] 

While flamenco guitarists often grow all of their fingernails, the pinky nail is usually longer to compensate for the shorter, weaker pinky finger.^[7]

• The longer pinky nail is usually only on the player’s dominant (or strumming) hand.

A long pinky nail can be used to raise awareness and stand against violence. The Polished Man and Pinky Promise encourages people to paint a fingernail blue to help raise money and awareness to end violence against women and children. Both are month-long campaigns that focus on supporting survivors of violence and sexual assault.

• The Polished Man campaign takes place in October and asks participants to paint any nail blue to show support and raise money for prevention and recovery programs.

• The Pinky Promise campaign takes place in April and asks participants to paint a pinky fingernail blue to support child abuse prevention and sexual assault awareness initiatives.

A long pinky nail is sometimes used as drug paraphernalia. In the US, a long pinky nail is often referred to as a “coke nail” for its rumored use as a spoon for cocaine. Some rehabilitation centers also consider a long pinky nail a telltale sign of drug abuse.