The 100 Men Project
“In three words, what does being a great man mean to you?”
During 2025, inspired by the impact you can see in Hard As Nails, Daniele trained as a nail technician and set himself the task of painting the nails of a hundred men to both hone his skills and hear what it could unlock for men.
Painting a hundred men's nails all over the country showed me how many brave men there are out there who want to speak up on these topics, who feel awkward doing it but want to stand up for the people in their lives they care about. Men willing to do something brave enough to help build a safer society, and a healthier idea of masculinity than the one we so often end up getting served.
The wall.
All 99
The words they chose.
Ninety-nine men, three words each. The most frequent were empathy, kindness, openness and honesty. Words like safe, gentle, supportive, loving sat right alongside brave, powerful, courage, strong.
- Open21
- Empathy18
- Kind15
- Vulnerable13
- Honest13
- Compassion10
- Curious8
- Free8
- Respect7
- Care7
- Authentic7
- Supportive6
- Connect5
- Brave5
- Courage5
- Love5
- Confident5
- Sensitive4
Mentions across 99 men. Stems and synonyms grouped — open, openness and open-minded counted together. 99 valid responses, 297 word-tokens, 120 unique terms.
Whether these responses reflect how men want to present, or how they feel in this context, is an open question for further research.
