Hard As Nails · Randomised trial · November 2026
Would you step in?
If you saw a man touching a woman inappropriately, would you step in directly? Before one week of painted nails, 17% of the men in our 2025 pilot said they would. Nine months after, 37% did.
2025 pilot data. Men who painted their nails, before (n=155) and nine months after (n=51). The control group didn’t change.
It’s a promising signal. It isn’t proof. So this November we’re putting it to a proper test, and I need you in it.
200 men. One coin.
Half paint their nails for a week in November. Half don’t. Everyone answers the same questions before and after. A coin decides which half you’re in, not you and not us.
If you think this is nonsense, you’re exactly who I want. Come and prove me wrong. And if it doesn’t hold up, I’ll stop.
Please sign up this weekTakes a minute to sign up, then the first survey.
What you’d do
- This week. Sign up and answer a short survey.
- Next week. We email you to say which half the coin put you in.
- One week in November. Nails painted, or hands exactly as they are. Both halves do the same surveys.
- Afterwards. The same survey again. That’s it.
Why trust it
- Professor Brendan Gough is the principal investigator. He advises the World Health Organization on men, masculinity and male suicide.
- Ethics approval from Leeds Beckett University.
- Our first paper is at the Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology. A peer reviewer has recommended it for publication; revisions resubmitted, decision expected in early November.
- Workplaces taking part include Wates, Salesforce, JCDecaux, innocent and Vita Coco.
The 2025 pilot, warts and all
422 men signed up across our pilots. The men who painted their nails moved. The control group didn’t.
Three in four would now step in, up from under half. Men also told us their fear of being judged more than halved. On the Man Box scale, the painters moved away from restrictive rules about being a man, and significantly more than the control group (p=0.0205).
Here’s what the pilot can’t tell us. I’d rather you poked holes in it now.
- Men chose whether to paint, so the groups didn’t start level. The painters began more open-minded (Man Box 3.95 against 3.05).
- Two thirds dropped out between the start and nine months.
- The sample skewed White, degree-educated and from London and the South.
- It’s what men said they’d do in a scenario, not what we watched them do.
November’s coin fixes the big ones. Nobody chooses their half, so if the painters move and the control half doesn’t, it’s the nails, not the men who picked them.
Source: Hard As Nails pilot research, 422 men, 2024 to 2025. Scenario figures from 155 men before and 51 at nine months; control group 50.
What’s in it for you
A pint on me for everyone who sees it through, polished or not, whatever the results say. A London pub big enough for 200, money behind the bar, and you hear the results before any journal does. Can’t get to London? The pint’s on me wherever you are, and you hear the results live the same night.
If it’s published, signed copies of both my books.
Same for both halves, so nobody’s being led.
If the coin says nails
It’s far easier than you think. Get your partner, your daughter, your mate or your mum to do it. Plenty did last time. Or go to a salon. They’re everywhere and they’re lovely.
If a £30 manicure is the thing in the way, email hello@hard-as-nails.com and I’ll cover it. No questions, and I won’t mention it to anyone. Nobody gets left out because of a manicure.
Still umming and ahhing?
What if I’m in the control half?
You’re just as important. Without you there’s nothing to compare against and the results don’t stand up. You do the same surveys, keep your hands exactly as they are, and get the same pint.
Do I have to tell work?
No. Your answers are anonymised in the results and never shared with an employer.
How long does it take?
A minute to sign up, a short survey now, the same survey after November. If the coin says nails, one week of wearing them.
What if I want to drop out?
You can stop whenever you like. No reason needed.
Is this some woke thing?
It’s a test. If painted nails don’t change anything, a coin and 200 men will show it, and I’ll say so. If they do, you’ll have been part of finding out. Either way, it’s the data that decides, not me.
Two hundred men. One coin.
One day you could be in that pub and say: I was part of that.
Please sign up this weekYour answers are anonymised in the results and never shared with an employer. Privacy notice.
Sam