The new trend has men walking around with a single fingernail painted on just one hand. The sudden trend has popped up faster than a hipster fad, but there’s a dark meaning behind it. The trend began in Australia and made it’s way to America. Elliot Costello met a little girl, Thea,while he was travelling with a group called Hagar International. He landed in Cambodia in the hope of making an impac on children’s lives.
While getting to know little Thea they did things together. One day he painted her nails and she painted one of his while they talked about struggles. He learnt that she had been sexually abused and he told her he’d always leave a finger painted to remember her and her pain.
On a symbolic level the one painted fingernail is to depict that one out of every five children will tragically be a victim of sexual violence at some point in their lives.
While working with Thea, Elliot came up with the Polished Man project, which encourages men to become a #PolishedMan by painting one fingernail for a week.
