Wow .. I have never had a manicure or a pedicure.
THEN, my dear, you haven't lived.
I go to my "club" for the pedicure. I used to REFUSE even the idea. Then, I finally had one and oooooooooooooooooooooo, was it nice.
My natural fingernails are weak, thin, soft and breakable. My girlfriend bit her nails but one day she showed up with GORGEOUS nails. I stared..."Huh? How...?"
The answer: acrylic nails.
He's been doing my nails a LONG time with NO ill effects whatsoever. I just have GORGEOUS acrylic nails--ALL the time.
Get a manicure someday. If you HATE it, tell the manicurist: "I don't like this. Stop." She/he will stop. Then, you get up and leave the shop.
Ditto with the pedicure.
Never hurts to try. Remember, if you hate it, tell him/her to stop.
Many businessmen get the super simple manicure, no color. no polish. It doesn't hurt THEM to have decent nails. Their hands are always front and center so their fingernails might as well be neat and tidy.
Two weeks after I started as a visiting professor in Istanbul, I knew I needed a haircut. I started out looking for a barbershop. I found one, but the sign on the window advertised pedicures. I decided that wasn't the place for me. Farther on I found one that looked like my father's old barbershop, and got my haircut there.