I'm responding on behalf of my husband, who has one of those stupid brands. But now that he's older and wiser, he knows those thoughts didn't and don't put bread on our table. I have artificial nails and get a lot of compliments. Most of the girls I know get them because they look good continually, the polish stays on longer than your real nails and they help stop annoying habits like biting your nails. A lot of black men love them, I don't know why exactly, and are willing to pay for their women to have them done.
Long nails are really impractical.
You just adjust to them. As part of our African heritage, we love to decorate our bodies with elaborate braids, beads in our hair and jewelry on our ears, hands, arms, fingers, necks and toes. Fingernails are no exception. And we really love vivid colors, probably because of African wildlife, especially birds and fish. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I notice more and more white people are copying what we have always done in this area.