Dear Reverend,
A couple of months ago, I met a woman I really like. We had been on a few casual dates in public, but I recently went to her house to hang out. When I got there, she wasn’t wearing any shoes or socks, and I couldn’t help but notice that her feet were a mess and her toenails were really long. It was an immediate turnoff, and I couldn’t get past it. I even made an excuse to leave early. Now I’m not sure if I even want to see her again. What do I do?
Nail Armstrong (man, 27)
Dear Nail Armstrong,
Feet are funny. People either love ’em or hate ’em. Believe it or not, there are some folks who have a thing for unkempt feet. But that’s obviously not you.
If your lady friend was expecting to have her tootsies on display, you’d think she would have tidied them up. But it is the dead of winter, and it’s easy to forget about feet when they’re bundled up in socks and boots 99 percent of the time.
Discussing personal hygiene with someone — even your best friends or relatives — isn’t easy. Talking toe talons with a woman you just started dating probably isn’t the best idea, but perhaps you can nip the nail issue in a roundabout way.
I’d suggest you try to pamper her with a professional pedicure. Invite her out on a date for brunch and pedis. If that feels totally unnatural for you to do, buy a gift certificate for a pedicure. And if it feels weird to give it to her as a gift, tell her that you won it or got it from a friend. Sometimes you just gotta be stealthy to steer clear of a sticky subject.
If that all seems like too much to deal with, take a little break before you hang out again and see if you can overcome your cold feet. If you like everything else about this woman, it’s worth cutting her some slack, even if she hasn’t cut her toenails in a while.
Good luck and God bless,
The Reverend
This article appears in The Media Issue • 2026.