My confession: I am a nail biter, it is a bad habit and I am so ashamed of myself for letting my nails get back into this condition again. I had beautiful nails for 5 months! And, in one day, they are ruined and back in a nail bitten state.
I am starting this blog again to keep myself accountable. Someone needs to know the condition of my nails.
The pictures below are my beautiful nails before I destroyed them!
Now, my nails are so short and bitten off. They have been hurting for days now. I am so disappointed in myself for letting my fingernails get into this condition again.
Why do I do this?
I am trying to figure out what caused my vicious nail biting cycle. Oh, I remember...I removed the colored nail shellac because I was not happy with the nail growth showing at the base of the nail. So, I removed the shellac and in the process of removing the shellac, and I discovered it was difficult to remove the polish from the tips of the nails.
The removal process my way involved me scraping the nail shellac off with my teeth. I know...why did you do that? Because I did not want my nails sitting in acetone for 45 minutes to get the shellac off.
I managed to remove all the shellac off my nails, filing my nails started, which resulted in poor results. I started slacking off on the twice a day hand care. My nails were in terrible shape at this point. Nail biting started, the vicious cycle starts and does not stop until the damage has been done.
I know....Why didn't you go your nails done?
Stupidity! Lack of caring! Laziness!
I did realize the next time my nails are long, I will do things differently. I will not allow my nails to become too long, 5 months of growth is too long! If I am going to have my nails done, it will have to be done every 2 weeks. Two weeks of nail growth is too much for me to tolerate.
I will need to let a manicurist care for my nails because obviously I cannot do the job correctly. At times, I will file my nails too much. then, my nails do not look pretty and the nail biting begins.
I also figured out when my nails are very short and bitten, the skin about the nails and cuticles are very dry and prickly I tend to pick and bite them a lot and my vicious nail biting cycle starts. Also, I have gotten lazy about my hand care twice a day (oil to cuticles and thick lotion to hands).
Once the biting of my nails start, it is a vicious cycle...I can't stop biting my nails until they have been bitten off. I hate hanging skin around my nails, cuticles! I will bite them off.
My fingertips hurt, they have been hurting for days. They hurt worse when they are wet and when I am doing something with my hands. I hate doing stuff around the house with my hands because my fingers will hurt.
Last night, was my beginning of nail recovery. I took a metal nail file and filed all my fingertips smooth, which means that I removed all snags from nails and skin areas. Once my fingertips were smooth and soft, I applied Vaseline to my hands.
Did I say, my fingertips hurt! Hurting as I type. My thumbs hurt pretty bad. I somehow manage to find a nail snag and I pulled it off with my teeth...which resulted in taking the nail too deep into the nail bed...which often causes bleeding and it hurts really bad!
See my pictures, these are my nails at their worse. These nails have looked like this for at least a week.
My recovery begins. Join me! In 3 months my nails will be pretty again and so will your nails.
Update: February 13, 2015
I started picking at the nail polish. My nails were so long!
Long story short-Do not remove shellac nail polish on your own by picking it off or biting it off, the ends of the nails become damaged, they are very dry, peeling, they break easily. I cut my nails down short before I took off the remaining shellac nail polish.
I will attempt to grow my nails again without the shellac nail polish. I will be applying my own nail polish and nail hardener. I should have long nails again in 3 months. By Mother's Day, I will be celebrating my beautiful nails again!
My nail picking and biting was an obsession, once I started I could not stop. I now know that I like my nails to look nice and not have a growth space at the cuticle. If I was going to get my nails done professionally, it really needs to be every 2 weeks. I need to find an outlet to do if I become unhappy with my nails and that would be to go to a professional if not a professional then redo my own nails. Take a walk or something, just do something to get my mind off of my nails.
Anyway, it is good that fingernails grow. Three months is a long time!
I wanted to add some information about Shellac removal at the nail salon and that is...removal of the shellac took over 30 minutes long. The process that was used was dipping my fingernails in acetone. Keeping your fingertips in acetone for 30 minutes is way too long!
I will not be doing that again! I will be removing the nail shellac on my own. And, that means, I will either pick it off or bite it off. I just hope I do not break any nails in the process.
The colored nail shellac lasted very well on my nails. Only reason I wanted the shellac removed was because of the obvious nail growth at the cuticle area. I want to see if I can leave the current nail polish on for at least 3 weeks.
Oh! I continue to apply a clear nail shellac on my nails every 3 or 4 days. I make sure the polish also covers the nail edges especially.
I am still getting use to the longer nails on my fingers. They look beautiful and I catch myself looking at my nails during the day.
The nails still feel weird. I am not use to the nail length on my fingers.
Update: I have had my fingernails done twice with a shellac polish, this time in color! No breaks on the fingernails so far. I have been growing my fingernails since October 2014. The length on the fingernails is probably a good 4 months of growth.
There is no way I would ever bite these nails at this growth length. I am still using my fingertips a lot while doing things around the house and pretty much everything in general.
I think about all those years with short nails and my attempts to grow longer nails, I really did not know how to use my fingers with longer nails. Using my hands now, is automatic. I do not get in a habit of grabbing things because that can cause broken nails.
Oh! I am still taking Biotin (vitamin supplement) for nails and hair one time a day. I truly believe the Biotin has helped my nails become stronger.
I continue to keep my hands well lotioned and cuticles without splits or breaks. With very dry hands and cuticles in bad shape, I find myself picking at my fingernails and cuticles. Keeping your hands and nails well moisturized is the key to beautiful nails.
