“I know it’s a filthy habit. I just can’t help it,” I would say to my mom when she would snap, “Get your fingers out of your mouth!” I was a nail biter, always have been. I can remember my grandmother trying to bribe me with a new dress if I would stop biting… still didn’t work. I was a lost cause and figured I would always have to wear fake nails and never have pretty natural ones. Polish made my nails look stumpy and not nearly as pretty as what they could be, despite the many manicures Ashley would give me on our “maintenance days.” I would somehow always end up biting the gel polish off mindlessly while I watched tv. I wouldn’t even realize I was doing it until my finger would be sore. I even tried acrylic nails with the tips, couldn’t stand those either; I would still bite them off! I was completely frustrated and literally at my wit’s end over what to do.
Some of Ashley’s beautiful work on my ugly, stumpy nails last year.
Loaren, the nail tech who works at the salon with me, came up with a solution. We would start with some much needed cuticle care and a very, very thin layer of acrylic over my natural nail (she never drills my nails down so even when I would take the acrylic off, my nail wouldn’t have that ugly acrylic canyon!) She would very lightly buff my nails and apply a thin layer of naturally colored acrylic to make my nails stronger. With my hands being in water all the time, they were already soft so they were really easy to bite; the acrylic made it a little harder to do. She also only allowed me to pick out lighter colors. Her theory was I would look at my stumpy finger nails and I wouldn’t be happy with them if they were dark thus, resulting in nail biting. We use gel polish only because if the regular polish would chip, I would end up biting. Loaren also gets after me if my cuticles and the skin around my nails are really dry.
My nails after they had been healing from years of damage. Still a little short, but starting to play with more color by this point.
I am finally to the point where I show off my nails! I can wear any color I want and they look beautiful. We keep them a sporty length, but that’s perfect for me. I actually want to show off my nails these days! So, my recommendation would be get regular manicures, even if you do regular manicures on yourself. If you decide to do the acrylic overlay like I did, be specific with your nail tech– absolutely NO drills on your natural nails. Take care of those cuticles and start with colors that don’t draw too much attention to your nails at first.
My nails after a recent manicure. She had to cut them down because they were getting so long!
I am Erin and I am a nail biter have beautiful nails.
Xo,
Er
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