Hi Chums!
I thought I'd do a wee post today, that some of you may find helpful. For most of my life I was a
chronic nail biter, I just loved having a good old chomp on my nails.
Now, I knew all the horror stories eg.
there are more bacteria under your nails than on a toilet seat, but that just didn't seem to put me off! (gross, I know)
I tried all the '
stop biting your nails' treatment jobbies, ya know, the yucky tasting nail polish like stuff, I even tried taking these weird tablet things that were meant to replenish some vitamin or something that apparently
nail biters are lacking, and that's why we bite our nails, I know I know, mental.
But alas, none of them worked. I desperately wanted to be able to
paint my nails, and have nice looking hands, but instead, I became so self conscious of my hands that I would hide them all the time, lest someone see the state of my poor nails.
So I hit 24, and kinda thought, I've had enough! I had tried acrylics in the past, and found that I didn't tend to try and bite them, however when they were removed, the left my
nails weak, and a bit sad really. Kinda like a really thin paper, and within a day or two, they would have caught on something and bye bye nails.
So, I came up with my own wee way, to try and stop myself
biting my nails, I'm pleased to say, I know at least one other person, that this method worked for!
First up, I got the old
stick on nails and whacked them on there, anytime that one would pop off, a new one would swiftly take it's place, I wasn't so concerned with my nails looking pretty, I just wanted to break that habit. For 3 weeks, I wore cheap
fake glue on nails, solidly, no breaks, no nothing.
After those 3 weeks were up, and I had a little growth, I gently buffed the glue down a bit so it wasn't all jagged, but I did not buff it all off. I think that's the trick, don't feel that you need to get all the glue off, just get it gently smoothed.
I then applied a base coat, a nail polish of my choosing, and a top coat. From then on, my nails were pretty much always painted, no breaks, straight from one colour to the next.
I also began applying CND Solar oil before bed and gently started to push my cuticles back. And I still do that to this day, well....not every night....mostly when I remember......
Skip forward a few weeks, I'd
stopped biting, I finally had
nice looking nails, that weren't the strongest in the world, but were getting there! I found the layers of polish really helped add a bit of strength to my nails as I patiently waited for the stronger nail to grow through.
Now I know you can get
gel overlays that basically do this same thing, but they are expensive and require infills etc, and I'm all for finding a thrifty way to get things done!
Anywho, so I had decent nails at this point, they were still prone to breaking, but I found that was more because they were peeling a lot, and had become very ridged, I tried a protein treatment, and it certainly helped
strengthen my nails some, but didn't seem to get rid of the peeling/ridged problem. So I persevered really, I made sure my nails were always well filed and buffed, and I started using the
Seche Vite ridge filler (I'd pass on this btw, it's alright, but nothing to write home about).
I kept on painting my nails, and eventually dabbled in nail art, which I fell in love with, I developed an unhealthy obsession with nail polish (don't believe me?
Click here) and carried on my merry way.
My nails now
Then, about 2 months ago, the lovely
Sera from The Agoraphobic Fashionista, told me that
Fragrance Direct, were having a super sale on Essie polishes, so I went straight to the site to see what bargains I could pick up! Naturally, I had a look around to see what other treats I might like to pick up, and came across the
Sally Hansen Continuous Hardening Treatment.
Initially, I was just using this as per the bottles instructions, 'apply one coat every other day'. But then I thought, ah sure, I'll use it as a base coat. Then I realised, if I layered it a few times, it gave a really nice pale nude effect, so I started wearing it just by itself.
Excuse the stock picture, but I threw out the box :/
Basically, it's the bee's knee's. No more ridges, still a tiny little bit of peeling, but I'm hoping with time that will go too. My
nails feel stronger and better than ever! If you are trying to
strengthen your nails, I would highly recommend this product.
So basically, to
stop biting your nails, get the falsies on, then get the nail polish and the
Sally Hansen on, and bob's your uncle and fanny's your aunt!
Now, I am NOT a nail technician, I know nothing about nails other than what I have learnt myself, I am aware that press on nails are apparently very bad for your nails, but ya know what, lot's of things are bad for you, and this worked for me!
So, if like me, you are desperate to stop biting, and have
nice nails, then why not give this a go? If all else fails, at least you tried right?
I also have a handy tip
here incase you do break one of your precious new nails, on how to repair a small break.
I hope this is helpful to someone out there!
Do you bite your nails? Are you a reformed biter like myself? How did you stop?
Speak soon
Bex
x
