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Nail biting. I’ve battled it all my life and still struggle with it today. If I’m really stressed out/nervous or whatever, I’ll tear apart my cuticles, nails and nail bed meat (for lack of a better term). It’s very relaxing but looks horrible, so here are some tips on how to stop nail biting.
Have a game plan. Count on caring for your nails every five days or so. This is not set in stone but you should count on it as something is likely to make this necessary. A week seems too long for most nail polish and when your nails don’t look absolutely fabulous the tempation rises to chew, mangle or otherwise uglify your nails. The nicer your hands/nails look, the better chance of them staying that way!
Keep hands and nails moisturized and slathered in moisturizers. Moisturizers don’t taste that great which works out well for passive nail biting prevention. YUCK
Decide if you’re going to be a do-it-yourself-er or a salon mani. If you can afford it, it might be a nice treat to go to the salon, but at five day intervals that means about 6 times per month which can be expensive. But this also means you don’t have to even think about the choosing, buying and storage of nail polish which can be factored in. Two minutes in front of the polish rack and you’re on your way.
There are a lot of compromises to be made, possibly once a week at the salon with at home maintenance would work well for many women.
My personal game plan is to get a pro manicure once a month to cut cuticles and shape nails. I don’t enjoy doing these things myself and have little to no skill in this area. Since my nails are uneven it helps get a good result quickly. I will remove nail polish, possibly reapply polish myself and moisturize and massage cuticles daily for maintenance.
For those of you with the skill and dedication you must obviously have diy experience so you may need motivation or a little reminder. Keep it simple and together. Keep all your mani/pedi items in a shoe box or drawer. Having one place to go to for nail care will help things move faster when you’re ready to care for your nails. Which brings us to supplies…
Things to have on hand.
- A small but vast array of nail polish, start off with a signature color (or two).
- Tools: cuticle cutters, nail files, orange sticks to push back cuticles, those spongy toe seperators for pedicures, nail buffer and a nail brush
- Nail Polish remover (I will be hunting for low fume types)
Nail biting is very hard to get over but I’m hoping that making myself accountable not only to myself, but to this blog will help me overcome it. My goal is to become a reformed nail biter!
Tags: nails
