Soooo let's have a wee bit of background on these bad boys.
It's no secret that I bite my nails. I've been biting them since I was about five. My neighbour (who was a girl just one year older than me) bit her nails, and for some reason after she showed me her bitten nails I started to bite mine as well.
Over the years I've tried several methods of stopping. My mum used to buy me in Stop'n Grow. For those of you who don't know what that is (although I'm sure that most of you do), it's a clear liquid that you apply to your nails like nail polish. It has a bitter taste that's designed to deter you from biting your nails.
When I was wee, I would apply this religiously...and bite anyway. I got used to the taste on several occasions, and decided in my mind that the taste was worth it to be able to bite my nails. Eventually, the lid got stuck and I was unable to open the bottle again. This happened to all three bottles of it that I bought over the years.
So obviously this method didn't work for me. But I wasn't ready to give up. My sister always had long nails, as did my mum and many of my friends. They got to do nice things with their nails, wear rings without their fingers looking like stubs, and show their hands without being embarrassed or ashamed.
My mum tried bribing me with nail polish by telling me that when my nails grew long I'd be able to wear the pretty nail polish she'd bought me in especially. I stoppped biting for two weeks and got to see some nice growth on my nails...and then I bit :( She let me use the nail polish the day I came crying to her about haven bitten all my nails, but it just didn't look nice on nails so short. I still regret biting them then and disappointing her.
I tried wearing elastic bands on both my wrists and would snap them against my skin when I caught myself biting my nails or going to bite them. Alongside this I used handcream and coconut oil on my nails, and started taking pride in the appearance of my hands and nails.
Eventually, I started biting again and lost all my progress. I was aware that I was losing all that I had worked to get, but us nail biters tend to ignore that and opt for instant gratification (i.e. nail biting) rather than resist and fight the urge. It's easier said than done during times of stress...or boredom.
But now, I have decided to stop biting for good, and I figured that if I started a blog and shared my story, alongside pictures of my nails then it'd be harder to give up because then other people (even if only a handfull of people read this) would know about it. And a public defeat seems worse than a private one.
The main reason behind me quitting is that after months on and off stopping biting my nails, I ended up reducing my two thumb nails to the shortest theyve been in about a year. They hurt for two days straight, and it hurt to text or type, and I was unable to peel labels off hangers at my job. I was on tills and when I went to tap a certain icon it just wouldn't work. My coworker showed me that you have to tap it really hard to get it to work and I noticed him look at my hands. And I was embarrassed. My nails are so short that they make my hands look like stubs (a comment one of my ex best friends had said years ago that made me stop biting for a few months), and I wanted to be able to show my hands without feeling the need to hide my nails.
I hope yous join me in my journey to long, healthy nails, and happy hands :)
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