Many People May Not Know This, But I Have A Little Secret To Tell You All: I Used To Bite My Fingernails When I Was Growing Up. Yup, that’s right, I did and it was really bad from Elementary school age til I was about 18. What’s crazy is that looking at my nails now, I would have never believed it myself yet here I am, proof, that as an Ex nail biter, I was able to grow nail beds that I could only dream about back in the day; You know, like from those pretty models in nail polish advertisements in magazines.
I Am Going To Share How I Grew Out My Nails And Kicked The Nail Biting Habit Once & For All!
I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday, little girl me at age 8 wanting to be cool like the most popular girl in my class. She was a brunette like me and til this day I still remember her name and all: Christina. Anyway, she was sooo cool, and pretty, had lots of girlfriends, lots of guy friends, and now that I think about it, pretty stuck up and rude LOL. But I didn’t care, nobody cared, everyone just wanted to be her friend. Well guess what? She had a flaw, nail biting, so almost every girl starting biting their nails to be more like Christina, and be “cool” like Christina so dumb little ol’ me, started biting my nails to be “cool”…..Worst decision ever Daph! Fast forward to when I was 18, I was tired of going to the nail salon and getting acrylic nails that I felt were holding on by a string because my nail beds were so tiny, some nail techs even declined working on me because they had practically nothing to work with which, I get it, but still, rejection doesn’t make you feel any better about your nail biting habit. I knew I wanted to stop, and that on top of it being gross, it made me feel unattractive and dirty so I finally decided to do something about it.
I tried what felt like EVERYTHING under sun to help myself stop my habit: Clear nail polish that when dries, tastes bold and bitter, keeping my acrylic nails on as long as I could so that when I removed them, my natural nails would be long and “easy to maintain” so I thought 🙄, Nail growing serums, nail growing vitamins, the list goes on and on for months with still little to no progress, until, I was introduced to pre-natal vitamins. I know, sounds weird, but it helped turned my life around.
The Top 5 Things I Did To Kick My Nail Biting Habit & Finally Grow Them Out:
- Prenatal Vitamins
Not only do prenatals include vitamins needed for nail and hair growth like Biotin, they also include vitamins like vitamin D & E, B12, K12 and many others that are essential for overall health. You don’t need to be expecting in order to take prenatal vitamins and It’s a great way to get all of the essential vitamins and then some.
2. Trim your nails and keep them short temporarily but only in the beginning
This probably sounds a little unusual but hear me out. When your nails start to grow, they will be brittle and extremely weak due to all of the biting and damage previously done so be patient. If you keep them long, they will snag, and break, and sometimes, break so badly it will make your fingers bleed. By keeping them short, you prevent this from happening and giving your nails time to thicken and gain strength. Also, resist running ur teeth under your fingernails, this also lifts the nail from the nail bed and makes them weak as well. Remember that your nail beds are recovering also so stop messing with them.
3. Purchase a Nourishing Nail Polish
There are many nourishing polishes out there with vitamins and nail strengthening properties so apply once or twice a week to help nails recover quicker. I purchased one from OPI but you can use whichever you prefer, they all tend to have the same ingredients in them.
4. Replace the biting habit with something else & be patient
For Example, when you catch yourself with your fingers in your mouth, open a bag of sunflower seeds and chew on those instead, buy extra gum, purchase some corn nuts, anything to help stop the urge to bite your nails. I also found it helpful to visualize how my future hands and nails would look if I just held out this “one time.” I thought about all of the different nail polish colors and nail designs I would get, and how I wouldn’t need acrylic nails and be proud to know that they were my own.
5. Resist getting acrylic nails or gel/powder nail polishes for several months
Acrylic is so hard on your nails so I wouldn’t recommend getting acrylics done ever but that’s just my personal preference. It has prolonged the overall life of my nail beds and has prevented damage as well; plus, its not a totally bad thing to not be exposed to extra chemicals if you don’t need to. If you are going to get a gel polish or a powder polish, only do them for one cycle, until your nails grow out, then remove the polish and let your nail beds breath for a month. I have noticed that going in for a gel “fill” weakens my nails so much, that they start to crack and break at the base because they are so brittle and weak.
That’s it! This is how I did it and I have to confess that it took at least a year for me to see some positive end results; I also was biting my nails for several years so just be patient as I mentioned earlier and remember your goal. This is going to take a while but it will be worth it in the end. Comment below if you have any questions and if you struggle with nail biting. Talk soon!
Love Always,
