stop biting my nails

I’m trying something new…

Obviously my previous tactics have not gained me long-term success. So, I’m reassessing.

I have another addiction, which is shopping! (of course) I especially have a weakness for handmade awesomeness on Etsy.com, and I probably make at least one purchase a week, though I’m pretty good at controlling impulse spending. I have decided that I will make no more purchases until I can go two weeks without biting my nails.

Sooo, basically a reward system. I can buy something I want, in exchange for letting my nails grow. I went two days, had a slip up on the third… so yesterday I restarted the time frame.

I’m keeping a chart of all the days. Good days turn blue, biting days turn red. May 8th will be my shopping day if there’s no more slip-ups. :) Tomorrow will be a true challenge… bleh to Mondays.

Boo, bit them all off before my job interview, so I’m starting again. I filed them all even, and put on some clear polish.

My flight was bumpy and I was nervous and scared. My poor nails that were doing so good are almost all gone.

Starting again….

Edit I did notice that my nail beds are much longer than they used to be… I guess as the nail grew out, the skin re-attached. Even though there’s only a little white, my nails are still almost even with my finger tips.

I nibbled a thumb today. Not all the way down, but now I have one short nail. The other nine have all grown past my finger tips, and my cuticles look nice, too. I love to paint them, look at them, feel how smooth they are, scratch with them, and drum them on surfaces.

Kinda seems like they stopped growing though…

Well, I took my acrylics off a week ago. My nails have about 3 weeks of growth, and are lookin’ nice. I hope I can keep from biting them off! I’m just trying to keep my hands totally away from my face.

Well, I’ve been failing miserably at this for the past year. They grew out a little bit this summer, but I just bit them off again. I realized I there are a couple things I do that triggers my nail biting:

- deep thinking (I’m an intel analyst)
- running late (feeling stressed or nervous)

I got gel nails a few days ago since I was going to a winter Ball, and I realized that I cannot leave my fingers out of my mouth! I cannot stand for any jagged edges to be on my nails. So, I’ve been moisturizing my hands and cuticles like crazy! Hopefully I can learn to leave them alone while the gel grows out.

My fingers look awesome with the long gel nails, BTW.

Today, for the first time ever, I cut my fingernails with clippers. They had gotten quite long in the past month and I was having difficulties typing. Now I have 10, nice, ‘squoval’ shaped nails. I still struggle with picking, and running my teeth under my nails. How do I know when this habit is broken for good?

Stupid snags keep forcing me to file them down! The thumbs are the worst. I have 8 nice nails, and 2 crappy ones.

My nails suck at life! I haven’t bitten them for a month (yay!) but they are still short. They keep getting torn on the side and then I have to file it into a weird shape. Then, I hate the weird shape and must compulsively file it down even. My nails are like paper, all flexible and bend-y.

I’ve been doing good with using cuticle oil, and keeping them polished and filed. I have no more gross hangnails or bleedy cuticles.

I think I need to start taking vitamins or something for my nails… I want them to be strong and hard!

Well, with the greatest of will power, I have been able to not bite for about a week. I have some white on the ends of my nails. I’m using all the same tricks…

• Keep a nail file handy
• use the nail file and not my teeth
• use Burt’s Bees lemon cuticle butter, its a little greasy which keeps me from touching my face. Plus the strong lemon scent…
• Home manicure every few days, weekly salon ones were getting to expensive
• Play lots of xbox, to keep those fingers busy!

I went out and bought some pretty, new nail polishes yesterday. I’m really starting to enjoy painting my nails. Annnd, my hands are starting to look nice and normal. When they get longer, I get braver with the colors.

Hopefully 2008 will be the year I finally kick this habit.