Stop biting my cuticles

Got a manicure with my housemate, and I don’t know what they do, but my nails are now almost incapable of picking at my cuticles. Plus, my hands just look better now with a little glam. My cuticles are finally getting a chance to heal, and I love it!

but my chronic dehydration and stress have taken it’s toll on my fingers. Today in class I bit and picked them pretty bad.

Time to bust out the burts bees cuticle cream… sigh

has taken its toll on my fingers. Now comes the stages of repair, perhaps inspired by a trip for a mani/pedi with my housemate? We shall see…

is killer.

but then, overhydration (pruniness!) is just as bad.

where is my happy medium?? :)

I’ve noticed that if i’m not picking at my cuticles, I’m picking at or fiddling with something else. It’s definitely stress related, and the stress ain’t going away any time soon! So, time to be strong!

I do use bandaids when they get really bad, or I really break the skin… it helps me from making it any worse, but you will have to explain it to anyone who asks. But generally the “oh, I just cut myself” is not only true, but gets rid of that!
Burts Bee’s Cuticle cream is nice to have around too. It’s lemony scented, and in the smaller tin you can carry it around with you. Whenever I would start picking and notice it, I would pull out my tin and spend some time fixing my hands instead of destroying them. Time to bust out that tin again!

but not perfect yet. still a little mindless picking… it doesn’t help that i have to unpack all of the clothes that arrive boxed up at work. the dye and stuff in the clothes dries out my hands pretty bad. i’ve started carrying the body shop’s body butter with me so i can hit them with that when it gets really bad.

the nice thing though is that i’m aware completely now of what i’m doing, and i feel guilty about doing it.

has an article about whether your habits mean your insane (to sum it up!). one of the things on this list is about cuticle biting, something i do religiously when i’m stressed out. which is how i ended up here, on 43 things. it basically told me that i should probably see a psychologist (a general theme it seems of my life!) because the meaning behind this act runs deep into anxiety. well i could have told you that!! i only do that when i’m stress, and as a college student, that happens more than one would suppose. so here it is, day one…