carranneh

I used to always bite them right down… i know it sounds stupid, but it was because i wanted them to be smooth, and not have dirt under them… and even though they looked HORRIBLE, i couldnt bear the look of them with the nailbed only going halfway and white the rest of the way… PLUS they were (and admittedly still are) very weak. they break..
SO. i stopped. it was on a trip to new york. i just couldnt bear to touch anything and then have my hands in my mouth. by the time i got back from NY there was a little bit of white, and it took everything i had not to chew them off.. i asked my dad if my nail beds would ever grow back and he said maybe, but not if i scrape them so clean all the time. and he was right. i thought i was going to lose my mind, but i let them be just a little bit dirty. by that i mean, i washed them all the time, but i didnt scrape. and within a month the nailbed actually did start growing out. and as soon as the nails started breaking, i cut them off. not all of them, just the ones that broke, and only as far as i had to. i do paint them. it makes it easier to not see dirt under them while the nailbeds are coming back… also, after awhile, the bump that goes over the stubby nails starts to move down. the skin then doesnt trap as much dirt. plus the “ski slope” on the end of the nails is gone, so they arent breaking as easily and they look more “normal”.. So now i have a rule that my hands are NEVER in my mouth. i still dont have LONG nails, but ive been cutting, rather than biting them, and a few months later my nail beds almost look like a “nonbiters” nails… a few more months and you wont ever know i bit them.