Breaking My Nail Biting Habit
For as long as I could remember, I had been biting my nails.
It wasn’t from stress, but rather from a desire to fix what was wrong or even just inconsistent. I shy away from the term, but ‘perfectionist’ is an accurate label for me. Inconsistencies in my nails led me to biting, clipping, buffing, chiseling- you name it. So a couple years ago when Suzie suggested doing a set of nails on me, I’ll admit that I was skeptical.
“I could make them look nice and natural, Grant,” she said. She even mentioned how it might cure my biting habit. Yeah right I thought. I’ve been at these suckers for nearly twenty years! Although I had doubts that I would adjust to the length and I was worried that they would break, I went ahead and decided to try them anyway.
I would come to learn a valuable lesson the year Suzie started doing my nails: never doubt a wild Suzie, especially in her natural habitat!
For all of the years I had known Suzie, I had never watched her work on a nail set from start to finish. It was an enjoyable experience, from the banter, the colour selection to watching the artist- who I call Suzie- in her zone.
Once she finished them, I immediately noticed how entertaining it was to tap my nails on the table dramatically. What can I say? I’m a simple man with simple pleasures. I also soon found that when I dropped change on the ground, it was lost forever, as I could never find a way to easily pick it up.
Shortly after the first set, I still ended up finding my fingers in my mouth (which was essentially muscle memory), however, I wouldn’t bite them. They were now even in length and thickness, so why would I? There was nothing to fix. In as little as days, my fingers found their way into my mouth less and less; the habit was beginning to break. As the redness around my nails started to fade, I began to ponder what colours and styles I would like to try next. I had a whole new lease on my nail life!
I’m a pretty big fan of black nails in a coffin shape. For the new year though, I decided to go for a more natural look.
Today, I will occasionally falter and bite or clip my nails. Often it’s because I’ve gone too long without a fill and they have started to be become inconsistent or have begun to fray. Overall though, there has been a remarkable improvement with my nail biting habit. I used to be someone who would constantly bite my nails, to the point where they would become red with irritation and even bleed! Now, I only will on occasion, and my nail beds have since healed. My natural nails too, have become stronger and have taken back their original form. Plus, from my two years now getting my nails done, not once have I broken one. It’s almost as if Suzie builds them to last!
Having and keeping up nail extensions has replaced the need I had before to fix them myself with biting. I now bite far less often, have SICK nails and I get a few more hours to chat with Suzie.
What’s not to love?
While breaking my nail biting habit has been a journey, it’s been made so much easier with the help of nail extensions. If I’d known earlier that getting my nails done would help this much, I would have gotten them years ago!
