After many years of nervous nibbling I have finally managed to stop biting my nails and let them grow out a bit. But for some reason, my cuticles look like shit. I swear I’m not doing anything to them. Should I be? Is there a cuticle hygiene regimen I should be following?
I have weird cuticles too. The biggest thing that’s helped is always carrying clippers with me so anytime there is the slightest bit of dry skin, it gets clipped off. Absolutely no using teeth! This has made a difference by keeping the snag factor down and the appearance factor up.
I don’t go for cuticle creams and such - I have hand cream I use every day, and occasionally I’ll slather my hands in heavy aquaphor-type ointment and wear cotton gloves to bed.
Every day, as you dry yourself off from your shower or bath, use the towel to push your cuticles back. Rub quite hard, sometimes a bit of skin will come off. This alone will help quite a bit. Using a hand or cuticle cream helps a lot, too. I use Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, although this might not be good for people who are trying to quit biting their nails. It smells YUMMY. I put this on my cuticles and nails (polished or not) and my nails aren’t as brittle as they used to be. Clipping the cuticles is also a good idea.
Congratulations on breaking a bad habit.
I graduated from biting my nails to biting the skin around my nails. My nails are lovely now, but the skin around them looks shredded and raw. The only thing that stops this habit for me is to put something nasty tasting on them. Nail polish remover works well for this. (I’ve heard that there’s a chemical that’s put in it intentionally to keep kids from drinking it which gives it that powerfully bitter flavor.) It’s just a little “reminder” for when I begin to chew on them without thinking about it.
I don’t bite at them, but I do pick at them and can’t stop. Even if I temporarily restrain myself from picking, they still get dry and peely and bits of dry skin poke up and drive me crazy. IOW, they’re flaky on their own, not because I pick at them. It does help to keep them constantly slathered in Eucerin, but one gets weary of having greasy-feeling fingertips. Maybe I’ll try that Burt’s Bees lemon stuff.
I do the same. I’ve broken the 20 year nail biting habit by clipping instead of biting. I have clippers everywhere: home, work, cars, purse. And it’s been almost a year since I’ve quit biting my nails!
Clipping the cuticles makes a huge difference too. I use a cuticle pusher about once a week. I also do Lynn Bodoni’s after shower towel trick when I think about it.
I use a glycerine cream at night.
Chapstick or similar generic lip balm works quite well. Easy to carry around, spot apply, etc.
Surely I can’t be the only one who read the OP as ‘testicles’
am I?
In that case, I **don’t ** recommend clippers.
I recommend getting a professional manicure. The initial visit will get them into shape and then you can maintain them. You could probably get away with a quarterly manicure if you keep hand lotion or cuticle cream nearby and do light maintenance yourself. If you don’t want to mess with it, you could go monthly and keep up with them pretty well.
If you go this route, pelase bring your own tools, or at least be very careful of the shop you use. There have been numerous cases of people that get infections, both fungal and bacterial from improperly cleaned manicure tools, you need to use an autoclave, which many do not. When I worked in beauty supply I saw many people that had to have partial nails removed or have permanent disfigurement from dirty tools.
Also, as for my recommendation, I do not clip my cuticles, but push them and moisturize them. The other thing I do is buff my nails periodically with a fine blue block, that cleans up any dry/dead skin that may cling. I stopped biting my nails about six years ago and they FINALLY seem strong enough to maintain some length.
I do my own manicure, too. I have all the equipment. One or two visits to the manicurist will give you the basics, and you can do it yourself. It makes a huge difference…especially in the winter.