r/calmhands

Hi everyone - I had a gut feeling I was getting engaged last week (which ended up being true!)

I didn't want a ring, but when I knew people would be looking at my hands and I suddenly felt very self-conscious. It was the only issue or concern that I had with getting engaged. At that moment I knew that I needed to do something.

I walked into a nail salon and I shamefully said I've been biting but I think I'm getting engaged so I really need to do something about my nails. They were so kind and the woman who did them pushed back my cuticles and made 25% more nail real estate, honestly was an angel who didn't judge me and just wanted me to not feel insecure on this special day.

I ended up getting gel at her recommendations and I am officially one week clean with minimal skin picking, which is the longest I've ever gone. I've been using this sub to keep myself going. I can't wait to eventually update this with what hopefully will be my wedding nail someday. Thank you all!

I didn’t take an official before photo but here’s a photo I had found that showed just how bad I was. I’ve been biting my nails as long as I could remember (currently am 28) and the only breaks i ever had were periods of times I happen to do fake nails. Due to the constant upkeep of them popping off or breaking since my actual nails were so short, plus the embarrassment from commentary of nail artists who couldn’t help but notice how short they were, that never lasted long.

I very randomly decided to I was going to quit after many failed attempts in my life. I bought some pink polishes and the visual reminder has helped as well as digging through my rock collection to pick out ones that work as worry stones to keep my hands busy. I’ve taken the glass file and jojoba oil to heart and any sharp edges quickly get filed away and I’m constantly oiling my hands multiple times a day to help with picking.

It’s been very slow moving process, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and have had nights where I end up in tears just wanting to bite them sooo bad. But despite how hard it’s been I’m very proud of my progress and am excited for it to continue! Feeling determined to keep up the good work and wanted to celebrate my progress.

Had a bitey couple of weeks. Went thru lots of bandaids and physical pain but was able to make my hands look nice enough for a wedding yesterday. Got soooo many compliments on them! Was only slightly embarrassed when people held my hands to get a better look 😂

So this is kinda rare and random but this is what I do: For the last couple of years I’ve been in a cycle of getting gel nails, then ripping them off myself less than a week later or getting a bad removal done at the salon then spending next 4 months growing out the damaged nails and once they finally look good then doing the gel again thinking that this time things would be different. The thing is, I am mildly allergic to gel and I get bored with it and I get those irresistible compulsions to just rip it off.
Here are the pics of what I did to my nails yesterday: I ripped off the gel. Could have gotten the removal done at the salon, could have not gotten gel in the first place but no, this is what I did for some reason bc I got the compulsion. I am extremely upset as this is the worst my nails looked in a while and they are hurting.
I would like to just stop the cycle: to grow out my natural nails and stop at that, to never get gel again. But I am afraid I will get the compulsion again and will end up with the same result. Any of you with nail biting habits, ocd behaviors etc, how do you deal with that?