Thursday, June 04, 2009

Fingernails

This may seem like an odd topic for a post.

I have been a nail biter most of my life.  Recently, I stopped biting them.  (Well, I stopped biting nine of them.  I still bite one pinky. :-)

I suppose I should paint them, for the fun of it.  I do think nail polish is pretty.

But every time they get long enough to look good polished (not VERY long, mind you, just long enough) I start feeling like they're kind of in the way.  It's harder to get a good grip on a jar I'm trying to open.  It's harder to "dial" a phone number.  It's harder to pick up little things.  

So I end up cutting and filing them to a pretty short length.

Is it because I'm not used to having a nail at all and so they feel conspicuously present?  Maybe I just need to get used to having fingernails.  

When I clip them I start thinking maybe I should just go back to biting them (teehee).  It was one less thing to do.  (I would bite them without even realizing it, it was such an ingrained habit.)

But--  I must say, even short, they look a lot better unbitten.  A LOT better.

7 comments:

Mimi said...

I stopped biting my nails when I was in Junior High because I was sitting next to an ever so dreamy guy I had a huge crush.

Imagine my disappointment when I found out my nails grow downwards.

So, I usually keep them pretty short, and only bite them now when they get ragged, so I work hard to keep them filed.

Phase II said...

i have bitten my nails since i was 6 years old...I let them grow out for my daughters wedding last summer. It was horrible! i am so used to using the tips of my fingers for everything instead of the pads that my nails were in the way all of the time. Needless to say when they wedding was done so were the nails...

Salome Ellen said...

I stopped biting years ago. But when mine get long enough to "do", one of them breaks. I don't think "Mom-ing" and fancy nails work very well (I've notice the same thing with my daughters, who never bit.)

Sarah - Kala said...

Same. I quite biting them until a few days ago . . . all this moving stuff has driven me to bad habits . . . but I refuse to pick up a smoke again . . . teehee. No, seriously, no smoking!! So, there are worse things is what I am saying.

When I got married, I had my nails done at Nordstrom. Like $60 plus. After the ceremony and in the evening when we went out to eat, I was famished, so I chewed on my nails as I waited for the food. Under the table after we left was a pile of nawed up acrylic. Nice, huh?

Rosemary said...

Thanks for these interesting and funny comments. I guess I'm not alone.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I play the guitar, so I need my nails VERY short. By the time they start to grow in enough to look nice (by this I mean, reaching to my fingertips--no longer) it's time to trim them again. Nail polish is never going to happen as I don't want to call attention to my very short nails!

Suzanne said...

I'm a nail biter off and on...the thing is, I will doll them all up and then wash dishes a few times and blah! Toenails I keep up much better most of the time.