Confessions of a Nail Biter

Hi. My name is Katherine and I am a recovering nail biter.

I started biting my nails and chewing on my cuticles as soon as I had teeth, so my mother said. I stopped biting my nails by getting acrylic nails applied over my severely bitten nails. I paid a lot of money for the full set and my manicurist charged me to repair every broken/chewed off nail when I came in for maintainance. So that was an easy fix. I could no longer afford to chew my nails. Problem solved.

That is also how I started doing nails. I was driving a school bus and had decided that I did not like children. I was looking for work as a photo lab technician and wasn’t having any luck finding a job ( that’s why I was driving the school bus ), I was telling my manicurist how much I hated my job and she suggested I go to cosmetology school and learn to do nails. On the day of my appointment to interview at the cosmetology school the children on my bus were extra annoying, so, when I got to the interview I said, “where do I sign?”. They asked if I wanted a tour, and I said, “sure, sure, and where do I sign?”. Little did I know that it would be a fulfilling career for the next 27 years. Nails are my passion. I love everything nails and read every piece of information I can find and attend as many continuing education classes as possible.

Stopping myself from biting my cuticles was a far more challenging task. I tried bad tasting oils, topical treatments and nail strengtheners, nothing worked. I knew that I would need the right motivation to stop biting my cuticles, just as it took the right motivation to stop biting my nails.

My motivation to stop biting my nails was when I started collage to become a Certified Medical Assistant. As a SMA ( Student Medical Assistant ) I give injections and draw blood from my fellow students. I do not want to have any open sores on my hands. I wear gloves, but, I still do not want any open wounds on my hands. And that was all it took for me to quit cold turkey.

Now if I could just find a salon to get manicures. I am a licensed manicurist and I am picky about who does my nails and how they are done. When I wore gel nails, I did them myself, but a manicure with a massage is hard to do on myself. I can groom the nails and cuticles, but the massage just isn’t the same.

I am really busy attending collage in the morning and working in a salon doing nails in the evening and I do not have a lot of free time to get a manicure. I will make it a priority to find a salon after I graduate collage. Until then, I will have to keep doing my own nails.

Oddly enough, I am a manicurist, but, in collage, I cannot wear nail polish, artificial nails or wear my nails long. Even after I finish collage and get a job at a hospital, I most likely will not be allowed to wear, artificial nails, nail polish or have long nails. Bummer.