It’s really strange how easy it ended up being. It took focus for the first week or two, then once I saw a little success, I was encouraged and it became easier. I started growing them out in May, which turned out to be good timing, because apparently, nails grow faster in the summer! And I grew them out just in the nick of time. After the age of thirty, your fingernail growth slows down. Apparently, it’s all down hill from here.
I did have a few setbacks. I discovered I’m very rough on my hands. Several fingernails were broken while trying to open packages or by getting snagged on things. I also realized how often I had to clean them! I was constantly getting crud under them (of course, I was teaching kindergarten when I started growing them out, and kindergarten is messy business). I nearly started carrying a fingernail brush in my purse!
I loved admiring them, though, when they were clean. The bright white of my long nails would catch my eye at random times throughout the day and I would stop, stretch my hands out, and admire them for second or two. I also found that I enjoyed drumming my nails on surfaces...and not just when I was bored as the action would normally suggest. I drummed them on the steering wheel while I drove, my desk at work, and any other hard surface I happened to walk by.
I’d heard about a kind of fingernail polish called shellac. It’s a very hard, durable polish that resembles the material that is used in acrylics, but goes over real fingernails. I decided that since I’m so hard on my nails, this was the finish I needed. I waited until I was in Portland so that I would have a beautiful French manicure for Jenn’s wedding.
I’d had a French manicure before. In eighth grade, as a graduation present, my three best friends surprised me with acrylic nails! Now, this was before it was a regular occurrence for 13 year old girls to get fake nails. It was very exciting! I thought then that maybe having the fake nails on would break my habit of biting my fingernails. No luck. But they were pretty while they lasted.
*I just bit a nail while trying to think of what to write next. See? I don’t even know it until it’s done. It’s a good thing I’ve never taken up smoking or drinking…to say I lack self control is an understatement.
So, when I went to Portland for Jenn’s wedding, Jenn and I, along with her two sisters, took a couple of hours out of the busyness of wedding preparations to get manicures and pedicures.
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| Pedicures |
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| Manicures |
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| Tada! |
I have to admit, fingernails do for your hands what high heels do for your legs: they make them look longer and thinner. My stubby hands looked much prettier with some nicely manicured nails adorning them. And the tan I got for the wedding helped, too…
Unfortunately, immediately following the wedding, I spent a week camping at the beach (not the best setting for maintaining a manicure). It lasted for about two and a half weeks before the manicure got ratty looking and I took off the shellac. Without the protection of the shellac, my nails fell victim to my nasty habit once again. I haven’t grown them out since, but hope to again. They made me feel like a grown up….even if they did make texting and opening a can of soda really difficult.
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