💅🏼How to grow your nails💅🏼

jessxclare

Hey guys,

Happy Thursday! Hope you’ve all had a good week so far and have a fun Friday tomorrow💃🏼

If you know me personally then you’ll know I had short, brittle and bitten nails (ew right?) for YEARS. It was a habit that I had since I was as a child and as I grew up it began to be caused more by stress and anxiety.

I HATED my nails, I used to be so embarrassed of them and hide them as much as I could. When I got to 15/16 I started to get my nails done. I got acrylic nails as that was a quick fix to my solution, so I thought… Yes acrylic nails do help your nails to grow underneath however, it weakens your nails and they’re very likely to break. This was a never ending cycle for me.

I would get acrylics, they’d fall off, I’d get excited about how long my nails had got, they’d break and then I’d bite them off. And repeat…. There was one point when I thought enough was enough and I was sick of wasting money on acrylics that just damaged my nails.

I then moved onto Shellac which at first was great, my nails were growing more, it looked nicer as it was actually my nail BUT the more I got it done the weaker my nails got. They had gotten really nice and long until the shellac started to peel off and off peeled my nail with it!

This caused me to start biting them again. At this point I had given up on the idea of growing them until me and some of my best friends decided we would motivate each other to grow our nails through making a group chat to share our process. This has really motivated me to grow them and worked!

This is what my nails looked like before….

And this is what they look like now..

They are far from perfect and are very plain at the moment but I’m super proud of myself.

(Sorry for the crap picture quality, these pictures were only initially intended for the group chat)

Here are the stages of the nail growth

How did I do it?

First thing I did was paint them with a nude coloured nail varnish to make them look a bit nicer.

Then I went to my local drugstore (boots) to look for nail varnishes to help nails grow and viola I found one!

It’s by Sally Hansen and is called Maximum Growth, it promises to give visible results in 1 week! It wasn’t lying! I saw a difference in TWO days. (2nd picture from the right).

The third picture in the collage is a week after using the nail polish. (It really does work)

Directions for use: apply 1 coat to bare nails every other day or as a base for a nail varnish.

It cost me £5.99 and worked better than I ever expected it too! I would highly recommend this if you’re trying to grow your nails.

Self care is important too

Obviously there are other factors that can affect the health of your nails, a big one is stress. This had a huge impact on my nails as in my old job I was under so much stress and pressure it was affecting my nails, hair and skin!

Within a week of leaving and becoming stress free I noticed a difference!

So if you have weak/short nails and work in a fast paced/stressful work place, I’m not saying you have to leave but relieving some of the stress will definitely help and not just for your nails. You can release stress by meditation, exercise, reading, being creative …etc. To find more ways of relieving stress check out this website https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spotHow to care for your nails

I’m no expert believe me but I’ll tell you what I do that helps my nails to stay strong.

When my nails are bare I use this buffing block which has four different textured sides; one that files, one that buffs, one that smoothes and one that makes it shine. I bought mine from boots but a lot of drugstores and supermarkets sell them!

After that I rub hand cream onto my hands and nails.

Before applying nail varnish I use the Sally Hanson nail varnish as a base then apply the nail polish.

I try and take nail varnish off after 4 or 5 days and give my nails 2-3 days to breathe in between. (If you constantly wear nail polish your nail gets deoxygenated and goes orange)

And that’s all! Let’s hope I keep this routine up and my nails stay long!

I hope this post has helped you in some way, please leave a comment on any tips you have on growing your nails!

Thank you for reading.

Love, Jess x

47 Comments

  5. My nails always split too and I hate it! I used to bite my nails but now I only seem to bite them when I’m nervous or stressed.
    I also use the Vaseline intensive care nail and hand cream! I find that helps. I’ll have to give that nail varnish a try 🙂 x

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  6. I’ve never had any problems with my nails but I don’t ever really leave my nails bare, I never even thought it would have a bad effect 😮

    Great post btw! X

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. I used to bite my nails too! When I got braces it actually made me quit! However, my nails are super brittle and break very easily. I might have to try that stuff out!

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  13. Great post! however, I won’t need your tips because I’m blessed with very strong nails. They rarely break and I lways have to use all my strength to cut them. My secret? I don’t have the time or patience to polish my nails even though I really like artwork on my nails.

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  17. Gah, a fellow nail biter! My poor nails were the same as yours, I found something as simple as just wearing nail varnish when I’m stressed luckily stopped me biting my nails… but whenever I forget to redo my nails I still bite them all off ☹️🤷🏽‍♀️ Xx

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  18. My nails are awful as im constantly using false nails, I’ve been wondering how I can get out of the habit and grown my own nails they just have no strength in them at the minute. Great post I’ll definitely look into getting some nail strenghtener.xx

    Liked by 1 person

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