Finally getting my nails to grow out !

[Courtney . J]

and i love it ! :daydreaming:,. for the longest time ive had such a bad habit of always biting my nails ,. but after being on here and WANTING nails , the want to bite them off just went away and that has been over 2 months ago , yay me :o

i never knew how much effort goes into having a nice set of nails ,. and my god now i know why girls go crazy when you try to flirt with them by messing around with their wet nails ,. that sh*t aint no joke stay off a girls wet nails ! lol

first off id like to thank everybody here including the forum itself , without yall i would still be a nailless < (did i just make up a word ? :eek: lol ) nervous wreck all the time

and im just wondering what nail styles yall like to have in both male and female mode ,. the other day my mom was telling me how guys always keep their nails trimmed and short and i just blurted out without caring "maybe i dont want short nails",. after that we had a great talk about nail care and what i should do to get them to grow longer , etc ,. stuff i never knew or learned before untill then ,. i must say that way a very great time and probably deserves a thread all itself haha .. im feeling i may have to throw on some nail polish and share the :daydreaming: < with everybody here hahaha

CJ

[Beverley Sims]

To protect those nails put a clear varnish and nail strengthener on them.

[Jaylyn]

I'm trying to get mine longer but am finding it harder to keep them clean and also all of them the same length. I keep breaking them or splitting on the tips....I work outside a lot. I also found taking vitamins regularly will grow my toe nails and nails faster....

[Emogene]

Courtney, think structural integrity!

How you shape the nails has a direct impact on their strength.

If you have a pointed tip, it will be less structurally sound.

Similarly, if you go for a square profile and let the nails grow past the tip of your fingers, the corners become exposed to impact and subject to breakage.

People who work with their hands naturally gravitate to short nails curved to the profile of the finger tip for that reason.

As an aside, before I started cross dressing I chewed my nails viciously for 40+ years. According to a counselor, nail chewing is a symptom of anxiety. Started dressing, less anxiety, more nails! Panty power at its finest!

[Jason+]

I am a big fan of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails line. Even underway on a submarine they Navy didn't take away the clear strengthener/hardener polish! The pink petal from another manufacturer who I can't recall did get me into hot water. They noticed they were decidedly pink and I had to remove the color.

[AmyGaleRT]

Courtney, I cured myself of biting my own nails much the same way. Now I let mine grow out and file them into a nice shape...and I curse as much as Sabrina does when I break one. :D

I do use Sally Hansen clear polish and nail hardener on them while in guy mode. I use a variety of colors en femme; the one I have on now is from SinfulColors, "Creme Pink."

- Amy

[krissysSecret]

Another former nail biter chiming in here....at least I hope it stays that way! In the past few months I stopped that bad habit and have been enjoying longer nails.It has been an adjustment and way more maintenance, but it is great.I have been using a clear hardener which has really worked,but it has a high gloss finish and is quite noticible.Not a word from anyone until one day while checking out at Lowes home center, a young man cashier said as he looked at my hands...what's up with your fingernails dude? I laughed and told him that I was trying to stop biting my nails and this helped. His reply was "cool dude". I do alot of work outside and keeping them clean has been quite the task.I find my self spending a little more time on them, certainly worth the effort.My next task is to find a comfortable length and shape...still working on finding the comfort and practicality zone.

[Eryn]

I'm in the same boat. Forty years of bitten nails, many attempts to quit, and I was finally successful after I started actively dressing. It has been over two years now and I have no urge to bite my nails at all.

I do obsess over them a bit, though, which I think is preferable to biting them. I like them a bit longer than is conventional for males, but I keep them within an eighth of an inch of the fingertips. If I have a CD outing coming up I'll let them grow out a bit and then trim them back even with my fingertips afterward. Many of the members of the CD group I go out with use press-on nails and I love to hear the question "you mean those are your natural nails?" 2when I can answer "yes!" It's even better when the question comes from one of the GGs! My wife is likely amused by my obsession, but probably realizes that it's a rebound from a lifetime of having ugly nails.

I always keep Orly Tough Cookie basecoat on them which gives them a little gloss and helps strengthen them. When I first stopped biting my nails the smooth feel of the polish helped remind me not to bite. Keeping basecoat on them all the time makes adding a color coat when I go out a 1-coat process that dries much faster. On weekends in male mode I'll wear a slightly iridescent top coat like Nina's Pink Frost or a very subtle sparkle like Orly's Love Each Other. Both of these take a close look to see anything beyond the clear, but they make me feel good when I wear them. Of course in female mode I'm always sporting a pretty color unless there is absolutely no time to apply one.

Another good idea is to keep some method of repairing cracked nails handy. I use thick CA hobby adhesive (super glue) and accelerator. If I crack or tear a nail I'll remove all polish, put a thin layer of CA over the crack and to either side, hold the nail together and hit it with a spritz of accelerator which hardens it immediately. It doesn't look too pretty but it keeps things together and stops me from having one unsightly short nail. If you do this go very easy on the amount of CA adhesive you use. The accellelerator causes it to exotherm and it gets hot enough to burn if you use too much.

When I have to do guy things I try to wear a pair of mechanics' gloves. They protect the nails but aren't perfect. I count myself lucky if I can get through a project without at least one major nail repair.