My whole life I have been an anxious nail-biter. I'm also prone to picking off my nail polish when I'm stressed. I usually wake up with a tiny pile of chipped nail polish besides me on the sheets. I always bit my nails down to the point it was painful.
In February 2017 I decided to give acrylic nails a try. I'd seen them as a growing trend on Instagram, and hoped I could finally quit my nail-biting habit. Two hours and $70 later (I ended up getting shellac, which turned out to be extra) I had oval-shaped acrylic nails. I only ever got them filled once before realizing my wallet simply couldn't take the monthly beating. Although they were nice I was getting totally jipped at the salon, so I took them off at home with dental floss (do not recommend.)
As you can imagine, my natural nail beds were totally destroyed. I had to start from scratch - today I have natural nails just as long as my acrylics. It usually takes me about four months to grow my nails long and strong from no white tips at all. Of course, this time frame is influenced by your hereditary genetic nail strength, but here are the things I do to speed up the process:
Jojoba Oil
I rub jojoba oil onto my bare nails once a week before bed or whenever they're bare. I sometimes switch this up with vitamin E oil or olive oil. Massage the oil into your nails with your fingers in circular motions until it dries making sure to include the cuticles
Base Coat
Before applying polish I always apply a base coat, which prevents your nails from staining and prevents the alcohol in the polish from drying out your nails.
Diet
I decided to grow my nails out around the same time I decided to grow my hair long. I took hair and nail vitamins for about six months and can't say for sure if they made much of a difference or not in the length or the time of growth in either my nails or hair, but people swear by them:
Taking a daily supplement of 2.5 mg of Biotin has been found to increase nail thickness in several studies. A thicker nail means less chance of breakages or splitting so your nails will stay longer... for longer.
Healthy diet in general aids in nail and hair growth, but I won't preach for too long about it since it would be pretty hypocritical of me.
Good luck in growing out your nails :)
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