Friday, October 14, 2011

A Confession, Some Nudity, and a Break

The last time I posted an actual nails of the day entry was July 4th. There's nothing unusual about that; it typically takes me at least a few days to get photos out of my camera and into an entry. But you may have noticed that it's been a quite while since I posted even a recent nails of the day entry. Since late September, I've been working off my backlog of swatches, as I had to put my nails in rehab due to an unfortunate incident: my first ripped nail in I don't know how long. Peelies are pretty much a constant battle for me, but I'd been having really good luck with not getting rips and tears. Until a few weeks back, when I felt a nail catch on my clothes and instead of the hangnail I expected to find when I looked at the snaggy hand, I saw a rip in one of my nails. When I took off my polish (well, most of it), this is what I found on my left middle finger:



I was tempted to try and patch over the rip with a silk wrap or teabag, but as I recall that gets tedious to keep up, and besides earlier that week I'd been reaching for something without looking and jammed my right hand into a wooden railing, with this result on the middle finger on my right hand (this is after I filed back the part that was completely destroyed):



With two nails really struggling and a few others showing signs of Mr. Peelies, I decided it was best to just cut them all down to shorties and do a treatment week. Given how stained my nails were, I was somewhat chagrined to think of going out in public with nothing but clear coat between them and the world, but I reminded myself that I don't work at a beauty supply store, I work with computer geeks, most of whom pay absolutely no attention to my nails whatsoever. Here's my left hand, pre-rehab; it gets the worst of the staining because it's where I try out all the colors:



And here's that hand, freshly trimmed and treated with OPI Nail Envy Sensitive & Peeling, which I decided to try instead of my usual Orly Nailtrition or Nail Defense since those aren't completely making the peelies go away. My nails look so strange to me here, even though I used to keep them at this length or even shorter all the time.



I spent the next week applying another coat of Nail Envy every other day, per package directions. At the end of that week, here's how they'd progressed. My index finger was actually worse, but that damage was no doubt already done before I started rehab and just lurking, waiting to show itself.



I followed that with another week of Nail Envy, adding a new coat a couple of times during the week. After that week, here's what my nails looked like naked. Not at all pretty, I must say, though I guess the staining is better since I cut much of it off and some of the rest peeled away. I know it takes weeks for nails to grow out and the damage I'm seeing here is just going to take time to get past, but it's still discouraging.



At this point, I could not stand one more day of having nothing but treatment on my nails, but that's a story for another entry, which I will write after I get back from one of my periodic mini-breaks. I'll be spending next week mostly offline, getting reconnected with people who don't live in my computer or work in my office and refreshing my brain. I'll be back on the 24th or 25th, most likely. See you then!

30 comments:

  1. Your nails are beautiful I don't like to see them sad! :(
    Enjoy your week off! See you soon!!! ***

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  2. Aww your poor nails. I had a acrylics on back in june and they left dents in my nails so I have been cutting them down 'til all of the dents are gone. There are still a few but almost gone! lol. I'll be happy once I can grow them out.

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  3. Hi Karen,

    You are right to give your nails a rest. I keep on thinking I should do the same...
    Sorry to hear your treatment isn't working that well... Try Mavala products, especially their super strong hardener (Mavala spécifique). It works miracles. Lush's lemony flutter also does wonders for dry and peeling nails. I use opi's nail envy too but the original formula and my nails don't peel anymore. I also stopped using clippers and emery boards ans switched to a glass file, that helps too.

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  4. Same thing happened to me last week and I cut mine all down to absolutely no splits or peelies. There's 1 mm of free edge now, LOL! At first I was sad about it and now I'm happy to see such healthy naked nails. Thanks for reminding us to care and pamper our nails!

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  5. The title of this post makes me think of a soap opera.. :P I also battle The Evil Peelies and Essie's Feed Me is working great for me.

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  6. Thanks for this post! My nails need a break, too, but when I see them all peely and stained, it's depressing, and I just cover it up again...vicious cycle!!!

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  7. My nails do that a lot too, the top layers flake off on the edges. It's super annoying so I'm filing them constantly. Luckily I keep them pretty short anyway, so it's not too noticeably when the edges break off. It's a tough life for the nail polish enthusiasts out there! I wish your nails a speedy recovery. :)

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  8. Wow your nails are so...so pretty! t's really sad when 1-2 nails are beyond salvage and I guess it's a signal to nubbinize...

    Good call on the rest week though! I don't think I could let anyone see my naked nails haha (ouch, yellow)

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  9. Late spring and early summer I struggled with the peelies, it took what seemed forever to get them to stop! I tried every treatment I could think of (except this - I didn't know they had a peeling Nail Envy!) and finally got them back healthy. It can be a struggle! Now they're just stained, and I hate that. Have a good break, Karen! Hopefully they'll heal up quickly with this Nail Envy for you.

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  10. Aww I have peelies now too! They suck!! :( I cannot bare to see bare nails on me either!!

    RE: Chanel NPS, I think it is the bottle that entices me ;) lol!! I ALWAYS get sucked in when I see lovely swatches hahaha!

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  11. I am telling you right now- go and buy Trind nail repair. I have been on this stuff for 2.5 yrs. It's the sole reason I have nails at all! Please trust me on this one. Scientifically, the only thing that hardens nails is formaldehyde and that's what Trind has. They have a 4 month money back guarantee! That's a long time! Now let me have my coffee! I'll be back after I actually read what you wrote!

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  12. I hate peelies, I can't seem to not pick at them! Hopefully they will be back to their normal selves soon. I am dreading this winter. I know every year my hands and nails suffer. This year I an going to go all out and maybe they won't get too bad.

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  13. Ok I'm back! Email me if you want the Trind info! I am not offended that you don't do nails of the day. I never do. What is on my nails now won't post until Monday(please check it out it'll be cool). I don't paint my nails every day, I do them wed, sat, sun and post them to go up every other day. I still appreciate your posts! One last tip, keeping polish on actually protects your nails better than nakedness.

    Enjoy your off line time!

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  14. Sad to hear about your peelies :( Maybe a moisturizing basecoat (nail tek citra is really great for me, when they start peeling again) will help, but the weather change is always bad for our nails :(

    Enjoy your time off :)

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  15. I had a similar rip on my left middle finger a few days ago. I wasn't as proactive as you though - I am simply rocking a shorter/crooked middle fingernail until the ripped side grows enough to straighten it out. I won't be able to express my anger in traffic for a couple weeks, I guess. :)

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  16. I know how you feel, that's what my nails looks like unpainted 99% of the time. I assume a lot of my troubles are payback for being a nail biter/picker for 20 years. Ok, and I'm a bit clumsy and bang my nails into stuff alot.

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  17. i have the same problem with peelings... and my nails are naked for two days... i hate it :-p
    wish you luck, come back to us with the full batteries ;-D

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  18. I'm so sorry about your nails, a broken nail is the saddest ish ever! hope they grow back fast I broke mine too recently and I'm still trying to grow mine out and it's taking forever one thing I can share that helps me ( thanks to loodie) If I keep my nails moisturized the better they grow so I try to put cuticle oil and balm and just like 4 different kinds of oil a day and it helps so much! and I love your blog don't care if you don't do notd I like what you do!

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  19. I've never had bad breaks or anything since I keep my nails fairly short, but that just seems painful! And like it takes a lot of work. But I'm glad to see the staining really improved! Hope you have a good week offline! See you when you get back! :)

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  20. Woohoo! Enjoy your blog-cation!

    And I know everyone wants unsolicited advice like they want another hole in their head, but I've had really good luck with Healthy Hoof cream. I'm even back to using nails as tools. *cough* I hope Loodie doesn't see this. I don't want to be hit again.

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  21. Best of luck with growing those babies out! Enjoy your break:)

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  22. Aww your poor nails. ): I hate when this happens.

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  23. Bummer on the breaks, but at least it'll give you the opportunity to take a time-out and regroup on the nail front... enjoy the time off and take care of those pretties!

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  24. I wish you a speedy recovery... they really do look like they need a good rest! I also think that Mavala makes the best nail treatment products, I have had a lot of luck with them. I think they might be difficult to find in the US, but if you see them give them a try :)

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  25. i will miss your post... but we all need a break every once in a while.. DON'T TAKE TOO LONG :-P!!!
    Wishing you quick recovery on the nails too :)

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  26. Love your blog! Just wanna let you know that I awarded you the versatile blogger award. Check it out here: http://adthenshesmiled.blogspot.com/2011/10/versatile-blogger-its-my-first-award.html

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  27. I have a similar tear on my right middle nail, but I decided to ignore it and just patched it. Anyway sometimes when there is too much going on it's good to cut/file down :-( it's sad but I use it as a chance to swatch dark polishes (I so hate my short nails with light polishes) and post some backlog pics (and I have plenty of them)!
    Have you ever tried some "natural" moisturizing oil (I use olive oil with some lemon essential oil)? For me it works quite well for peeling!
    Last but not least...Enjoy your week off!

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  28. I hate when this hapens also to my nails. I think I cant go out withour any color in them!
    Kisses from Portugal

    Tuli

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  29. You are right giving your nail a rest. I always do every 2 months. What I do is I cut my nails sort and for a week I put every night some almond oil and massage on the nail. they still peel but they look much healthier.

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  30. Thanks for all the sympathy and suggestions, ladies!

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Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.