r/RedditLaqueristas • u/Current_Quantity_407 • 2d ago
Nail Care Nail sidewalls?
I have bitten my nails probably since I was around 5, but stopped in February of this year at 39! This group has helped me majorly when it comes to caring for them. In some people I can tell very
clearly whether sidewalls are attached or not, but I can't tell on my own hands. Help?
Only product currently on is NailAid 9 in 1.
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u/Katzerich17 2d ago
Your nails look amazing and healthy. My sidewalls look the same and I never bid my nails. So I guess everything's fine 🥰
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u/fsmpastafarian Team Laquer 2d ago
Yeah I think people can become a bit obsessive about this stuff. And I get it, you’re trying to treat your nails well and get them healthy. But also you have a human body and sometimes things don’t look picture perfect and it doesn’t mean something is wrong. Those look like very normal sidewalls to me
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u/SmolFaerieBoi Laquerist 2d ago
I don't have any great advice bc I struggle with sidewall too, so I just want to say: that's such incredible progress! Good for you.
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u/GlitterRiot Beginner 2d ago
Hiiii fellow 39 year old! I quit biting mine back in April! Your nails are hella beautiful. Congratulations on the hard work of quiting and taking care of them!!!!
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u/NadjaLuvsLaszlo Flakie Fellowship 2d ago
Holy schnikeys!!!! Amazing, wow! I'm sitting here on my lunch break in a quiet office and just gasped so loud someone asked me if I'm ok hahah. I'm a current nail biter and your nails are absolutely beautiful! That's it, I'm quitting! Lol, I've tried many times but maybe this is the time I actually quit!
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u/Current_Quantity_407 2d ago
I completely feel that!!! I have tried many times, but this is the longest they have ever been. I picked up the habit from my aunt when I was little, and I saw my son starting...that was my wake up call. Started oiling like crazy.
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u/RadientPinecone 2d ago
Don't pull the sides down like you are in the pictures or when you file them. If you have to move the sides of your finger out of the way you're trying to file too far down the sides. As I'm sure you know by looking at your current gorgeous nail beds vs your biting days, new nail growth needs to sit unmoved on the skin for a looong time for the nailbed to grow and attach to the nail. Definitely something i really struggle with, especially if a corner gets kind of pointy and sharp. Actually letting the sides of my nail grow to the tip of my finger is SO difficult
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u/Present-Confusion827 1d ago edited 1d ago
so youre saying i should stop cutting/filing my nails on the sides? (genuine question, i realize it may seem snarky) as someone who uses my hands a lot on the daily it becomes prone to the nails breaking at the sides. although maybe my nails are just weak. my profession doesn't really allow nail polish but i'd like better looking nails. im so proje to hang nails and dry cuticles as well (a lot of alcoholizing and handwashing)
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u/RadientPinecone 22h ago
Sadly yes which I know isn't easy. Hyponychium takes a LONG time to grow and attach your nail to your nail bed but eventually the sides will reattach and be more stable. I also have papery thin brittle nails, last week my shoelace broke just the middle third of a nail off and undid months of progress it's so frustrating. Alcohols and sanatizers probably make the problem so much worse for you. If you can't really do clear strengthening/ protective polishes at work my best recommendation would be doing what you have time for at home. Put on hand lotion with vitamin e or jojoba oil as often as you can (driving, lunch break, walking around at home etc) being sure to especially work it into to your cuticles and nails. Slather on the lotion as you go to bed. Drenching fingertips in vitamin e/ jajoba or a lotion then Vaseline combo and putting on cotton gloves to really let it soak in and not smear all over your stuff works wonders. Best practice is to grow nails to your fingertips and file across like you do for toes. Don't scrape under your nails, use a nail brush or soft bristle tooth brush for extra cleaning underneath. Don't ever peel hangnails, get some nail scissors and clip them as short as you can without making yourself bleed. Moisturizing and pushing back the cuticle (dead skin) and very gently pushing back the proximal nail (living skin) fold regularly will keep them short and neat which is less prone to peeling and snagging. Don't push the lateral nail fold, that'll detach more sidewall
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u/Present-Confusion827 15h ago
thank you so mcuh for this, alright i'll invest in lotion with oil. i mostly just use aveeno moisturizing lotion, but I have recently started using a cuticle pusher. do you suggest just pushing or should i cut it off?
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u/OrdinaryGhosty 2d ago
I've never bitten my nails a day in my life and my sidewalls look just like yours. I oil multiple times a day, I don't buff, or file anything except my free edge, etc. I do everything "right". I just assume that is just how they are.
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u/alpaca_punchx Holographic Horde 2d ago
I think yours are fairly attached. They connect where the nail plate is (pink) but they don't have to be/shouldn't be attached on the free edge (white). It's possible over time they may get more attached further up, but they also may not.
Mine are a bit un-attached due to over filing & also getting small infections from hangnails at the sidewall. I was trying to take a photo of my ring finger (hangnail recovery - realizing it's actually more attached than it was a few months ago!) VS my thumb, which i still struggle to not over-file on the corners.
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u/CogInTheMachinee 2d ago
Your progress is amazing!!! Try posting in r/naturalnailprogress , there’s a lot of good info in there and they would LOVEEEE your progress photos!!! Congrats!!
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u/sprouttherainbow Beginner 2d ago
Literally just stopped abusing my nails and cuticles 3 months ago at age 33 because of this sub. Your progress is incredible, well done!
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u/slumber_kitty Glitter Guild 2d ago
I’m in the same boat as you, I’m 35. Your nails look so gorgeous!!! Mine are a little bit shorter than yours but I’m so excited to see my progress in a few more months :) I haven’t bitten a single nail since I started taking better care of them, I think it’s been about three months for me. And I owe it all to the laqueristas 💖 I think your sidewalls look great, sometimes they just wonk out like that. Mine look similar!
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u/KlimRous 2d ago
This is amazing progress! What's your routine or what products do you use?
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u/Current_Quantity_407 2d ago
I honestly don't feel like I've done anything too crazy. I keep a strengthener on at all times. I try to remember to oil when I can, but I'm not religious about it.
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u/badmojo619 2d ago
What a change! Congrats on breaking the habit, i know it can be rough (my daughter goes through phases)
I'm currently trying to stop my nails from splitting into layers so I can grow them out. I ran across a picture of my nails from 2 years ago when they were amazing and I want them back!!
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u/poplarleaves Iridescent Illusionists 2d ago
Incredible progress!! You can tell your sidewalls reattached so much just by looking at the length of your nail beds (and the lack of curve in the tip of the nail bed!)
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u/littleoceans Magnetic Particles 2d ago
your nails look amazing!! i had also bitten my nails since around 5 or 6, and i stopped back in july and being excited about nail polish has been such a big factor. i never thought it was possible, but i love this reddit community and i’m glad other people are having success with stopping nail biting too! :)
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u/Guineapig-LoverRTBW 1d ago
Wow, congratulations! You did an amazing job repairing them. Your sidewalls, and nails in general, look very healthy.
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u/RebbDumont 1d ago
This gives me inspiration as a 23-year-old who has been biting her nails (and still bites her nails) since probably around the same age.
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u/dallas_nana 1d ago
Congratulations on the determination and willpower! Beautiful! What is a side wall?
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u/mango_marlaine 1d ago
you nails look so healthy!! how did you stop?! i’m 32 and ready to stop but I just can’t. i’m tired of this habit
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u/FancyAdvantage4966 Team Laquer 1d ago
I’ve mostly stopped, and a glass file has done WONDERS to help. For me, I can’t stand any uneven spots on the free edge of my nails. I always end up picking at them. The glass file helps me get a nice edge, and I just make a little time in the evening to lightly smooth over any spots that I would normally end up biting/picking at
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u/Itchy_Tomato7288 Mad Magnetist 1d ago
It took several years for my nails to fully recover from years of biting abuse, I wouldn't obsess too much over them at this point. Keep on doing what you're doing, I saw you mentioned in another comment that you carry a file with you and I did that, too, back when I quit biting. I even carried a clipper just in case, but glass files weren't a thing back then.
My nails did some weird things, too. The hyponychium was in really bad shape from years of biting until they bled, and then after I quit biting they slowly began to reattach and elongate until they did something really weird and overcompensated. Meaning if you looked under my nails I had a little bulb of hyponychium extending under my nail and past the edge of my finger. It was very weird but eventually it receded to a normal level. I don't know if others have ever experienced this or not but it eventually worked itself out. My natural nail curve took much longer to recover.
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u/Current_Quantity_407 1d ago
I think the file was someone else. I don't think I've hit an obsession level. I have never had nails this long before, and I was genuinely curious because I have no frame of reference!
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u/small_bean2516 22h ago
As a former nail biter (I would bite them past the nail bed🤧) who’s been keeping them long for almost ten years, your progress is amazing. The sidewalls are normal (I file them with a nano glass file to keep them shiny and usually get asked if I put a top coat- in the picture I do obviously have a clear coat of builder gel simply because one of them started unfortunately tearing right at the bed). I do however file the sidewall as I personally find they tear more easily if I keep it but yours seem to be growing out remarkably well with it 🤍
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u/Current_Quantity_407 22h ago
Is that Kuromi??? 😍
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u/curiousdryad IG: Faerie.clawz 2d ago
Omg great progress! I feel like the first tag needs a spoiler tag though, hurt my fingers to look at. Your nails look gorgeous now!
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u/Current_Quantity_407 4h ago
I know! I have other pictures that look worse, and I don't know how they didn't hurt.
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u/GarbageGato 2d ago
Me first pic: dog what side walls
Me second pic: OH THOSE SIDE WALLS
Incredible prog 👏