On jojoba oil, nail care, and a sense of community

** Be forewarned that this is a sappy post **

I’m a lifelong nail biter/skin picker. I have only recently realized it’s a self-soothing behavior for me, which I think in my case is partly genetic (my mom’s hands are a crime scene). I mostly conquered the nail biting years ago by starting to paint my nails — the polish tastes bad, and having brightly colored nails served as a visual reminder not to do it, in part because I didn’t want to mess up the paint job 😂 but I was never able to stop destroying my cuticles and the other skin around my nails.

I got into NICE lacquer just a few months ago, literally by stumbling upon ILNP on Amazon after deciding I wanted to try a holographic polish. I now have more than 100 bottles from all the brands we know and love (ILNP, Mooncat, BKL, KBshimmer, Cracked, Monarch, I’m judging myself as I write this out, RIP disposable income), most of which I found via your recommendations after finding this sub! (Thank you but also not thank you, IYKYK)

When I started lurking/posting here, I kept seeing recommendations for jojoba oil. It is magical elixir, you all kept saying. Spend all day rubbing it into your fingertips and soon they will glow with enchantment. I was kind of skeptical — the gist seemed to be that you could make your cuticles and nail beds look like they’d been professional trimmed and primped but without the cost or the damage — but the Bliss Kiss pens are only $8 and I work from home so why not try it?

And y’allllll. You are magical witches and I will never doubt you again. Using jojoba oil several times per day has completely transformed my cuticles and my sidewalls. They’re moisturized, healthy, and they look so much better, and seeing that progress has encouraged me to finally stop ripping my skin to shreds. I’m proud of myself (this feels particularly noteworthy for me right now, as self-love is in short supply in my life), and I can’t thank you all enough for providing such a wealth of information, and for creating a space where people who haven’t always been into lacquer/nails can ask questions and share progress without feeling judged or nervous. Y’all are the best.

Pics are not the best (I didn’t take many photos of my hands before), but hopefully give you a sense of my progress! The thumb is the biggest 🤯 for me — my poor thumbs have been shredded consistently since I was like 13, this is literally the best they’ve ever looked! ALSO SORRY FOR THE JUMP SCARE SHOULD HAVE POSTED THE RECENT PICS FIRST

Current mani:

Nail-aid keratin 3-day growth — 2 coats

Mooncat Tales of Ba Sing Se (obsessed) — 3 coats

Seche Vive gel effect top coat — 1 coat

Magnetized with bar over horseshoe

Literally nothing in this list would have sounded like English to me three months ago thank you for your time 💅🏼 but