You love your nails enough to invest in a gel nails kit and learn how to do gel nails at home step by step. You want great looking nails, you really do… and yet… something is getting between you and those long, lovely shellac nails you crave. It’s your own bad habits. It is never easy to stop a habit, and by now your New Year’s resolutions are probably a hazy memory. But if you really want gorgeous gel nails, you have to mend your ways. It is possible to stop destructive habits, but first let’s look at three of those bad habits that undo all of your efforts when you do your shellac nails at home.

• Biting your nails. Has this plagued you since childhood? If it has, maybe you think you’ve tried everything. But there is no point in learning how to apply gel nails at home if you’re only going to gnaw them down. Gel nail polish is tough and durable, but if you nibble your nails, you won’t have much to work with for your manicure. This is a tough one, but don’t despair. There are solutions.
• Using your nails as tools. Need to loosen a little screw? Can’t find the staple puller at work? Your child is looking hopefully at you with a toy that needs some little job done, some tiny bit pulled or push or turned and you are on the phone and have nothing at hand but your lovely gel nails? No, no, stop right there. You are not a walking tool box. This is an easy problem to fix, Ms. Fix It.
• Leaving old polish on past its time. Whether it is old fashioned nail varnish or super durable gel nail polish, it has an expiration date. It will not look great on your nails forever. A couple of weeks, yes, a month, let’s not push it ladies. It’s easy to procrastinate if getting new gel nails means scheduling a visit to the salon and paying. Again, help is at hand.

Whether you are going to the salon or doing your shellac nails at home, it is a shame to undermine that glossy glory with these bad habits. You love your nails, but you need to respect them too. So let’s tackle these three bad nail habits.

Nail Biting

This can start in childhood, and maybe you’ve been battling it since your mammy was painting nasty tasting stuff on your little nails to put you off biting them. You don’t have to do that again, and you don’t have to snap yourself with a rubber band around your wrist either. Here’s some real help to protect your gel nails.

Breaking any habit takes dedication, so accept that this will not stop overnight. The problem is that you probably aren’t aware that you even doing it. That is the essence of a habit – your brain is on autopilot when you’re doing it. You aren’t doing it because you’ve made a decision to gnaw your nails. So the first step to stopping is noticing when you are doing it. That’s the theory behind snapping the rubber band – to help you notice. But rubber bands aren’t great accessories. A nice bright shade of gel nail polish or some fancy nail art might do more to get your attention. Nail biting is usually stress-related, so the idea here is to learn what is triggering the stress that underlies the nail biting. If you find yourself biting your nails in a weekly work meeting or when you are on deadline, you can be extra aware and do things to reduce your stress beforehand.

You can try some great stress busters to protect your gel nails manicure and as a bonus, when you find healthier ways of dealing with stress your overall health can benefit. Making half an hour in the morning to do yoga will help you start the day prepared for the mental challenges ahead and less likely to succumb to stress. You might find a morning class in your local area or you might prefer to learn with a dvd or book. When you do feel the pressure – and we all do – you can do some of the deep breathing exercises that are part of a good yoga routine. As a final line of defence, you can keep a stress ball in your desk or purse. If your fingers are busy squeezing it, it will keep them away from your mouth. A worry stone or beads can work just as well. Make yourself a grown up star chart – if you can go 30 days without biting your nails, why not treat yourself to something special, maybe a new collection of gel nail polish or even a new gel nails kit.

Using Nails as Tools

The good news is that this is a much easier habit to break than nail biting because you are aware you are doing it. Gel nail polish can take a lot of punishment, but why should it? This is nail abuse, plain and simple. It is also a matter of being rushed or not having what you need at hand, and it is going to weaken or break your nails. Invest in two clever little tool kits or good multi-tools. (A Swiss Army Knife is an example of a multi-tool; they have an assortment of handy tools in one jack knife. A basic one will usually have a flathead and Philips screwdriver, a pliers, a scissors, a file and even a corkscrew.) If you have one in your purse and one in your kitchen, you have no excuse to use your lovely gel nails as screwdrivers or pliers. You can find a huge range of mini tool kits and multi-tools on the market, but avoid the really cheap ones because when they break you’re back to the temptation to use your nails. And it never hurts to have a spare corkscrew on hand, right? Just one word of caution – that is NOT a nail file, even if it officially is. Don’t even think about filing your nails with it. Use an emery board. Having the right tool for the job is always important!

Leaving Old Gel Nail Polish On

It’s easy to forget to re-do your gel nails at home because gel nail polish lasts so long. But nothing lasts forever, and you don’t want to look down at your hands three weeks after carefully doing your gel nails at home step by step and realize they are past their sell by date. There’s a fine line between getting your money’s worth and neglecting your nails. We’re such a technology oriented society these days, why not put a reminder in your mobile phone or device to remind you when time’s up? When you do your gel nails at home, set a reminder for two weeks out. This is also a great way to plan a little pampering time for yourself. You’re more likely to do something if you set a specific time for it in your schedule.

If you’ve made the effort to learn how to do gel nails at home step by step, you want to treat them well. It is a waste to invest in a gel nail kit if your nails are bitten down or broken. But you can unlearn those bad habits and enjoy gorgeous gel nails with a bit of consistent effort and planning.