Worth the Pain???

Before Chad and I got married I made a very foolish mistake. My finger nails are a somewhat precious possession to me. I used to bite my fingernails horribly. I guess I was probably 11-ish when a Mary Kay lady came to one of our Merry-Miss activities at church. She was supposed to paint our fingernails. I of course had none, was extremely embarrassed, and vowed then and there to quit biting cold turkey. It is the one habit I can say I have truly kicked completely. Anyway, before our wedding, after much debate and deliberation, I opted to go to a nail salon and have a set of stupid, now frustrating, temporarily beautiful fake nails put onto my fingers. My co-worker Karen warned me that when her sister had this process performed for her wedding she hated it later. I did not listen. She told me, "Katie, your nails are so pretty now, just grow them out and have the real ones done..." Did I listen??? Sadly, no. I am now dealing with the consequences of this decision.

If you have never had a set of fake nails put onto your fingers let me indulge you with some information that may enlighten you a bit. Before this horrific mistake of the acrylic nails my only experiences with nail salons had been positive. (My roommate Briana is a believer in pedicures and I'd been with her twice to have my footsies scrubbed, massaged, and pampered.) When you go to have your nails done you sit (struggling to breathe due to the harsh fumes) at a little table and watch the person across from you destroy your natural nail. I honestly have no clue what stopped me from screaming, "STOP! You are ruining my hands!!!" Of course the woman barely spoke English...that might have had something to do with it...Anyway, the point is they completely file down your natural nail, glue a fake tip to the top and them paste this acrylic goo over your entire nail to lock the tip in place. I'll admit, they looked gorgeous upon completion. It was a little difficult to adjust to every day tasks with them, but it almost seemed worth it. They look quite fantastic in all of our wedding pictures as well. But that's not the point, the point is that their temporary beauty deceives you into thinking all is well, when the real problems arise when your natural nails begin to grow underneath.

I first discovered this shortly after Chad and I moved into our apartment. While trying to force one of our impossible to close kitchen drawers to shut, the tip of my nail snapped off! As I clutched my hand, grimacing in pain, mumbling, "Ouch!" I was ashamed to admit to Chad that this dramatic presentation was all on account of a broken nail. I used to make fun of girls who complained about that! Anyway, life was fine with my fingers for awhile after this. But today, while hurrying into the car to head back to work after lunch, I opened the door too quickly and HALF MY NAIL WAS SUDDENLY MISSING! I have never felt such agony throb through my hand as I did at that moment.

My husband is going to Sally's Beauty Supply for me as I type, to buy some kind of substance I can supposedly soak these babies in so they'll dissolve right off...All I have to say is they better. I don't know how much more of this pain I can take. Not to mention how ugly my once pretty fingers now look.

Anyway, I guess the point of this blog is just to warn everyone these things are nasty. Women of the world: Keep getting pedicures, pack the salons across the country to primp your feet!!! But please, heed my advice and stay away from these acrylic monstrosities!!!