Getting my nails done made me stop picking at my thumbs!

Who knew that doing something for pure pleasure can sometimes also take care of other problems?

I thought getting your nails done was just for beauty. And that's even why I decided to try doing them again. But I got a surprising side-effect out of it.

It expectedly took care of one of my long-standing life problems....picking the absolute F*CK out of the sides of my thumbs. (and sometimes other fingers)

I've always been embarrassed about how they look like I don't care about myself.

Even if it's just around my thumbs, they're worth protecting.

I've had this nervous behavior my entire life. It hurts a lot but I didn't know how to find normal looking "thumb shields". But here they are! And so, I've been calling them my "nail shields".

The last few months I've been trying to practice self-care a bit more by pouring into some beauty things. Side effect! ...a problem in the same area ended up resolving on it's own. What the heck!? These things actually protect me from my own natural behavior.

I took them off for a week and began absentmindedly tearing the sides of my thumbs up again.

In the close-up pics you can see the past damage around around my thumb and now they're healed and smooth for once. Not torn at. I really like it. I got used to not having the pain and was shocked and sad when it returned so I ordered another set.

Now I'm moving into experimenting having them on more often then not. We'll see how it goes.

(I've been using at-home nails by Glamnetic with their nail glue just to start. (you can get some on Amazon) I like the short oval style best. Any longer and it's hard to put in my contacts and do my necklace clasp. They last me a full 2 weeks, possibly longer, but then I like to change them because I don't like them getting long and enjoy fresh visuals.)

Would you consider getting your nails done as shields / physical barriers (even just plain natural ones?) if you also pick at your hands if it could protect you?