Gothic Nail Care

 Ok, so Gothic nail care isn't much different from normal nail care. Granted, most people don't file their nails into points and seem strangely adverse to black nail polish, but there are some nice general rules for keeping your nails healthy.

My nails are particularly prone to peeling when they're unhappy so I try to follow all of these basic guidelines to keep them from turning cringe-worthy.

•  First of all, STOP BITING THEM. I've never had that problem so I can't relate to how difficult it is to break that habit, but really, please try. Pretty please? Try chewing gum or something else to release your stress and you'll have one more thing to spend goth maintenance time on ;) SO STOP BITING OR I WILL COME AND MAKE YOU DAMMIT.

•  Don't use nail polish too often. I know, I know. The thought makes me groan too, but have the white parts of your nail every turned a sickly yellow color after wearing nail polish for a long time? It's not necessarily damaging, but it looks horrendous for a few weeks as the discolored nail grows out. Darker colors tend to make this occur faster so try giving your nails a break every couple of weeks.

•  Use a top coat to protect the tips of your nails. Your nails bump into so many things during the day. You'd be surprised at how much of the top coat can be gone by the time your day's over. A little extra protection never hurt anyone.

• This one will sound a little silly. Try not to use your nails. It's harder than it sounds! But if you consciously try to use your fingers more than the actual nails then they'll last much longer. I'm at the point where I ask whoever is closest to me to do things that I can't manage without my nails. You really learn to adapt. For example, my long nails prevent me from picking up flat things like coins from surfaces. I used to chase the stupid things around until I realized I could just slide them off the table. *facepalm*

• Water, soap, and nail polish remover quickly dry out your nails. Occasionally apply some hand lotion to your nails and rub it in to moisturize. Especially do this after using polish remover. That stuff, while useful, is evil.

•  Nail hardener has actually been proven to make nails less flexible, which means they're easier to break. I wouldn't really advise using it unless you have to.

• Sometimes you just have to face the fact that your nails look like crap. That means its time to cut them and start over. It pains me every time but sometimes it's necessary.

•  As a rule of thumb its advised for the white part of the nail to be no more than half the length of the nail bed. Feel free to ignore that, just know that you'll need to get creative when it comes to practical things.

And perhaps this is a bit too long.

A last piece of advice. Sharp nails are much more delicate then 'normal' nails. I break mine constantly. Which is usually followed by a curse, quick temper tantrum, and small sulk before I just accept that one of my babies is gone and move on.

I don't think there's any possible way to have all of my pointy nails perfect for more than a day. (I broke one on the fridge yesterday and since I always keep my thumbs short for practicality only six of my ten fingernails are long now. It looks pretty funny. Once, i broke FOUR playing spoons.) 

I learned lot of the helpful information here on this website. It's much more in-depth than this quick explanation and full of helpful tips for taking care of your nails

Short, long, pointy, square, round, it doesn't matter. Just take the time to look after your poor nails once in a while. It'll be worth your time :)