An Unexpected Development

Growing up, I always kept my fingernails short. I used to like digging in the dirt of the unoccupied softball diamonds while my uncle played a game mere feet away from me.  My mother would clip my fingernails because of this, so there would be no room for dirt to settle under my nails. 

I never questioned this, or thought to live my life any differently until I got to high school. In high school, all of my friends had long fingernails - or at least they were longer than mine. So I attempted to grow mine out, but once dirt started to settle under my nails, I would use the broken edge of my student ID to pick at the dirt. Instead of paying attention in class, I would be sitting there, picking at my fingernails with that blunt edge that was so easily available to me. 

Then it hit me. What would stop me from picking at my nails? Fingernail polish! If I couldn't see the dirt, did the dirt really exist? Would I pick at my nails in class if they were pretty and painted? It was a theory I had to test. So just before my senior year of high school, I went out and bought the first bottle in what would soon become an overwhelming collection. Within months, I had more fingernail polish in my possession than I had ever had in my life. More than I would (and will) ever be able to use in my lifetime. But, as I soon found out, my theory had one flaw: chipping. 

Nail polish chips. That's just a way of life. Even if you use a topcoat (which can seriously smear any intricate design you try to do, and has even been known to dull the color of your polish), the polish will eventually, not being able to withstand the daily wear and tear of life, crumble under pressure and flake off. There's nothing you can do, really, to avoid it. But as soon as my nail polish started to chip, I would scrape at my nails until there was no polish left, leaving that nail clean and the dirt underneath visible for all to see. 

This began a never ending cycle of painting my nails, noticing that it was chipping, helping it along the way, and repainting my nails. Ever since my senior year of high school, I have painted my nails at least once every two weeks. My nail polish collection is unnecessarily large and an extreme waste of money. I'm not sure when this obsession will end, but I sincerely hope it does soon.