Nail Journal Update

No, my five wonderful readers, I have not forgotten about you. I went camping! Yes, yours truly went into the woods and camped. Actually I drove through the woods to a cabin. But before you say that's not real camping. Let me elaborate. It was a one room cabin, no running electricity, no running water, no restroom. See...that is camping. 

And before you say "ewww" there was an outhouse down the dirt road for us to use. Now you can say ew.  Really it wasn't so bad. 

We camped out in Hermit Park by Estes Park Colorado. 

So we were out there for 4 nights, 5 days. That's a lot when you have to ration water, keep your own food cold in the cooler (which this wasn't too hard since there was still snow on the ground) and figure out lighting at night. Now in all fairness, the cabin had propane lighting and a stove with a heater, Not too bad. 

Why am I telling you this and what does this have to do with nails?

I'll tell you. 

As you know, I have been trying desperately to grow my own nails using a plethora of products to help me. Camping definitely put a hiccup in my progress. Making fires, running after the dog, my nephews (who are 4 and 5 years old) and then my own brats...this took it toll. Not to mention, it's darn dry in that there them hills. Okay that was me trying to sound hill billy. Anyway, the first day I was there. I did my regular routine.

A small bowl of white distilled vinegar

1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of baking soda 

and soak for five minutes

Now for those of you who are new to my blog. I DID NOT make this up myself. I got the nail routine from a lady who does a lot of nail designs on Youtube. Her channel is LOVE4NAILS by Raquel Pimentel just click on the link and you will see how she walks through the routine.

Anyway, her recommendation is to use your oil (preferably Almond oil) 3 times a day. Usually that's not an issue but when your camping it gets tricky. I was able to do it for the first 3 days but after that, no. I did still take my Hair, Skin and Nails pills that you can see in the background.

  

 

I did use my Barielle Nail Straightener Creme which doubles as my cuticle cream and of course I did continue to use my Savanna Bee Beeswax Hand and Nail Salve. Now this sounds like a lot to go through in one day but it really isn't. 

And with it as dry as it was in the mountains, I was glad that I had all my products. You are probably dying to see what progress I have made, I will show you but let me say this first. I have noticed a difference in my nails since I have been taking my Biotin pills. They seem thicker at the base by the cuticle and I am hoping that follows through the rest of the nail as they grow. Now I am in a very strange nail category which means, my hair and nails grow very slow. So to see the progress I have made (which admittedly isn't much) I am semi-excited. Remember I started this journey the first week of March so it has been 5 weeks now. Raquel from YouTube states it took her 3 months to get her long nails back after she cut them short. So I am still hopeful that I, too, will have long nails some day. 

This is my left hand, You can see that there is some nail growth on the nails. 

This my right hand. Not as much nail growth but I am right handed and use my nails more, I guess. 

This picture is of my ring finger on my left hand. I point this particular nail out to you so that you can note the dark, half circle on my nail. That is where my Solar nails were. See how much growth I've had since I have removed my nails 5 weeks ago. I had had my Solar nails on for only a couple of weeks before deciding to take them off, so this growth is significant for me. 

So there's my update. I will continue to do 10 day updates with pictures as I go along. Hopefully I can make more progress. 

Until next time....