Opinion by J1 reporter Julia Crump

As students in high school, we deal with a lot of stress. As a student at one of these high schools, I understand that we deal with our stress in an array of different ways.

One of the ways to deal with this stress includes gnawing away mercilessly at your finger nails until they no longer exist.

As a former nail-biter, I understand that it is an extremely difficult habit to break, but the happiness you get when you kick this disgusting habit is worth all the trouble.

Think for a minute how much your fingers touch per day. Now think about that when you bite your nails, all those things you are touching, bad or good, is potentially being transported to your mouth. Not only is harmful bacteria being transported to the inside of your body, but it is also working away at the area around your nails, causing skin infections and rashes. I understand, my fellow nail-biters, that this is hard to hear, but please know that this tough love is coming from a good place.

Since I was able to kick this habit, let me share some advice on how you can too.

Buy a really nice nail polish, in a colour that you absolutely adore. Actually, get two different colours that you love equally, three if you want to. With extreme care, paint your nails. I’m sure it doesn’t look pretty, and trust me, it doesn’t at first, but do your best not to touch it. Really don’t, nail polish tastes absolutely disgusting. When the first signs of this nail polish chipping shows, re-paint it.

Within a week, you’ll notice how much better your nails look. And the price of this beauty secret? As little to as much as you want! There are cheap nail polish and expensive nail polish, it really doesn’t matter! Believe me, no one can tell if it’s two dollars from Claire’s or OPI except you.

If you really don’t like to paint your nails, I highly recommend trying acrylics. Leave them on for as long as you can, and when you take them off, you will notice how much better your nails look, and you’ll want to keep them that way.

I understand that my advice may not help at all, and that you may be thinking that you’ve

heard it all before, but know that if I, an extremely high-strung person who functions on stress can stop biting my nails, so can you.

And hey, if nothing else, think about all the diseases you could potentially give yourself. That is enough to remind me that no rash in the world is worth the stress.