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I am hoping some fellow women cave divers can provide some input here. I really like my finger nails, they are real nails not the nail sets you get put on. Everytime I go cave diving I break some nails (2-4). Does anyone have any advice on how to keep my nails looking nice and not breaking after a good weekend of diving?
Thanks!
Although I am not a woman, 2 suggestions. Buy a scooter. Stay in big caves.Quote:
Originally Posted by ipsc1911
I haven't been able to keep nice nails since that fateful weekend I learned how to remove my fingerprints from my fingertips (aka cavern class). I did just get a gel-coat manicure on my nails (they grow fast and hard naturally). The manicurist guaranteed 2 weeks of nice nails. LOL. Challenge accepted ;)
Let me know how that works out, if it does okay that may be the route I take.Quote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
Quote:
Originally Posted by ipsc1911
Oooohh lawdy lawd girlfriend, I know what chu mean. My nails were a mess child... that is, until I started the "Old Snakedoc's School of Not Breaking Your Real, Not Fake Fingernails After a Good Weekend of Diving."
Girlfriend, my school was established with one principle in mind, "Forget the whales, just save the nails." Helloooo!
You will need only four common household items to insure that this burdensome problem will never bother you (or us) again:
1) 1 small flathead screwdriver
2) 1 utility knife
3) 1 small mason jar
4) 1 syringe loaded with black tar heroin
Step 1: Inject the heroin. Not too much... just enough to minimize the screaming that takes place in the following steps.
Step 2: Use the screwdiver to slightly raise the nail as you deploy the utility knife to cut away the skin that holds the nail to the finger. As my dentist always says before he injects me with a 7 ft. needle, "you might feel a slight pinch." If you feel more than a pinch, simply inject more heroin.
Step 3: Once the nail is removed, place it in the mason jar.
Step 4: Place the mason jar on your nightstand.
Step 5: Admire your beautiful nails every night before bedtime!
Remember, girlfriend, heroin is illegal in the United States. So, you must go to Mexico or Afghanistan to procure it. Even there, you must be at least 6 years of age to purchase and use.
And don't forget to purchase " Old Snakedoc's Your Beautiful Nails in a Jar Maintenance Cream."
Do your cave diving in Mexico?
don't pull and glide? get a man to put your gear together, and break it down, rinse, and store away - oh and to carry it to the water and put it on and off you as needed? I know! get 10 of those metal and foam broken finger casts and wear them at all times on dive trips? or cut your nails back to nothing and use fake nails (much easier and faster to replace as needed). maybe just forget about having nice nails and proudly show your cave-damaged nails and fingers to the world - call it the "euro-look." By the way, I'm not a lady either.
skip
:rollguy:clapper
That's why I keep my nails short. (EEK)
Beano
Ditto Jean. Also I haven't had long nails since I got back into diving and subsequently cave diving in 1997.
Long nails=doom for drysuit seals
Keep them relatively short, and Shellac (AKA Gel polish) works great. Don't spend a fortune at the salon, though, you can buy the UV curing light and the Gelish polishes on Amazon. I've been doing my own for years. I can send you a shopping list if you like.
Yes, please! This is the first time I've gotten them and if they work as well as promised, doing them myself would be great.Quote:
Originally Posted by harmstrong
I've had long nails for years, and I typically get 2+ years out of a set of seals. People have been shocked when I stretch the seal over my nails intentionally after they ask "How do not tear up seals with nails like that?"
Acetone- Sally Beauty SupplyQuote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
Cotton balls
metal cuticle pusher (curved) Sally Beauty Supply
Gelish basics kit Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Gelish-Basix-K...eywords=Gelish (has lasted me going on 2 years, doing my nails about every other week)
Gelish polish if you want color Amazon- just search for it
UV Curing Lamp Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-CURING...UV+Curing+Lamp
You'll spend about $130 bucks up front, but around here Gel manicures go for $25, by the time you add in the tip, you pay for it pretty quickly.
I can tell you how to do it, too, including removing the old gel polish (do NOT peel it off, it needs to soak off in acetone). It's stupidly simple.
I don't have nails and if I do it means i'm not diving enough =) But on a serious note my fingers get really torn up so I wear thin gloves. I was taught not to cave dive in gloves, but i can feel the line through these and if I really needed to I can take one off. It's really helped my fingers and nails. Just find a thin caribbean pair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77oQuote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
I imagine it going something like this^
Heather,
Thanks! It's $35 here, plus tip, so that would pay for itself quickly!
AJ,
LOL, so you're saying with nails, I might have a chance at a boyfriend :P
Too Funny, Thanks for the laugh...
Quote:
Originally Posted by snakedoc
Quote:
Originally Posted by ipsc1911
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I excel at being a moron. Wallowing in the shallow end of the gene pool is the gift that has been bestowed upon me.
I still can't get past that this is a topic of conversation on a cave diving site. I guess I am old aren't I?
what is the deal with finger nails and women? What a waste. This whole woman thing of nice hair, makeup, nails done right, and clothes? GIVE ME A BREAK. AMERICAN women are soooo ###### up. leave nails alone, let life do as it will to them, get over womanly self, don't shave anywhere, forget perfume and the bath tub. Let your natural self show us all who you really are, not the you that is made up, faked out, painted over, and dressed to the nines. give me an honest woman who presents herself as life makes her, not one that it constantly trying to appear as she is not. I'm pretty sure one of the shirleys agrees with me, probably only one....
skip
maybe heather & shirley have the best idea, but i just cut mine off at the start of every cave trip. they'll grow back.
Kind of silly and I'm sure I'll catch hell for this....but I once kept a set of glue on nails for 2 weeks while cave diving Ginnie about 3-4 times during that period. It's about the technique you use for pull and glide and being careful with clips and the like. Normally I just don't bother because even day to day my nails get worn down and I generally don't care but it can be done.
I just love the fact that I have the freedom to do whatever the hell I please, and so do my fellow cave diving (and non-cave-diving) women! Want nails? Great! Don't want nails? Great! I honestly don't care which you choose, except that I think you should choose what makes you smile! And you should feel free to change your mind about it every 30 seconds if you so desire! Be happy, enjoy life, be kind, and make a difference...not later, not someday, but RIGHT NOW!
That said, the new nail polish lasted through stand up paddleboarding yesterday, but it did distract me enough that I managed to fall off my board (OOOO SHINY!!!)....much to the delight of my oh so non-sympathetic paddling companions!
Sorry, nope, Skip, not a single Shirley can stand going unshaven ;)
you and your 'shiny' distractibility. and sam's...where is sam in this discussion? the word 'shiny' has been mentioned & everything!
What she said.Quote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
Quote:
Originally Posted by sskasser
Ooooh child, you go girlfriend... go tell it on the mountain! I like my womens and my mens completely shaven, freshly laundered and manicured. Is it gettin hot in here or is it just me? Oh lawdy lawd child,when clean-shaven, the pheromones are free to roam without becoming ensnared in mammalian hair. When a hairless, fresh cave woman peels off that drysuit, the previously incarcerated pheromones bursting forth combine with the subtle odor of water from the aquifer to create a scent straight from heaven. It makes me quiver like a spawning salmon! Happy, happy, happy... ending.
And don't forget, new episodes of Duck Dynasty begin this week. I like watchin 'em, but some would say dem mens are just too hairy. I don't think they're too clean, either. I don't like mens who are filthy, but these men are filthy rich... now that's a whole nutha ball game. Quack, quack, girlfriend! Helloooo!
Have you been taking your meds?Quote:
Originally Posted by snakedoc
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
This reminds me of a favorite saying; "I don't suffer from insanity I enjoy it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesK
LOL!! The wife pops me with a cattle prod whenever it's time for me to reel it in a little. Perhaps that time has come. Oh, btw, I purchased a home in High Springs recently. NOW THAT'S CRAZY!
Exactly! You get me... and that should cause you some concern.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulmal
I've been trying to convince the wife I need a vacation home in High Springs since I took my Intro course. Still no luck but maybe someday.Quote:
Originally Posted by snakedoc
Actually armpit hair distributes pheromones more effectively than shaven armpits. And women who sniff men's dirty t-shirts and choose one as the "best" then date the men who's shirts they sniff report the best date with the man who's shirt they liked the smell of best. A kind of blind-date test. If I remember correctly the researchers also showed that it was genetic - women with x gene attracted to men with y gene and these "genes" have something to do with pheremones. I guess we like those best who smell like us. Or maybe those who smell different from us....? Nonetheless, efficient distribution requires hairy pits! Or handing out dirty t-shirts.
skip
Or dirty drysuit undergarments...Quote:
Originally Posted by skip
Quote:
Originally Posted by snakedoc
Cracking up over here!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulmal
It's taken me 34 years to convince my wife. Be persistent. And whine. And beg. The combination of persistence, whining, and begging has also served me well over the years when it comes to having sexual relations (with my wife, of course). And promise your spouse that the climate in High Springs is guaranteed to foster beautiful, healthy nail growth (had to relate it to the thread).
I guess I will have to keep, up the work. I know the routine well, hopefully it does not take me 34 years, but hey I'll take what I can get.Quote:
Originally Posted by snakedoc
skip, it's those who smell like they have different genes.
pungent drysuit undies - yum...