Let us help you kick the nail biting habit
Our program was formulated by a technician who bit their nails chronically for over 25 years - you can be confident you’re coming into a highly understanding, non-judgmental space
Scroll for more information on nail biting, natural nail health and our 14 week Nail Biter Rehab program
Fall in love with your hands
Our 14 week Nail Biter Rehab program combines accountability with high-end services and treatments to help you kick the habit and learn to care for your nails.
After a couple of sporadic appointments, Becca began her official Nail Biter Rehab journey with The Nail Vault in 2019
Her natural nail growth came faster than she anticipated, and with regular manicures and IBX treatments, the damage began to grow out
After 14 weeks, Becca’s nail beds extended out to where they should be and her natural nails are long and strong - she’s chosen to continue on with regular manicures
“I’ve bitten my nails and been self-conscious about my hands for as long as I can remember - can I actually stop biting my nails?”
If you learn nail biting, you can un-learn it.
Whether it began too early to remember or as you were entering adulthood, nail biting can come around as a strive for inner perfection or through anxiety and stress. Having something to control and acting upon that is a normal human reflex - nail biting is such a common, natural manifestation of this. Generally seen as a bad habit and on a massive scale (from nibbling the edges to peeling skin and causing bleeding), excessive nail biting borders on OCD behaviour and can be psychologically harder to quit than nicotine.
It’s about replacing the habit and changing the way you think, embodying the identity of somebody who cares for their nails, and letting your brain know and see the difference - ultimately training your mind to replace the damaging habit with a protective one.
Learn to love taking photos holding your coffee or your cosmo, be proud to use your card or take cash at the checkout, and effortlessly pull together your daily outfit.
We can help you.
“I’ve been trying to break my nail biting habit for 6 years - I honestly couldn’t have done it without Serena. She is super non-judgmental and has been so supportive of me during my nail journey. I’ve seen her for gel manicures and acrylic, and they are flawless every time - they always leave me feeling good about the way my hands and nails look. Couldn’t recommend more!!”
— Becca V
Grow and care for your nails.
Zoe, before
Your nail health is controlled by the nail matrix, which lies at the base of your nail bed under your cuticle area and back towards your knuckle. This is why you don’t want to be going to a salon with unqualified technicians who willy-nilly cut the proximal nail fold (for all intents and purposes we’ll refer to this as the more commonly mis-reference “cuticle”) to “tidy” your manicure - unknowingly cutting into living tissue not only hurts, it can cause infection/damage in the matrix which can result in your nail plate growing differently/deforming.
It takes approximately 3 months for a nail to grow from cuticle to tip,
which means to see a difference in nail health from cuticle oil or supplement use (e.g Hair, Skin, Nails or Collagen formulas) alone, you need to be using and/or taking them consistently for approximately 3 months. It also means it can take 3 months for damage caused to the nail to show properly.
This is the reason we’re all such advocates of regular cuticle oil use - not only will it soften your skin and keep your manicure tidy and looking great.
A moisturised nail is a healthy, strong nail, whereas a dry one is flaking and cracking.
Zoe, after
For example: you could regularly use moisturiser, then all of a sudden sanitise (i.e dry out your hands) profusely for a couple months (we’re looking at you, 2020), and your nails will still look and feel brilliant - until 2-3 months later, when the effect of the sanitising (i.e weakness) has grown out to the tip of your nail, and you begin to notice the dry splitting and cracking (even if by now you’ve stopped sanitising/as often and/or using cuticle oil more regularly).
Are you ready to kick your nail biting habit and grow healthier, stronger nails?
It’s going to take 4 months for the entire process (9x fortnightly Gel Polish Manicures and IBX Treatments), and at the end you can decide whether you’d like to stick to the end of the program, or continue on with your infills at 2-4 weekly infills (depending on your growth, lifestyle and personal preference).
IBX is a penetrative 2-part toughening treatment that works inside the nail (instead of on top) by fusing together the nails top layers to keep them strong, targeting imperfections and weaknesses that prevent natural nails from growing long.
Fortnightly appointments rather than 3-weekly are imperative here; this is to keep you accountable in the early days of kicking the habit, but it’s also to allow the IBX to kickstart your natural nails and keep them as tidy as we can. Generally, bitten nails are quite short and you don’t know how fast they grow until you’re not biting them! And as product grows out, it can become too “heavy” for the fresh regrowth and this can cause some nasty breaks. For your first few appointments you also run the risk of potential chips on the end, as your damaged nail grows out and can chip and flake itself (although the IBX should be combatting and preventing this, it does depend on lifestyle and extreme cases of damage).
We’ll keep your natural nails quite short until the 3-month mark to ensure all damaged nail has completely grown out and been filed off; then we can start looking at keeping some length (depending on your natural nail goal, we’ll discuss towards the end of your program whether we recommend a Builder Gel overlay or not - please note this is at an additional $25 charge per manicure)!
After: Helena’s natural nails grew so strong and so quickly with the help of IBX, we kept some length and she had her first ever nail art manicure for Christmas
Before: Helena’s nails had been bitten her entire life - her first Nail Biter Rehab appointment was in September
$1,365.00
Includes:
9x pre-booked fortnightly appointments
Gel polish manicures + IBX treatments
4 month supply of Designer Nails cuticle oil
3x 12ml bottles in flavours of your choice
Complimentary:
2x feature nails at each appointment