Please help with natural looking nails

[rebeccalyn]

I identify as a MtF TG but I am not out. I would like to let my natural nail grow out just a bit. My nails are thin and I have this bad habit of picking my nails when they get 1/8 inch past the nail bed.    Some of them also curl down in the middle or around a bit. 

I would like to let them grow out about a 1/4 inch or just past the tip of my finger but I need them to look perfectly natural in color. I have thought about a thick gel or acrylic top layer with maybe a silk wrap. This would make the nail thick and prevent me from tearing it off and possibly prevent it from curling once it goes beyond the nail bed. The problem is that I have never seen any gel or acrylic nails that look like a natural nail. Is this possible? I would like to try this myself if the product or combination of products are available since I am very crafty/dexterous with my hands. Is this something a nail salon could do? I don't want them to apply a tip but just a thick natural looking top layer that will grow out and that I could maybe even fill?

Anyone got any ideas or can point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Rebecca
 

[Madison Leigh]

I identify as a MtF TG but I am not out. I would like to let my natural nail grow out just a bit. My nails are thin and I have this bad habit of picking my nails when they get 1/8 inch past the nail bed.    Some of them also curl down in the middle or around a bit. 

I would like to let them grow out about a 1/4 inch or just past the tip of my finger but I need them to look perfectly natural in color. I have thought about a thick gel or acrylic top layer with maybe a silk wrap. This would make the nail thick and prevent me from tearing it off and possibly prevent it from curling once it goes beyond the nail bed. The problem is that I have never seen any gel or acrylic nails that look like a natural nail. Is this possible? I would like to try this myself if the product or combination of products are available since I am very crafty/dexterous with my hands. Is this something a nail salon could do? I don't want them to apply a tip but just a thick natural looking top layer that will grow out and that I could maybe even fill?

Anyone got any ideas or can point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Rebecca

I get mine done every so often and I really like to have the tips put on, but I'm a computer programmer and even if I have them keep them short my nails grow fast enough that after a week or so it becomes an issue with the keyboard.  So the last few times I've not had the tips put on and had them do a gel polish and I've been very happy with that.  Now I normally go with a color I like, but I would think they would have something that would look natural at least to a casual glance.  And to me at that point if somebody questions it, I'd be honest and simply say that you have weak (whatever) nails and that this helps keep them from tearing/breaking/etc. 

Madison