I recently stopped biting my nails, a bad habit I picked up as a toddler and struggled with for decades.  The problem is that I have no idea what to do with them, and they're getting pretty long!  I don't recall ever noticing anyone else's nails, and I don't want to do anything to make my hands look any more feminine than they already do.  I tried Googling for pictures of how men and women trim their nails, but I can't find any comparisons or pictures of non-nailbiting men's hands (and I'd like to stay on the non-nailbiting side of things for as long as possible).  What can I do to make them look masculine without being a bleeding mess again?  Should I cut them straight across or file them somewhat more round?  How do I figure out how long is too long, appearance-wise?  Thanks in advance!

there's no difference in the shape of the tip for men and women.  just cut them rounded so that they follow the natural shape.  leave as little of the white tip showing as possible without cutting too far and hurting yourself.  here's a good example:

http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_large/article-images/large/mensnailsalon-banner.jpg

file the edges so they're smooth and won't snag fabric, obviously.  trim your cuticles as well!

Gah! I envy you for being able to stop biting your nails. I'm still weaning myself from the habit. Good on you for doing that, though 

I've always seen the more squarish nail-cuts as being more masculine. Not too sure about length - I think shorter tends to equal more masculine, but not necessarily.
As you mentioned though, you don't normally notice people's nails - they're such a small feature in the whole picture, so you could probably just go with what feels comfortable.

I just clip the whites off of mine, sometimes a little bit shorter if I can manage without discomfort. Then I just take care of any hangnails by either ripping them off, if I can, or clipping them as well. Easy as that.

There are different kinds of nail clippers though: curved and rounded. The rounded seem to get them a bit shorter than the curved do, but sometimes the curved work a bit better. Most important thing is to make sure they're sharp: once the blades of the nail clippers get ragged they start tearing the nail instead and that's just a pain to try and work with.

There are men that file their nails and men that go the whole nine miles and get manicures and stuff. Personally, I don't. It'd be a waste for me to take that much care with my nails.

Just cut them short, following the edge of the white part (don't try to make them all the same shape, just go with the shape they grow in). You can file them if you want to. If you don't, the rough edges will smooth out within a day or so after you clip them. But the snags might tempt you to bite, so it might be a good idea to file just to remove that temptation.

Appearance-wise, typically they're too long if they (a) extend past the tips of your fingers or (b) have more than about 1-2 mm of white showing. Also, if they start chipping when you work with your hands, or if they start getting dirt under them, or if the whites start to turn yellow or clear, they're too long.

My hand (low maintenance, no biting, no filing, far as I know passes just fine):

I just clip the white parts off.

Sorry yet again to but in to a guys thread. I have long shaped fingernails, usually with clear polish. All the guys I work with are very similar to Kyril. Clean and tidy. Guys typically don't worry about appearance very much.  Cleanliness and positivity seems to be the major 'nice' guy look. There is the metrosexual look but I think some FtM would struggle with that, you really need to be a very masculine looking guy, or Gay, to carry it off. (Sorry I hope this isn't offensive), FtM may end up looking too girly for their comfort.

Morning routine for most guys is (besides the basics ). Breakfast, shave, teeth, leave. Shouting to GF/wife, why are you still not ready?. "I'm putting my moisturizer on, then what. My make up, then what, My perfume, then what. My hair need combing. then what. God you guys are all the same. Like to look but never want to know how.

This is why woman multi-task, drive to work putting her makeup on, talking on the phone, drinking a coffee, go through a red light, wonder why that guy crashed. Oh well, it's roundabout coming, ideal for putting on the mascara.

Sorry this was meant with humour

Cindy

Renard, I wish I could give you some advice for how to stop, but after dozens of attempts, what finally worked was getting really sick for a week and not biting them during that time.  When I got better, I realized they were long and didn't have any rough edges for me to pick at, so I could just ignore them.  I still pick at the skin around them, though.  /-:

kyril, thanks for the advice!  You totally hit the nail on the head about the rough edges triggering more biting, so I'll file them like you suggested.  I have about 2mm of white now, and they're nowhere near being past the tips of my fingers, since the white part begins about halfway down from my fingertip, as I've been biting severely for many years.  Also, they grow in a weird shape due to biting my nails more at the edges than in the center, so I'll just follow that. 

Yeah, they'll even out and reattach to the bed over time as they heal. If the white is so uneven that you can't follow its shape, just follow the shape of your finger for the time being. And never pry them up or push on them to cut them the way you might to bite them. Good luck

(What got me to quit biting was developing a painfully sensitive spot on my top right incisor tooth, which is what I primarily used for nailbiting. I think I damaged the enamel. I don't recommend it, it still twinges periodically. I'd started biting my mails when I was about 7 - I'd sucked my thumb up until then, but I had an appendectomy, and I went under anesthesia as a thumbsucker and woke up a nailbiter.)

Chronic nailbiters- coat your nails in something that tastes bad, and keep them cut as short as you can without causing yourself pain. That is how I broke my habit.

I follow the curve of my fingers, but I don't like my nails too short because I use my nails for all sorts of things (like holding small screws when fixing my glasses because my fingers can't do it very well or peeling off labels).  I never let them get longer than my finger-tips, though, except for my thumbs because those nails grow insanely fast.

Quote from: Aegir on December 05, 2010, 09:44:59 AM
Chronic nailbiters- coat your nails in something that tastes bad, and keep them cut as short as you can without causing yourself pain.

My parents tried this with me so many times as a kid.  First it was nailpolish and then it was a specialized product, but I could either scrape the stuff off with my teeth before biting them or just bite on ahead.  What works for one person is not guaranteed to work for everyone.

Yeah, my mom tried the bad tasting stuff. I learned to like the flavour.

Quote from: kyril on December 05, 2010, 03:45:32 PM
Yeah, my mom tried the bad tasting stuff. I learned to like the flavour.

For my habit (I was a chronic thumbsucker for ages because of stress), I learned how to get rid of the flavoring.  Though, sometimes, I'd wake up with a peppery taste in my mouth (I hate pepper) because I'd do it in my sleep. -.-  It wasn't fun waking up with a mouth on fire.

I only ever stopped biting due to getting braces (which made it painful and difficult).

Since then I just use the nail clippers and don't have much of a process for it.  I keep mine shorter than the finger skin such that if I were to play piano, my nails would never click the keys.