Up until 4 days ago, I used to pick the skin on the side of my fingernails...?

Question

...not chew my nails - never have done that!
But how do I get rid of the hard skin (if I clip it, it's kind of the same effect than chewing it), and make my fingers look pretty again???

Answer 1

Never clip it!

1. soak your fingers in warm, soapy water (add some essential oils to make it greasy and scented)
2. tap dry your fingers
3. use wooden stick or q-tip to push skin around the nails away from the nail bed.
4. Put some good quality hand lotion on
5. At night, put lavander oil or some heavy duty hand lotion on, then put plastic gloves on and sleep like that.

In 2 days your fingers will be like new.

Again, never clip or chew the skin around the nails.

Answer 2

I have that problem too (with my toenail skin though).
Don't clip it, because it will still come back hard.
The best thing to do is to let it grow in, and ignore the fact that it'll look nasty for a while.
Also, I use this product called "Pretty Hands and Feet" that you rub on and it sloughs away dead or rough skin. It's the best thing I've found, and it's not as damaging as cutting or filing the growing skin. You can find it at any drugstore or drugstore.com.
Hope this helps!