I don’t chew my nails neither do I wear nails frequently. Just putting this out there before I share this traumatic experience and also as a caution for those who are quick to judge. 🤗 The last time i wore artificial nails was on my wedding day about 9 years ago and even that I took them off in two weeks as the acrylic nails didn’t feel comfortable.

My work as a homechef also means long nails are out of the question so i majorly keep my natural nails short, devoid of nail varnish and well trimmed. I take food safety very seriously. So back in 2025 and I got a ‘date’ of sorts. I’ve been single for a while after the divorce so naturally I was very excited to meet someone new and let’s be honest, the dating pool really shrinks when you’re a Mom and divorced also. 😩

My bestie and I agreed that I needed to look good for this ‘date’ so after much prodding from her i agreed to do my nails at a nail salon in my neighborhood. The nail tech assured me that these nails would last long but I assured her that as a chef I wasn’t exactly looking forward to having them on for a long time. I simply wanted something to take off after a few days. The nails looked good but felt tight a bit but i assumed they’d relax after some time.

Two weeks later, they weren’t coming off on their own, and I started feeling a bit of pain around the edges of my nails. I tried to remove them by myself but that was a terrible idea because the pain that grabbed me by the throat! 😫

I went back to the nail salon to have them taken off and after 20 mins or more they finally dissolved them and my nails felt free. But I noticed how fragile my nails looked. After about three days I noticed that my nail was slowly eroding into nail bed. I researched online and found recipes for homemade nail oil. I made my own and dipped my nails for some minutes every evening before bed. But I could literally see the erosion not slowing down. Ewurade! I literally felt like a character in the “Last Of Us” series. Fungus was eating me one nail at a time!

I took a photo of my nails and sent it to a doctor friend for his opinion and he shared photos of some meds I might need. I saw the price and bulked! My nails were turning black in the nail bed and pieces of my nail bed flesh were peeling off. Shaking hands with people became a challenge because this thing was embarrassing! I was given a chinese brand for nail treatment which was even blacker than my nail infection and each application meant having darkened nails during the day. Buei! Desperate times chale! I finally took myself to Rabito Clinic for a diagnosis even though I very well knew I would pay through my nose.

The dermatologist, without fail, diagnosed it as a fungal infection (already knew that chale). I received the prescription while crying inside. I left the clinic with a GHC1,100 bill. I was prescribed Terbinafine, Loceryl, and Nuvit multivitamin. The multivitamin would provide me with a mineral boost for healthy nails, he assured me, as I lamented the inconvenience of this infection. He warned me not to miss any days whilst taking the medications. Thank God for technology and the medication reminders on Apple Health. Once I input the prescription in, I was able to keep tabs on taking these meds for the next six weeks. Six weeks of swallowing Terbinafine an antifungal pill plus a multivitamin. Loceryl lacquer required me to put in the work twice a week. I had to wipe my nails, file the infected nails down before applying the lacquer. I put in the work for this and it really paid off in the end. Did I mention the price of the Loceryl? Oh I didn’t? Well…it’s GHC400 a box! Imagine if I had same fungus on my toenails also! That would have meant 2 boxes of Loceryl and chewing gari for the rest of the year. Thank God it wasn’t so.

I finally started seeing my nail bed restoring to it’s former glory in about a month in from when i started taking the meds and applying the lacquer. You should have seen how elated I was! I could comfortably go out without worrying about the ugliness of my nails.😌

Someone asked me on TikTok how the date 😂. It was just a waste of my time which even made my wahala more painful. At least had it gone the right way I would have had a sweet man by my side comforting me 😂😂😂. But alas! It is well.