I wouldn't call the white part "dead nail", I mean women pay bunches of money for white tips! Thats how mine look, the naturally white tips. If you want to keep them long, just put a coat of clear nail polish on them. If you want them to be a tad shorter, you can do it with an emery board too, just go one direction, not back and forth, to get the shape you want. Thats what I do, I very rarely actually cut my nails until I get sick of them being long, then I just use nail clippers. I like go from one side to half the nail and cut, and then come in from the other side to even them off. Thats how I cut em so I don't bend the nail cuz thats painful.

I think they're pretty though!!