Thread: How did you stop biting your nails?

Other than "just do it" what are some helpful things that you did that helped you stop biting your nails? I'm terrible. I also bit the skin around my nails because that area is so dry it splits and then I pick at it. It's awful and embarrassing, but I've never really made a full-fledged effort to stop. Yesterday my boss's boss made a comment that I really needed to stop. Jeez!

So help a girl out. Cold Turkey probably won't work on these hands.

Thanks!

I remember my aunt had this problem so she purchased something to put on your nails that makes them takes bitter. I mean if you really can't stop then try that or the bitter spray they use for pets. LOL. Otherwise just keep your nails done professionally - see how beautiful they are. Now why would you want to ruin those? Plus, when you have a gig, you don't want yucky nails!

hypnosis works really well for nail biting. generally, once people find the source of stress or other emotion that makes them bite their nails, and address that, the nail biting is not "needed".

if its not from stress, you can do the old school way: put hot pepper under your nails. just dont rub your eyes!!!

Mine issue is definitely stress. When I am not at work for a long period of time (like when I go to Pennsic or am off for 12 days over christmas), I return with long nails! But as soon as I am in the office again, there they go. . .

Sigh. :-(

like reinaa suggested, you can buy a bitter tasting nail polish at most drug/grocery stores. i tried that stuff when i was a teen, and it didn't really work for me. i guess it didn't taste bad enough ..l;,

what works for me is keeping them polished! i don't want to mess them up cuz they look cute. also, just a general awareness of stopping myself when i start to bite them. it talks time, but eventually you can stop. good luck!

oh, another thing that helps me is set a specific goal. i wanted nice nails for my wedding, so every time i started to bite them, i stopped myself and thought about the wedding date. maybe set a goal like, i want to have nice nails for this show or that workshop or this gig.

I would just go to a nail salon every 2 weeks. Work on growing them out a little. You are so less inclined to bite them when they are all done up and long! I used to bite my nails and mess with my fingers too much but ever since I started getting my nails done I haven't even had to think about it.

Yes, mine is somewhat from stress or boredom, say for instance I am concentrating at work, driving in the car or watching a creepy movie.

However, for me it feels like a lot of it has to do with the condition of my nails. My nails are naturally thin. They get very brittle at times. I take vitamins every day. The skin around my nails (cuticle and side of fingers) is where the problem starts. Once I start messing with that, I start messing with my nails. When the skin starts to peel, then I can't stop working on it.

I have bitten my nails for 50 years. I am better..but not totally off the habit. For me - it is an expression of self hatred. That sounds harsh, I know, but that is the deep root of the habit. It is a more innocuous form of skin cutting.

Kind of gross, but do a Google image search for "pin worm." Don't do it at work either, NSFW if they're shown in their natural habitat.

Manicures, when you spend money on your nails and they look nice you are less inclined to ruin them.

Mine are the same way, thin and brittle. Regular manicures will help, and hand creme. Badger balm makes a great cuticle oil in a tin that is really good. I had to quit using it because I'm allergic to the geranium in it, but I recommend it. Ulta carries it.

I agree with Sabrina on the hypnosis. If you feel compelled to keep going once you start messing with one, hypnosis could help slow or stop that.

I feel your pain. I was a nail biter for years. For some reason, as I got older, I stopped. Can't explain why because I am definitely not under less stress!! When I'm stressed, I'll still pick at the cuticles.

One thing I noticed that helped me was getting my nails done, as Vashta suggested. I actually had acrylics for a while and when they were on I stopped picking and biting. Be careful with acrylics though. With thin nails, there's not much there to file down before messing with the nail bed. I know this from my own experience--ouch!

I bit my nails til I was 15-16, but I still bit and pick my cuticles when I'm nervous. I think I used bitter nail polish, but most of all I made a conscious effort to stop or do something else whenever I felt the need to bite. It won't happen overnight, so give yourself time. Having my nails done helped a lot with picking and biting. For thin and brittle nails I suggest Nail Tek Exra or OPI Nail Envy polishes: they don't make miracles, but my nails are definitely stronger.

Hi, my name's Shannon, and I'm a nail biter.

I have bitten my nails for my entire life. I also clench my jaws and grind my teeth. Which led to having my front teeth bonded and restored. Which led to changing my bite just enough that I can't bite any more. Doesn't mean I still don't try!

Nothing has helped me--and I've tried everything already suggested. So now that I can't bite, I pick at my cuticles. Lovely.

I'm pretty sure it's because I'm slightly OCD (self-diagnosed, of course!) so if there's something that I focus on, it's going to be part of my day until I find another object of frustration. Sigh.

I bit my nails constantly until my senior year in high school; I had a friend who had beautiful nails..........and I saw how the boys noticed.............
I started getting my nails done, manicures, and since then they've gotten stronger, and for years now I've gotten a manicure and pedicure every two weeks...........it works!

I used to bite my nails all the time. Then, several years ago, I was asked to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. I didn't want my nails to look bad, so I got acrylic nails and ended up keeping them for a year or so. Because you can't bite acrylics, I just got out of the habit of doing it. I haven't had acrylic nails for a really long time and I never picked the habit of biting back up.

I have chewed and picked at my cuticles all my life. (For some reason, I don't bite my nails.) I was so obsessive about it, I used to have a stash of nail clippers everywhere I went. One on my vanity, one in the bathroom, one in my bag, one at my desk...

I used to wear acrylics back in the day and did not chew my cuticles because they are harder to get at with the acrylics on. Once I stopped the acrylics though, I went right back at it. It's expensive to keep up with, but so far it has been the only thing that works for me.

I've gotten really tired of the pain, bandaids, etc. not to mention imagining what my hands would look like when I am older.

I heartily endorse getting your nails done, but I'd suggest UV gel rather than acrylic... for thin nails, it's a little more "bendable" and less brittle/fragile.

I bit my nails until I was 42 or so. Then, had my very, very short nails done with the UV gel. If I'm going through a particularly stressful time, I do regress and chew the gel off, then destroy the nail. However, a set of tips and I'm back in business!

I guess the real answer is that you have to really want to give it up. And not beat yourself up if/when you accidentally find your nails between your teeth. Just start again.

Good luck!

Yep, acrylic nails are the way to go. You will train yourself NOT to bite at your nails PLUS have pretty nails.

Originally Posted by Michelle75

Yep, acrylic nails are the way to go. You will train yourself NOT to bite at your nails PLUS have pretty nails.

But they ruin the nail underneath and when you take them off there is MORE of an urge to bite since they look so sparse.

Originally Posted by _Tanya_

But they ruin the nail underneath and when you take them off there is MORE of an urge to bite since they look so sparse.

Hmmmmm, my nail lady soaks my fingers in something and they come right off; no damage to my nails. I thought that was something alot of people use at nail salons.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

However, for me it feels like a lot of it has to do with the condition of my nails. My nails are naturally thin. They get very brittle at times. I take vitamins every day.

I found that the best way to promote strong, healthy fingernails is to drink 2-3 glasses of milk per day.

Over the years, I've experimented with vitamins, calcium, protein supplements made from gelatin, and various bottles of "nail hardener" stuff that you paint onto your nails, and none of these approaches has measured up to simply drinking milk.

Also, it really does to be 2-3 glasses of milk. When I've tried 1-2, my nails weren't quite strong enough.

And of course, with a dietary solution, you need to wait 3 months to see results because that's how long it takes a fingernail to grow out. Toenails need 6 months.

The first thing that stopped me was having braces on my teeth as a teenager. Then, I liked how they looked so adult and elegant so I was quite proud of my nails at that time and would manicure them etc. As a hairdresser I developed quite horrendous dermatitis which pretty much destroyed my cuticles, but curiously, my nails were *rock hard* and stayed really quite long.

Somehow in my 20s, when I was no longer a hairdresser with painted nails and hideously itchy,painful dermatitis, I started biting again. I have no idea why.

I come and go on nail biting and am fortunate that even when my nails are bitten right down they look OK, as I have deep nail beds. And to be honest, I like a "working hand" now; the older I get the less I like very long nails and very noticeable manicures. I find that the easiest way for me to keep some length on my nails is:

1) Polish. If they're polished they feel thicker and there's less urge to bite them. Then as they start growing you don't want to bite them so much.
2) Accepting that a length much beyond my fingertip is not sustainable because a) if it's my thumb, it will inevitably rip halfway down the nail bed and b) it will start annoying me and I'll start biting bits that aren't quite the right shape and lo! I'll bite them off
3) More polish. I actually don't like the look of my nails with length on them without polish as all of my fingers are a slightly different shape and on some, the white looks uneven and it irritates me.

A woman I knew who picks her nails obsessively gets acrylics so that she can't. That's the other option. So long as you don't get those hideous white tips that start practically at your knuckle and have a really square shape, because if you do I might have to come through the internet and smack you.

Acrylic voter here. They are more bompproof than gel or fiberglass, thought the latter two look thinner and more realistic. I found a way to pick/bite the gel nails. (yuck I know) but the acrylic was simpy too hard. I let my natural nail grow underneath and after about a year, decided not to hassle with them anymore and had them soaked (NEVER PRY THEM) off. my real nails were like paper underneath but long! I managed to keep them until they grew out more normally and to this day never bite.

(And I was one of those bite past the quick, pick the hangnails, etc biters)

Good luck

PS Andalee, how is that pretty pearl costume coming? That will sure keep your fingers busy

I stopped biting my nails at around 10 or 11 when I started putting on nail polish and didn't want to ruin the polish.

Still working on not biting the skin but I can do it most of the time.
It's really important to cut off any skin bits before you even get the chance to bite them.

I have otherwise very nice hands and don't want to ruin them with ugly nails and hurt cuticles, so that's a motivation.

MEISSOUN

my friend made her's sparkly so she wouldn't bite them. if you sprinkly glitter on to the nail polish while it's still wet it sticks, follow with a clear coat and you're nails will be too pretty to eat (sortta like a wedding cake... ^_~)

one of my dancers had tips put on...the salon visits, cost...nice look, broke her of it

Be very aware of your self talk and emotions at the time you are doing this. It is a behavior pattern in response to internal as well as external stimulus. Carry a nail file with you at all times so you can make an appropriate response to the external stimulus of the split or peeling nail.

I still have the problem, mine occurs when I'm bored or concentrating. Manicures!! and when that doesn't work I usually do tips and / or UV gel or Acrylic.