Nail biting, anyone know any good ways to not do it?

mumof1and1ontheway

I am 25 and have been a nail biter since I was small. It is a horrible horrible habit that I have and alot of the times I will be picking or biting my nails without even realising I am doing it.
I cannot afford anything expensive and have tried the nasty tasting stuff that you can buy. The urge is so strong to bite them that I end up just putting up with the gross taste until it no longer tastes that bad!!

A friend has offered to give me acrylic nails on Monday... for free!! But I need to at least grow my nails a little bit to even be able to do that, They are absolutely disguisting and as soon as I have a little nail there I bite it.

I am due to give birth early August and to beat this silly habit before then would be so nice. Plus I know if I tried hard when baby is here I will be more stressed so more likely to not succeed.

I have also tried to paint them with nail varnish, but because they are so bitten theres barely anything to paint so it doesnt work. I have managed before to get them long and took pride in them, it helped me to keep them long because I would file and paint them every day. But then any stress and I would chew them off again

I currently have plasters on 3 of my worst nails in hopes to help them grow a little, but I still need help in thinking of ways to stop the habit for good as I cant wear plasters on every finger ever day for the rest of my life lol.

In the winter I used to try and wear gloves as much as poss but cant now with it being summer plus I cant use my touch screen phone or the laptop with gloves on.

Has anyone succeeded in becoming a non-bitter? It seems to be will power and habit with me. And I wouldnt mind but when I got pregnant with my first child the day I found out I managed to quit smoking and havent smoked since (he is now 21 months old), so why am I finding the nail biting so hard grrrr.

Sorry for the long post and the little moan, any advice would be great!

jenniewb

1. Wear cotton gloves, it may not be as easy for every day to day activity but when your at home alone or travelling around- basicly times when you think you nibble your hands more, it can be a deterrant and may be enough to get some of the habit off and bring the other times you do bite under your control.

2. Speak to your doctor, I'd say nail biting puts your health at risk as its not only un hygenic (bacteria gathers beneath the nails) but it also could be painful if you were to swallow the bitten shards of nails and they scraped at your stomach.

3. Try to get everyone around you in on it- ask for them to remind you when you are biting your nails, I'd imagine its not always a concious thing so having someone say to you "look at what is going on" can then place the control in your hands and means you can then stop yourself.

4. Remember the first 2 weeks of anything new are the hardest to get through, after 2 weeks it will be far easier to cut back on as long as you consistantly keep up the stopping yourself biting as much as possible.

jinglebelle_2

I've got the same problem, have been a nail biter since childhood. I bought some false nails last week and since I can't get to the real nail I'm hoping I can wean myself off the need to bite them.

Silaqui

Hi!

I managed to stop biting my nails last year, actually I was in a similar situation to you, 25 years old, I'd bitten since I could remember. Just after my birthday I decided to stop because I got sick of them looking so disgusting.
I've now been a non biter for about 8 months and I'm so pleased with them, they are not long long and they are a funny shape but my hands look so much better, and I get to wear nail varnish now!

My tips - this is exactly what I did and it worked for me!
1. Get yourself to the chemist (boots is cheap enough and you get ad card points :money::rotfl:) and buy the following:

• A bottle of nail strengthening varnish.
• A clear nail varnish (Natural collection is cheap and good enough)
• Cuticle cream
• Handcream
• Nail files
• Nail varnish remover
• Manicure sticks - these)
• A really nice colour of nail varnish that you really want to wear.

The cost of these doesn't really matter just get what you can afford.

2. Use the cuticle cream and the sticks to give yourself a mini manicure, just massage the cream into your nails and cuticles and push them back a bit with the sticks. No need for filing at the minute, if you're anything like I was you won't have anything to file off

3. Wash hands and dry, then apply nail strengthener.

4. THE IMPORTANT BIT - keep hand cream, a manicure stick and clear varnish (or strengthener) with you at all times. If you get the urge to bite, put on handcream or varnish - makes it less appealing to bite and it stll gives you the fiddle factor. :rotfl: If it's not appropriate (at work, busy, whatever) use the manicure stick to push the skin back or clean underneath them.
I found that if I tried not to fiddle at all, I wanted to bite even more, so I did this sort of thing. I also developed a habit of running my teeth under my nail (if that makes sense) but not actually biting. Try to be aware of your hands. The nail varnish helps with this, (it's possibly just me) as because I wasn't used to wearing it I was really aware of my hands and that I'd got it on.

5. Keep doing the mini manicure/strengthener routine every night. Apparently it will increase the blood flow to your nails and make them grow faster, but I think it worked for me just because I could see a difference every night.

6. After a few days you should start to get an 'edge' to your nail - it probably won't be strong enough to file at this point so just keep with the routine - you will probably find that you don't want to bite them, which is good, but they will be weak so they might break, mine did loads. Try not to let it dishearten you, just keep with the routine they will look gorgeous soon!

7. Once they get to the length you want, use your pretty 'incentive' varnish and go out and flash your hands at everyone!

:beer:

I def agree with Jennie about getting other people in on it, they will remind you in absent minded times. Also, take photos! I found a photo on my phone of my old nails the other day (or non-nails, as the case may be) and I was so shocked at how awful they looked!

Sorry this has got so long but I kept thinking of other things to add when I was writing about what I did!

Good luck with it!

xx

Silaqui

Oh, by the way - I tried and failed many times to stop biting, I wasnt just a miracle stopper - you do have to be really determined as you well know!

x

*Vikki*

I have been a nail biter too since a kid, and have always bitten them, my mum does it too. I have grown them a bit this month though, so hoping not to bite them when I am stressed.

mumof1and1ontheway

Thank you for your replies. I have started filing them and applying e45 atm. I will have to file them daily even though theres nothing to file. but my main problem is any jagged edges I have to bite... and because I mess with my fingers constantly I end up with what to me feels sharp so I bite it, which then causes another so I bite that and so on.

I have had a look in my make up bag (which I havent been near for ages) and I have a cuticle pen thats like a liquid and I also have clear nail varnish for strengthening. I have been out and bought allsorts for my nails before just never stuck to it.

I am keeping the plasters on 3 fingers for now to see if that helps... as certain nails I bite way way more than the others.

Next time I get to go out shopping I will see what else from your list I can grab, or I'll nosey on ebay

I am so determined to succeed this time and support from you guys is def helping thank you so much. and any more suggestions please add x

Invasion

The other thing to do is to keep something in your hands.. So that you're not feeling your nails and where they're sharp/jagged. I'm not even a nail biter anymore but I will rip/bite nails that are jagged as my hands get drawn to it once I know it's there. Chewing gum? You've got something in your mouth you're less likely to bite? I really don't know how I stopped biting mine, it was gradual I think, my parents used that stop n grow stuff on me when I was young and I just found it got on my food and things so I got used to the taste even when I wasn't biting, so there was no incentive not to bite!

The other thing to be careful about it skin around your nails, if there's anything there that's not smooth I find it tempting to bite my nails. For the most part I've stopped now, my nails are relatively long and I keep nail varnish on them all the time. x

trudij

I absentmindedly had a scrape of one of my nails yesterday ( I dont bite mine any more, but I do scrape my teeth on the edges if one gets a bit rough!) and I had soap under the nail....


from my reaction to that,Im pretty sure that if you were to run your fingers over a bar and just get a little on the edges,it wouldnt take you ling to stop....


good luck - I bit mine for years and years too, its reaally not easy to give up !!!

flimsier

Chewing gum works. I've managed to cut down (am male) but keep putting them in my mouth and playing with longer nails, and hence they break regularly, and the jagged thing bothers me - the solution is to run for a nail file to get rid of the jagged edge asap.

I'm not completely stopped yet!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

1. Wear cotton gloves at all times when indoors. Put loads of handcream on, pop on gloves and only take them off when you are prepared to wash and dry your hands. Wear them night and day.

2. Each time you wash your hands, push the skin around them down, initially with just your index finger, then as the skin moves up over the nail as it begins to grow, an orange stick. Don't bother with cuticle remover at fist as you need the skin to heal and protect the nailbed first. Wash lots, because you won't believe how much crud collects under them - mainly because it would ordinarily be in your mouth by now!

3. It'll probably start hurting a bit, like you've walloped them with a hammer after about a week. That will go in about 2 days.

4. Keep putting on strengthener and the nasty tasting stuff on top of that for a good 12 weeks, as it will easily take that long to train yourself into doing something when stressed/bored/hungry. If you are faced with a strong urge to do it despite this, take a deep breath in and out, then flick your fingers out (like the actions to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) for as long as it takes for you to mentally say to yourself the Happy Birthday song and the urge should have decreased.

5. Just aim for the tips of your fingers at first. File any down if they get longer than this, as they will probably be weak, catch, spilt or generally annoy you until you chew them off. file them if they get rough or uneven at any point for the same reason.


I stopped after 30 odd years of bad biting about 14 months ago. I've never regretted stopping - and it's good for the teeth, too, as you probably have notches in your front teeth as a direct result of biting - and how much are dentist fees?

Oh, and DD is trying as she has seen her fingernails under a microscope. All I have to do when I see them in her mouth is to gently say 'fungus and bacteria', it gives her the image she saw and she takes them straight out again!

The process of having your fingers permanently covered in either baby poo or sterilising fluid tends to help stopping biting, so you are near a very good time to stop!

Good luck - it's a continuous process and you can do it!