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

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Wonderful! Well done! Keep looking after them and they will begin to get stronger and whiter over the coming months.

Nowdays, I rarely notice my nails, but they do not look like I have ever bitten them. They aren't perfect, but even without any fancy polishes or finishes, they still look so much cleaner and neater than messing around with chewed stumps. They're a lot stronger too.

The only thing I did notice is that I became very sensitive to textures against my nails - kind of a teeth on edge feel to a lot of seemingly innocent things. That's finally going now, but I think was due to finally getting some sensations through the nails which I had not been aware of before.

The cat loves me more now. I can scratch through her long fur and get her just where she likes to be scratched on her shoulders.

My one bad habit is that I tend to drum when there is music on and I am waiting for something. The sound carries because I'm using the nails to do it.

I can't ever imagine sticking them back in my mouth and chewing now.

When I have the money, I shall have a proper manicure. But they look fine now anyway.

terra_ferma

Great to hear so many success stories! :T

Mine are still beautiful. They started to bother me when they grew a bit longer, but now I keep them shorter, with a nice nail polish.

When I had them slightly longer I used stunning nail polish, one red and one blue.
Now I have a pearly greeny bluey one, very nice.

The only addition to my routine is a cuticle removing cream, as my cuticles were hard and I could not keep them under control.

Unfortunately now most of my nails have ridges
Maybe because of the base/polish, although I used very good ones.
Anyone else had the same problem?

Otherwise I'm really happy!

Savvy_Sue

mumof1and1ontheway wrote: »

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.

sounds like you're doing well, but even though I haven't bitten my nails for a very long time, I still can't be without an emery board - in my purse, in my desk drawer, even one on my key ring now!

As soon as I notice anything the least bit rough, out comes the emery board. I find it's the only way ...

La-Cara

terra_ferma wrote: »

Unfortunately now most of my nails have ridges
Maybe because of the base/polish, although I used very good ones.
Anyone else had the same problem?

Otherwise I'm really happy!

You can buff your nails down to get rid of ridges, they cost £1 or so. I find that if I buff them regularly they never have the chance to get too ridgey.

I bit my nails for almost 20 years, stopped for a few, then fell back on the wagon last year and have only just managed to grow them back.

The way I stopped (both times!) was by painting my nails even when they were really short. When I first decided to make a real effort to stop, I bought loads of nail products and naturally I wanted to get my money's worth

EmptyPockets

This is maybe a bit disgusting but I'll post it anyway

When I was a little girl I used to bite my nails all the time, I was terrible. Everyone used to tell me off for it, I was always having my hand yanked away from my mouth! Then one day, my Grandma sat me down and said 'right madam, let me show you something.'

She used a pointed nail file to scrape all the dirt/skin/etc from under my nails. She put it all on a piece of tissue paper and made me look at it through a magnifying glass. 'This is what you are chewing on. This is what you are eating everytime you bite your nails.'

I was horrified, it was really eewwww, and I haven't bitten my nails since that day.

Thanks Grandma :T

LadyMorticia

Really sorry to bump but just want to say that I've always had trouble with biting my nails. I've done it since I was a small child. My dad does it and so does my aunty so I'm wondering if I picked it up from them? Who knows.

Anyway, thanks for all the tips. Definitely going to try some of them.

I'd be interested to know how previous posters are getting on from 9 months ago.

Afitos

Hi Everyone,

I have biten my nails all my life, well as long as I can remember ! I am nearly 44 lol!

I stopped biting them a couple of months ago. I am getting married in 5 weeks, I stopped when H2B pointed out that my hands would look horrible when I got my ring !

It is hard as they break. I am putting hardner on and using cuticle and mail cream. I read that glass nail files were the best. Then I saw on the poundland thread that they have themfor a pound ! I got some last week you get a large one and a small one in pink too !
They sell the buffers previously mentioned in a pack also.

It is nice to have nails though !:)

TimBear

Since my earliest memories, I was always a nail biter. By the time I was around 16, I had no nail whatsoever on my two index fingers and the other nails were maybe 2 or 3mm long at the most. Seriously gross!

However, not long after that, I got a waitressing job and knew how gross my fingers were and didn't want people to be put off that I'd handled their plate, glass etc with them.

I had acrylic nails put on so that I couldn't physically get to my real nails. I'm not sure what the 'rules' are on how long your real nails should be when putting these on but the nail technician had no qualms doing mine and they stayed put as they should have done. I got refills a couple of times as they started to grow and by the time I had them taken off they were lovely!

Since then I've not bitten my nails since (about 8 years now). I do have the occasional nibble if a nail has broken, but I always have a nail tip (the white bit...whatever that's called!) so they still look lovely.

The only problem is that once I stopped biting my nails I started picking the skin around my nails even more! I don't do that anymore now either - my fingers are scarred right down to first bend in my fingers under the nail from what I used to do and I can't believe I could do that to myself!

If you don't have money to have extensions put on then perhaps clear nail varnish and nice hand cream as others have suggested will help.

marmiterulesok

Well,I've got to join in,being a life-long nail biter.

I started as a young child,copying my Mum....

I have managed sometimes for up to one-two years to stop/cut down,but always end up back at square one.(I think that it's my default setting).

These last few weeks have been horrendous.

Over the last few days I've been using the lotions (Stop'n'Grow and 'Nail The Habit',massaging my nails with a special cream every day and using cotton gloves as much as possible.

It's awful to have this habit in my forties.I'm really determined to succeed this time.I have some lovely rings that I'd like to be able to wear again.

Good luck to all of you!I will report back in a week....

elliebobs

So glad I've found this thread. I'm also a lifelong nail biter. I stopped after getting a flu type bug not so long ago that left me with no energy to do anything and I realised that I hadn't bitten my nails for 3 days so decided to keep it up. I've largely kept it up by just biting my thumb nails so my hands do look a bit weird but certainly a lot better than they did.

It's my birthday at the end of next month so OH has bought me a load of lovely new sparkly rings by way of an incentive. My cuticles are an absolute mess though so need to invest in some good hand cream for them.

For the first time since I can remember I actually have 'white bits' at the top of my nails; I'm particularly proud of my pinkie nail and am very protective over it!

Perhaps we should also take pictures of our nails and post them as we're going along???