Nail Biting

sulkisu

I was the same, I used to bite my my nails so low that the bled until I was about 24 years old. I then had false nails fitted and broke the biting habit in a week. The false ones just don't taste the same and you can't actually bite bits off - they just look chewed. As my natural nails grew under the false ones, I started to take pride in them and less than a year later I had a full set of long natural nails. I still do 20 years on - in fact people usually think that they are false.

starrystarry

Best of luck to all the ladies who are trying to stop biting. When you're ready to start painting them, come and join us on our spin-off forum for nail polish addicts... http://npaa.forumotion.co.uk/

r710

OP, I understand. I've been an extreme nail biter seemingly all 34 years of my life.

No idea why I started but I definitely identify it as an anxiety thing for me. I bite and emotionally drift off for a good while.

Have at various points managed to break the habit (first few days is always the hardest) but have always undone my work when I've come to the next emotional trauma, no matter how small or irrational.

When I was a waitress many years ago, a customer pointed out my self-mutilation and while I was embarrassed, I never had enough motivation to really see it through as a long lasting change. Even seeing my tiny toddlers copying me biting wasn't enough to stop me. My husband would shout at me every time I bit, but I'd just go to another room.

However, work with lots of ladies with fab nails now, coveted their beautiful manicured nails and have begun to get increasingly ashamed of my nails. Started to see how disgusting it is from other people's eyes, and noticed that I always hid my hands with shame and would avoid certain situations where my disgusting nails would be more obvious. Realised what a problem it was when I declined to help at a school event for no other reason than because it would mean the other mums would see my ugly nails.

Funnily enough I work with people, clients so to speak, who are tying to make changes to their lives, and once on a training event, the trainer used therapy techniques on me, telling me to break down the process of what I'd see, how I'd feel having nice nails, basically acheiving the one thing I wanted. Wanted it so much to work, but reckon I was testing him and failed immendiatley! Felt such a fraud, trying to help people to make positive changes when I couldn't myself.

Anyhow, my colleague was so sick of seeing me bite, and recognised my shame, and brought in a bottle of nail varnish in one day. I literally had no more than 2 or 3 millimeters of nail on each finger, and my index nails were just soft tissue where I'd gouged the whole lot off. Anyway, she told me to paint them every day with a fresh coat. (Just after she'd told me that there were more germ on my fingers than in the toilet!) and that she'd be inspecting them everyday. Initially it was tricky, but my colleague was really motivational, texting me, checking up how it was going, I didn't want to let her down.

Am sat here now, having not bit since 11th October 2012. My nails are nearing the end of my fingers, healthy, neat and painted bright red. I regularly change the colour of the nail varnish, and am forever dangling them in people's faces, loving their reaction. It's been a tough few years for us, but not much has made me feel this good about myself in a long time. I've achieved something I never thought I would.

Like anyone with a habit, I do feel I'll always be a nibble away from disaster, but I've been told to keep a nail varnish and nail file on me at all times, so that if I start, I have a strategy to avoid a apse. But for some reason, I sense this time is different. I really want to keep these and I feel in control of it, rather than it controlling and defining me. My anxiety manifests in different ways. Am now biting the inside of my lip and and I have a very restless leg, but I'll deal with these in time.

One of my colleagues said to me the other day that she didn't like to ask about my nails before I stopped biting because she thought I had terrible eczema on my fingers. Makes me mortified!

You know what though, no one but you OP can make it happen and I really feel, from my experience, that you've really got to have decided enough is enough. My colleague was the catalyst, giving me a starting point with no excuses, but I knew I just didn't want to have gone through my life never having got to have pretty painted nails.

Makes me sound shallow. Promise I'm not!

Good luck OP. If I can do it, so can you.

claire16c

lilymay1 wrote: »

Problem is I don't have much nail to paint. There is probably 5mm of visible nail on my pinky fingers going up to 1cm on my thumb. There isn't anything to attach false nails to either so that's another option out.

That's ok, just paint what you do have!

viscachaz

Nothing worked for me, even the foul tasting nail varnish.. what it took was me being ashamed of them, and getting my boyfriend at the time to flick my hand away if my nails went in my mouth.. was amazing how little I realised I did it without thinking..

Get everyone around you to point it out to you! I still had the occasional blip when I bite them all off, and if they need cut, I'll bite the majority I'd be cutting off, and trim the rest.

After a while, you untrain the habit, and it doesn't become a go-to thing when you're not concentrating, I also find having a bracelet that was unintentionally too long, so the chain the catch fixes to hangs down helps.. if I ever need something to do, I play with that. Have one on each wrist that can be played with in some way!

Edited to add, I'd been biting for as long as I could remember, even when I was 9, I can't remember a life before biting my nails.. I also used to paint the little bits left, which helped me feel ashamed as they were so terrible and obvious.. finally stopped at 23, and now have nice long nails (which frustrate me when they break!) could never go back now I know what having them is like. I also bought myself quite a few nail varnishes (sorry, not very money-saving I know!) and still buy the odd colour that attracts me, just to keep me on my toes and keep me interested in not biting them.

Hope I helped!

Gemma3108

My NY resolution is to stop biting my nails.

I used to bit even when there was nothing there. It was a boredom and aniety thing. I've bit my nails for as long as I can remember, and I have tried to quit before, but lasted about 2 weeks and gave up lol.

I actually haven't biten my nails since New Years so all going good so far. Want to grow them out for my wedding in September and so me and my partner can have pamper nights and do each others nails

If anyone wants to try together give me an inbox. Would be glad of the support from people who know what it's like to try and stop

x

lilymay1

Thank you to everyone who has replied. It's a comfort to know I am not the only one who is embarrassed!

Good news to report...I took the advice and painted them a shocking pink colour yesterday afternoon and a whole 30 hours later haven't bitten them once. I have started to a couple of times but as soon as my mouth realised the texture was different (nail varnish and not bare nail) my brain engaged and I stopped myself. They look stupid but if it helps me crack the habit I will be very pleased!

For me, this is the easy bit. The real difficulty comes when they begin to grow into the ends of my fingers and it hurts 24/7. I'l keep you updated!

naughty_10382

I would also say to paint what you have!

I decided to stop biting on Aug 28th 2012, the day my Dad passed away, because I knew he'd always wanted me to stop. Hopefully nothing as drastic as that has to happen for you, but I have found that I did start nibbling quite a bit the last couple of months.

For the last 2 or 3 weeks I have been painting them bright colours and it does help lessen the 'tidying up' nibbles! They are still very short (I tend to bite them when I'm watching a film or TV and am distracted) but they are looking much nicer.

I do have one horrible nail that I'm not sure will ever grow properly. I do paint what little I have on that one, and even sometimes put a plaster over it, but at the moment nothing is working!

Just wanted to offer up my 2 cents, good luck and I hope you achieve lovely nails!

barbiedoll

My mum has bitten her nails for as long as she has had teeth.....so around 74 years! :eek:
Funnily enough, I can't remember ever seeing her actually bite them but they are just like OP's, hardly any nail and chewed skin all around.

Not very practical (or MSE), I know, but the only time that she has had long nails was each time that she was pregnant. We have baby photos of each of us and you can see her long nails in the pics. She has tried everything to stop, and we have bought her endless bottles of pretty nail polish, and painted her nails for her but to no avail. I'll be watching this thread to see how you go OP, and see if I can't get her motivated (again!)

Good luck!

lilymay1

Naughty - Thanks for the input. The only time I properly stopped (for about 3 months) was when my daughter died. I just felt like I wanted to do something difficult for her but, like a true addict, even that didn't last.

Fingers crossed for 2013 eh?

Barbie - How funny you should mention pregnancy! I've been pregnant 3 times and never stopped with any of them. Been TTC for 14 months now so perhaps I can tie the two in together