Nail Biting

littlestar1981

Taylorcage wrote: »

Nail biting is the habit which have been observed in every other person in the world. One should use a bitter taste of nail polish. There are many cosmetics available in the market which can be used to avoid it.

Yes there are, but they don't help us nail biters AND pickers

I've managed to grow my nails twice in my lifetime, and I have no idea how I did it. The bad thing for me is that half the time I'm doing it without even realising!!!

rm_82

It's so difficult to stop! I decided i wanted to have nice nails for my wedding, but I'd been biting for nearly 30 years :eek:

Another vote from me for painting what little nail you have... if you're worried about them looking funny, use clear varnish, it feels horrid if you bite it! I used to pick the varnish off for a start, which wasn't great, but at least it was better than chewing and helped me get them looking a bit more normal.

I also carried a little file around to deal with any rough edges once they started to grow, as it was too tempting to chew them off otherwise!

I also started to take a Vitamin E supplement (to try and improve my skin) and a nice side effect is that it really strengthened my nails (and made them grow faster too I think). Superdrug had them on BOGOF a while ago so I stocked up!

Hope this helps, good luck. Xx

Chell

I've tried to stop many times but never managed for more than a couple of weeks. Funnily though this thread has spurred me on. I've not bitten my nails since I first read it a few days ago.

Teeniepops

I managed to quit nail nibbling a while back, but at times my nails will go lovely and then break (as soon as anyone compliments them usually!).

A few months ago, I had CND Shellac applied to my nails - they weren't bitten short, but they were struggling to grow between breaks. A friend at work suggested it as a means to get them going.

My nails have never looked better! It's basically a power polish - 4-5 layers that are dried under UV light and when I say power polish, I mean it! I've scrubbed the house, cleaned the car and all sorts if things that usually ruin a manicure/polished hand and not so much as a chip.

Also, my nails are so strong and grow so fast!

However...it's an ongoing cost. It costs on average £15 and needs doing twice a month. So, it is not a money saving addition to my life. I have so far had a few treatments before a break for a couple of weeks (my nails weren't ruined like if you have acrylics).

The big downside - you CANNOT remove without going to a salon - well, you CAN but then you do ruin your nails. So it will only work if you don't chew it off - it would be hard to do that as I can't imagine chewing through it tbh.

My nails grew loads in the first 2 weeks so if you could afford to get a couple of treatments it would set you in the right path to crack the habit. You can have colour, French tip or clear if your nails are super short.

It's made a difference to me is all I can say - my nails have never looked as good in my life.

Hope you crack it, whatever is decide.

System

I'm 26 and still do it. I hate long nails so think i bite them to make sure they dont get long Don't even realise i'm doing it half the time

koalamummy

Hi I spent my whole life as a prolific nail biter until near the end of uni where my lovely flat mate came up with some radical interventions that really worked! . Not sure if you can still buy it but I had to paint a treatment called bitter Alice on several times a day as well as wrapping my finger tips in that Elastoplast roll stuff. Total nightmare when taking hand washing in to the equation but after a few days it became second nature . Bonus was it was winter time so keeping gloves on was not seen as too abnormal or weird. Little did they know gloves were yet another barrier protecting my poor finger nails! :rotfl: I was also packed of with several packs of chewing gum and granola bars for several weeks too. My reward at the end of it was a professional manicure as a gift from said friend for success.

lilymay1

So glad other's have stopped to as a result of this thread. I think i'm at the end of day 3 now and not bitten once.

I've also not had to stop myself chewing either so perhaps my brain is starting to engage!

I'm really keen to try this shellac thing so I might enquire as to whether Its something I could do. Is it just varnish applied to existing nail, or so they use it as a 'false' nail or sorts?

NineSixOh

I was the same until a few years ago!

What worked for me was a nail technician friend stuck on false ones for me - i did warn her beforehand how bad they were but it didn't seem to bother her. It allowed them to grow underneath, and unlike some others experience it didn't seem to make them weak at all. So maybe it could be something to try and see?

Having said that shellac wasn't around then and that sounds fab from what others have said to me.

I don't know about anybody else but the good news for me is once they got to a certain length the urge to bite them was not there anymore, and I have only occasional relapses. It gets infinitely easier if you stick with it.

What I found did help in the early days was if I was tempted was to cut up a chilli then not wash my hands. It certainly stopped the hands wandering towards my mouth when sat watching tele, etc. Not always practical for every situation, granted - but it worked!

Good luck.

Gemma3108

I'm nearing the end of day 9 with no biting. However, today has been hard because I have kept wanting to bite. And it's an urge that won't go away. May get my partner to do my nails tonight (if she isn't too tired) then hopefully it might go away a bit.

Hope everyone else is doing okay.

If you want to quit together just give me an inbox xx

lilymay1

Just to update, I haven't bitten mine since I started this thread. I had bright red varnish on them but have now changed to clear stuff and so far, it's done the job! They are starting to look better and I've slowly been pushing the cuticles back to reveal more nail. My cuticles also look a lot better given that they're no longer in constant moisture from my lips.

One thing though, are my nails going to be yellow for ever or will they eventually get whiter?