Successful ways to stop biting nails?

[NailBiters]

Been such a bad nail biter ALL my life. Had periods of time where they were nice and long but the only way they stay this way is if I have regular gel nail appointments

whichhhhh…. I find hard to do now since I had my son almost a year ago! Driving 15 mins there 15 mins back and an hour appt isn’t ideal really. I do get them done for special occasions but would love them to be as long and strong as they used to be :)

Any tips to stop biting? Not a ‘stop n grow’ nail thing please as I remember vaguely when I used it , it got into everything and everything tasted of it!

I like to cook for my family so worry it’d end up in there etc. please any tips that isn’t that x

What stopped me was acrylic nails. Totally cold turkey.

Builder gel nails or acrylics.

Gel polish. I've been a nail biter since the age of about 4. I'm 50 now. Had builder gel put on in October before a holiday and have had my nails painted ever since. They are now lovely and long and I don't want to bite them any more.

When i went on fluoxetine for bad pnd, now biting again. Turns out I am actually very anxious generally, which I didn’t realise until i wasn’t. I don’t think it shows, biting nails is how i deal with it.

What has also worked well was replacing the impulse. I bought a selection of really nice hand creams and left them everywhere. Every time i would get the need to bite, i would rub cream onto my hands and nails instead. Thatworked well for about a year.

any form of false nails totally messes my nails up, they’re just too thin after 46 years of biting :(

Invisalign teeth straightening aligners. Never had such long nails!

I was a lifelong nail biter. Then during a particularly stressful time in my life I started taking Citalopram for anxiety. And one of the best side effects is that I stopped biting my nails. It must have been a reaction to being anxious.

I did it by reducing the nails I could bite one by one. I put a ring on to mark one I didn't want to bite. Then when the nail had grown a bit, I put a ring on the next finger and avoided both.

Another one who stopped biting nails when I took antidepressants. I didn't work on it or think about it, it just happened!

Spinner ring or gel nails.

Acrylics was the only way I could stop, it took me until I was forty to manage it.

I stopped biting mine with gels.

i bought my own kit once I had my baby as I couldn’t make the regular appt and I needed to do then when baby was in bed.

I allow myself to bite one nail only (little finger on one hand). This relieves the urge but gives the others a chance and they look ok - I keep them short because of my job. I’ve been a nailbiter all my life.

I also realised that I generally only bite when I’m actively thinking about something in detail - often when I’m driving. Knowing this was helpful in that I can say ‘stop biting’ to myself, which helps rein in the damage to the one nail.

I'm a lifelong nail-biter, but currently "in remission" . I'm 65 now and started biting my nails when I was 5, when I started school and got told off by the teacher for sucking my thumb. Somehow nail-biting was more socially acceptable.

I've stopped several times in my life - when I was getting married, when my 4th child was born, when I reached 40 (and 50 and 60!). Each time I stop it feels like I've conquered it, but then every time when for various reasons my nails have been weakened (by DIY, gardening or some such thing) and start breaking badly, I am vulnerable to restarting and then get disheartened when they're all chewed off and it takes a while (sometimes years) before I achieve stopping again.

I genuinely do think that I have stopped for good this time - but time will tell!

The best ways that I've found for stopping are:
a) take photos of your chewed nails as a baseline, then take similar photos once a week to compare and see progress, which happens remarkably quickly.

b) tell everyone. Show all your friends and family your horrible nails. Let them see all the chewed stumps, the shredded cuticles, all of the things you don't usually want people to see. Then tell them that you're determined to stop and if they see you with your fingers in your mouth, they must pull you up on it and remind you you've stopped.

c) get some flesh coloured micropore tape and put a thin strip across each of your nails, at the top of the nail. If you inadvertently go to bite the nail, the unfamiliar texture of the tape will alert you as to what you're doing and give you an opportunity to choose not to bite.

d) after a couple of weeks, as soon as you can see some growth, file the rough ends smooth and put some clear, shiny nail strengthening varnish on. I swear by Nailtiques Formula 2, which works wonders on my nails. It's getting difficult to source nowadays and very expensive, but I think there are other Nailtiques fórmulas still available which may be just as effective.

Good luck! To encourage you, here are two photos of my nails. One taken at Christmas 2017 and the other one taken about 5 minutes ago. In between the two photos, I've stopped biting, then restarted, and then stopped again about a year ago!

I have gel overlays - my place takes 40 mins for infills.