to really enjoy picking the skin around my fingers, oh nom nom

[discorabbit]

it's really quite fun

Oh at last, my disgusting secrets can be revealed! I love picking fingers, especially until the skin throbs.... used to be a chronic nailbiter but when that stopped the picking started.

I also pick my feet, and yy to the poster who mentioned taping cotton wool over the wounds so they could walk.

It is awful and I genuinely worry about infections and tetanus etc (especially on my feet) but due to dh and his horror I am getting better. I can't go for manicures or pedicures though

Well, those of you who have admitted to picking at your hangnails, scabs, spots and eating what you have gleaned, have had your names put into a hat. I will have great pleasure in picking one out and submitting it for attention on the Jeremy Kyle Show. You just emulate those who are already on it.

Should my friend pick at scabs and eat them will be the question asked on the show. Ugh! How gross!

I do this. Not nearly as badly as I used to though. My brother's fingers are terrible. Bleeding and raw like he's clawed his way out of a dungeon.

I was watching Mr Selfridge and the heads of department were told to inspect the interviewees' hands.

My mum swears people do this and refuse you a job. Probably. Especially in the restaurant.

I was once refused an interview with M and S as I bit my nails - walked into the interview room and sat down, the interviewer saw I was a biter and ended the interview.

That was only as a Saturday girl too, God knows how strict they would have been if I wanted full time!

I managed to make it to interview stage for an M&S Saturday job but was cruelly rejected.

Could have been because I bit my nails but more probably because about the first thing I said was: 'Ooh! I managed to make it on time today. That's a surprise because I'm always late for school.'

AIBU that i am disgusted by all of you eating your fingers while i hypocritically do it myself?????? not too badly though - no bleeding/scabs mostly

YABVVVVVVVU for using the phrase 'nom nom'

My Mum is forever saying "stop biting your rags" to me. I do it because I like my fingers to feel smooth, so when I feel a dry bit of ragged skin I bite it off. This in no way leads to smooth skin...

Oh gawd, I'm suffering from all day morning sickness at the moment and wish I hadn't read this thread title (vom).

I do this too, not the eating bit though.

So does my DH and 4yo DD. We are all disgusting and we get through a lot of plasters.

YABVU. I can't even read the thread this kind of thing freaks me out so much, it's disgusting

have you people not seen the scene in Black Swan where she peels the skin off

When i'm stressed i pluck my very outer eyelashes out. Very satisfying esp if they have thick mascara on them . I don't go any further than that though or my eyes would look very odd.

YANBU. Nom nom indeed. I am a big picker. So is DH. Imagine my pride when I found DS aged 2.10 picking at his toe nails. It's a family tradition. My dad was hospitalised due to toe nail picking sequalae as a child.

I don't know about others but t is a compulsion for me; I CAN'T stop and get very anxious if I can't pick. So the people calling us pigs and Jeremy Kylesque can have a instead to nibble on, you superior beings!

I do it too. I pick away until my fingers bleed.

I can't seem to stop myself. Always good to know I'm not alone.

Guilty too. Wish I could stop but it's a stress thing with me.

I do it too. It really hurts when I squeeze lemons, limes or oranges :-(

Dermatillomania. It is unconscious self-harm.

I can't help you re biting but these are my tips re picking:
(1) Get several small tubes of a good (thick) hand cream. Put one in the kitchen, each hand bag, car, and bedside table. Apply throughout the day, especially after washing hands.
(2) Get a manicure set and learn to give yourself manicures. You will be much less interested in picking the skin around your nails when your fingers are manicured AND you'll find that using the skin nipper is just as cathartic as picking at the skin with your nails. The difference being that the manicure leaves your fingers much better than before, which would not be the case if you were to spend that half hour picking at them
(3) Always always have nail polish on your nails
(4) Have one of these in every hand bag, so that if you discover a bit of skin you might like to pick at, you can simply cut it off