To ask how you stopped nail biting

[yoursworried]

I'm 33 and have severely bitten my nails for as long as I can remember. It looks horrible but I barely know I'm doing it.

Today I had to go to the doctors with a very painful infection round the nail which involved draining and now a course of antibiotics. It's been a painful and expensive lesson and I'm a bit ashamed really as it's entirely self-inflicted by a mindless habit that worsens when I'm a bit anxious (like now as about to move and start a new job)

I am prompted to try again to give up but I've failed many times. The bad tasting stuff isn't enough for me - I can mindlessly chew through that so I am searching for any tried and tested ideas from the ever experienced mumsnetters. Thanks in advance

I painted my badly bitten nails bright blue. Reminded me every time I went to bite them and apparently psychologically as very few foods are blue we avoid eating blue things. Worked for me and I was much older!

Nail polish. Proper bright colours. Yes, it looked stupid while I still had bitten, stubby nails but it put me off and they soon grew. I'd tried nude/very pale pink before and it had t helped, neither had the nasty tasting clear stuff.

I bit mine for years but getting gel nails saved my hands! I used to bite off all the skin around my nails too and it stopped me biting at all. It is an expense but better by far for my hands. I get gel nail infills every two weeks for £25. Worth every penny to me.

You can just decide to stop.

Make a promise to yourself and do it

I not for years and even now have the odd bite!!

Hi OP. I used to bite mine very badly and occasionally relapse during stressful periods. I totally sympathise. What I do is buy artificial nails and glue them on but cut them short and paint them a nude colour so they are not obvious in any way. It feels nice and looks much better and it is a physical barrier that stops me biting. Usually keep them on for about a week then take them off and there is enough growth that they look better and the habit is broken. I have to do this every six months or so!

I had acrylic nails. Decades before they became a thing.
There was barely anything for them to stick to and I carried nail glue with me in between visits to the manicurist.
If you bite your artificial nails you will damage your teeth.
After about 6 months I had decently long nails.
Strangely, last night I dreamt that I had bitten my nails to the quick.

I used Sally Hanson maximum nail growth and within 2 weeks they were too hard to bite...good luck!

Acrylics. 💅

Following, thanks for the tips. My nails are awful. I've managed to grow them a few times but 99% of the time they look terrible.

I'm 50 and haven't managed to stop yet. I've managed to 'pause' for a few months, generally when there's something happening (got married last year, so kept hands nice for that). But long-term? Nope, nothing has worked. I'm not a girlygirl so painting them won't help, and forget false nails. I tried hypnotherapy and that only worked short-term. I think I'm giving up, it's a minor vice in the grand scheme of things ...

Not helpful but my dad put my brother's hands down the toilet. In the 70s. Kinda stopped all of us.
More seriously, consider mindfulness.

I’ve sort of done it twice , once with this www.mavala.com/903-mavala-stop - much better than stop and grow (the taste lingers for ages) and once with gel nails. The trouble is I’m really a picker so when I put nail varnish on I just pick that off and I had to get the gels replaced every two weeks otherwise I picked them off 🤭

Acrylic nails here too. I bite during stress, get acrylic done a couple of times and by then they've grown enough to look nice and as long as I keep painting them I'm ok... if I stop painting them and get stressed or pmt I bite and bite and bite until they are too short and have to start the cycle again!

Thanks so much for the tips. Acrylics I can't do because I play the piano for a significant part of my job and it's too hard to play with those on. I've tried them and work was impossible!
But, I will definitely try the blue nail polish thing and the Sally Hansen strengthener - anything is worth a try.

I do often decide to stop in my head, but it's a very unconscious habit - I hardly realise I'm doing it till I've bitten one down to the quick 🙈
It is an awful habit and created me a terrible problem today so I really have to sort it out!

I started getting gel manicures.
Good ones.
From an excellent manicurist.

i went every week for the first two months and kept them shortish to avoid picking.

Now I go every three weeks and my nails and hands look Awe-some

Another with painting.

I have so many wonderful colours that I don't want to ruin them!

The way I stopped (only for four weeks though as I never kept it up) was to actually put clear nail polish on them daily - it had a ritual of cleaning off the polish and them painting them -sally Hansen - it was caring for them - it did work.

Self control.

You're probably thinking I'm a right dick saying that but it's what it boils down to. If you can leave them for a week then theyll feel different in your mouth and you'll remember not to bite them.

Only thing that stopped me was bright nail polish,it reminded me not to. I was a biter for years but I stopped at 12/13. I have really beautiful nails when I let them grow, ironically I need to keep them short as I play the piano. I would just LOVE to gnaw them all off though

Gel nails, the thought of biting them and wasting the £25 they cost was enough to make me stop!

With the acrylics, you can get them super short (I’ve seen people ask for as short as possible in the place I go to - not me, I love my talons 😂) and then that wouldn’t affect the piano playing? It was the only this that worked for me!

Keep nail files everywhere and try to use them to keep the edges smooth so there aren't little bits to bite. Paint then each day - the Sally Hansen stuff as mentioned above is good - and actually when they do grow try to clip them fairly short. I was so pleased to have 'long' nails but they were very weak and so would catch on things and bend and break. This made them untidy so I'd bite them again. Keeping them short seemed to stop this cycle. AAlso, if your diet is a bit rubbish try a supplement as it can help strengthen your nails. Good luck!

I used to be a horrendous skin-picker, hands and feet. I'd pick them both until they bled, it was pretty gross but compulsive and I couldn't stop. I had gel nails done two years ago and it's transformed me; the nails are too damn thick to pick at anything!

Also, stories like this put me off

metro.co.uk/2018/10/23/nail-biting-habit-left-man-fighting-for-his-life-after-getting-sepsis-8065786/

@GivenchyDahhling I did try really short acrylics once but I still found the felt weird on the piano especially as I play pretty much all day. I may try again though!

@MadeinBelfast I think short is the only way- I need to get into the habit of short and tidy to avoid what happened today. I have just bought he strengthener on amazon prime!