Has Anyone Successfully Stopped Biting Their Nails?

I used to be a nail biter as a child. Around 5th grade I stopped. I painted my nails. And yes I would peel it off too. But just reapply it! My problem now is that I pick at my skin(cuticles). I have tried using oils and creams for it but I still do it. Even while driving! My11 year old daughter, I have noticed, has made the same cycle. First she bit her nails. We solved that with a promise for a Lego set and gloves on her hands. Now she chews her skin. :/

What worked for me was something called Nutrinail. I put it on several times a day (it's not a polish, it gets absorbed) and said to myself, I'm going to let these suckers grow. And they did. When I went to bite, I put the stuff on. Then I filed and shaped them as they grew a little. I do still bite the skin around my nails but my nails are great.

After 50 years I did. Read an article on bacteria under nails. That cured me. It did take a year before the urge went away. Now I love getting them done.

Sadly no...I'm anxious to hear what people say.

I've tried everything (I bite my cuticles) and it's totally mindless too. Strangely, I don't bite when I'm pregnant and I have no idea why--the urge just goes away (bad nausea?). The only thing that's been successful for me is letting one finger at a time heal up (with bandaids). Once they're healed I tend to leave them alone for awhile--but they still look icky. I just had a student ask me, "did you cut yourself?" when I was helping him with a paper. I felt so gross! Now my 5 year-old gives me a hard time about it. Thirty-two years late I'm still struggling with my vice--but it could be a lot worse one I guess!

I wanted to add--I was a nail biter (at 2) but my mom was able to "cure" me of that--but I've bit my cuticles ever since. I'm not sure which is worse!

I bit my nails until I was in college, and then I bit them when I was stressed, during finals week. I also used to chew the ends of pens until they were so gross, bent, cracked, and no one would ever ask me to lend them a pen ;-) Would doing something like chewing gum help you? It helped me a bit. In the end, what really made me stop is my (then fiance, now husband) kept noticing me do it and would remind me to stop. Do you have someonw around you when you're reading who can keep you accountable?

I bit my nails a lot as a kid and what worked for me was nail polish. I was allowed to pick my own colors and it became a big deal to keep my nails pretty. It only took a few months to kick the habit. Go figure that I don't even wear polish on my fingernails as an adult!

When I was younger I used to bite my nails too. When I was in 4th grade my finger got infected cause I bit my nails and a piece of skin came off from between my nail and finger. Every time my father popped it, it would fill up again. I ended up having to go to the doctor and have it lanced. They came at me with this pizza cutter looking thing and only sprayed cold water on it and cut it. Needless to say I NEVER bit my nails again. Back in 99 I got my nails done. I never had any problems with biting them. I recently took them off cause I got tired of going to get them done every two weeks. Since then they are spliting and I have to wait for them to totally grow put. When they split I find myself biting at them to try to even it out. I since keep a nail file in my purse so when that happens I grab that right away to fix it. I know that its hard not to bite your nails but maybe if you think of my story you might think twice about it. It was not pretty. Maybe if you feel the need to chew on your nails maybe you can grab a straw or a piece of gum instead. Try to keep your hands away from your mouth. Or have family and friends help when they see you chewing. I wish you the best and I know what you are going through. It's a hard habit to break.

I used to bite them all the time when I was a kid, and I have no idea how I ended up breaking out of it. It may just have been not playing basketball anymore. (I had a REALLY intense coach and that was when I bit my nails the most was during basketball games, lol.) I think the other thing that helped was that I would always end up tearing them and tearing them down so far that I made my finger bleed, so to end the pain/bleeding, I had to stop biting. However, I stopped when I was a teenager sometime. I imagine it will be that much harder to break yourself of it as an adult.

ETA: Had a thought... What about just keeping them clipped super short so there's nothing to bite for an extended period of time?

Can you put something in your hands while reading? If you are reading a book, you usually need one hand to hold the book open, so if you can put a pen/tv remove/kleenex in the unoccupied hand, it may increase your awareness if you start to bite.
If you are reading an e-reader, you could do the same thing but keep both hands occupied.
I have been known to sit on my hands to prevent biting.
Really, though, the only thing that worked in the end (biter x 30 years) was getting my nails to grow and look nice and then getting hooked on THAT instead of nibbling. Sally Hansen Diamond Hard is a good product to try if you want your nails to grow.

I do nails and the gel nails (Shellac, OPI Gel color, etc.) really work great to help your nails grow out. It doesn't damage your nails, especially if you soak them off as instructed (if you try to peel them off, they can take a layer with it but nothing like acrylics) and depending on what shape your nail beds are in (after acrylics, thin or flimsy, or just normal nails), they will stay on up to 3 weeks. It may not help you with biting your cuticles but your nails will look great! I have customers that say "if I'm paying for them, I'm not going to chew them".
I used to bite my nails in grade school and a high school friend told me to slap myself in the face everytime I caught my hands in my mouth. That worked for me! (I only slapped myself once or twice but it made me conscience of when I was doing it).
Good Luck!

How about a gel manicure? The polish is pretty much indestructible (try and peel them, I dare you). I have my own nails (which are pretty short, fingertip-length), and then my manicurist paints a very thin layer of fiberglass (!) over the top of my natural nail, and then paints the gel on there. My manicure lasts 3 weeks easy. (Pretty much I only have to have them re-done because my nails have grown out.)

I used to pick at my cuticles (which maybe isn't the same thing as chewing my nails, but it's still a gross habit ;), and getting my nails done consistently was the only thing that cured me of it. I think it was because I paid to have nice nails, so I didn't want to ruin them. Kind of like, if you show yourself the respect of spending the money on your nails, then you're less likely to disrespect yourself by picking your nails apart. You know? The other thing that I do is keep a bottle of cuticle cream near me. If I feel like my cuticles are dry, instead of picking, I rub cuticle cream on them. Maybe you could try that. It would keep your hands busy.

The only thing that helped me was having a really nice manicure. And I have to file them immediately if they rip or get jagged, otherwise I bite them because they're driving me crazy.

When I was quitting, I also started eating sunflower seeds. I went through a period of about 6 months where I was nonstop eating them to give my hands and mouth something else to do instead of biting.

Hello, my name is L., and I bite my nails.
"hello L.!"

I can't help it. I am 35 and have been doing it all my life. I try really hard to keep my nails short, but still find myself biting away! Ick!
My nails peel and crack, so even if they do get longish they fold and bend.
I had acrylics (LONG time ago) and I would bit through them too.

Seriously, I don't know what my problem is, but I am right there with you!

I'm not sure I can be helpful.

I discovered two things about my own nails (or lack thereof): 1) I can't stand having long nails, even when they do grow. If I can avoid chomping on them, I still need to keep them short. 2) I chewed on my nails out of anxiety, even in my childhood. Not real worry - just a general personal nervousness that kept wanting an outlet. Interestingly enough, when I ended up in a *really serious* situation - a granddaughter was born with a heart problem, and had a valve transplant when she was less than six weeks old - I stopped biting them. At least, by and large. I still nibble a bit, but that's often related to their growing (see #1).

I wouldn't want to wish such a situation on you, but maybe it will help you think about why you chew on them in the first place. Let us know if the band-aid thing works. Another possibility, if you have the funds, is to have your own nails professionally manicured twice a week for several months. They will look so nice all the time, and you'll know how much you're spending to keep them so, that maybe you'll forget about wanting to snack on them.

I used to be the nastiest nail nibbler ever. I quit cold turkey when I turned 12. I was just tired of doing it and didn't want to be a teen with the nail nibbling.

Every time I put my finger in my mouth to nibble I would remind myself to take it out.

I realized at the time I nibbled on my nails because I was such a nervous Nelly and it gave me something to do to calm my nerves seemingly. For me getting to the why I was biting my nails helped me be able to stop biting them.

I just kept the thought in my head to stop biting my nails and to remind myself to keep my fingers away from my mouth. I think I had it completely licked in less than a month but I also enlisted the help of friends and family to remind me to take my fingers out of my mouth and they were my second level of help in the process.

I'm praying for your success. If I could do it so can you.

It is hard to stop biting, but you can make the decision. I have been a nail biter and couldn't stand the sight of my finger nails. It was embarrassing. It would happen when I wansn't thinking about it. I made a conscious effort to bring my hand down every time I caught myself moving it up to my mouth. When I would sit down, I would sit on my hand to keep from biting. It works. You can do it if your really want to. Plust, the fact that you can cause an infection due to bateria was another reason to quit biting.

Just like making the decision to quit eating so much, you can make the decistion to quit biting your nails. Good luck!