Help me stop biting my nails!!!

kboyer84 · February 2012

Ladies,
I have the worst habit ever... I bite my nails. Okay, maybe not the *worst* habit, but it's definitely pretty gross. I know it's bad, and I've tried to quit many times before. Now that my wedding is only less than 5 months away, I really want to start growing my nails out now so that I can have them in decent shape by the wedding. Any tips?
Thanks!

fallbride1109 · February 2012

Sorry, but I wear acrylics for this reason -- and sometimes I even bite those! I tried everything and this is the only thing that worked for me.

ceglare4 · February 2012

I don't have any tips either because I have been guilty of doing this on occasion too. I do recommend that you start taking hair, skin, and nail vitamins. I've been taking them since this past summer and they are helping my nails grow faster and stronger than without them. I buy the Nature Made from Walmart. Under $7 for a bottle that lasts about 2-3 months or so? I can't remember exactly. But they do work!

GeauxTigerLily129 · February 2012

Bad nail biter but I love nail polish, so this is a struggle for me too. Here are some tips that have helped a TON. I keep my nails shortish because I like them that way but I love the improvement I've seen.

#1 - keep them polished at ALL times. I try to do color as much as possible, as I like that. If you dont, or don't have the time get a clear treatment coat.
Right now all I have on is a clear coat of Barielle (at drugstores maybe? but I found for cheap at TJ Maxx) Natural Nail Growth or something. I can't vouch that the treatment will make your nails grow, but it helps me to not bite which does make them grow.
I'm bad about biting/peeling off my colored polish. I did it yesterday driving home..and within minutes I was chewing on my nails. Haven't touched them all day today with a clear coat. There are strengthening ones, thickening, ridge filling, whtatever. Just be good about putting it on. And it takes about a minute and a half with no drying time or risks of smudges.

#2 - keep lotion next to your sink, at your desk, in your purse, or in your car. Just always have some on hand. Put a bit on after you wash your hands, and this will help all the peely dryness around your nails. And put them on if you aren't doing something with your hands, like reading or watching TV. Massage it into your cuticles, it helps and it keeps your hands occupied when you would want to bite/pick Also, lotiony hands arent tasty. You won't be able to bite without realizing it if your mouth tastes like flowers.
You could also have a cuticle oil (CND Solar Oil is good, I have some TINY bottles of it that were cheap and I've never used up. Sephora has a cuticle oil pen that I keep in my purse, good for on the go) or cuticle cream (Burt's Bees Lemon Butter is excellent and perfect for massaging in). If you go with a cuticle treatment, I see a difference even when I just use it once or twice a day.

3 - put a nice thick lotion or cuticle butter (I like Lush lemony flutter, Mango Mend at Sally's is good too) before bed. If you're really dry, you could put on gloves. but being consistent at night will help. While this wont help your nails, it will help your hands and cuticles. Trust me, when you start seeing how nice they look, you resist the urge to bite!

4 - not as necessary, but it's another thing that helps. Use a glass nail file. It "seals the edge" better so that you don't have peeling nails, and I find it gentler than an emory board. Don't file all the time, but maybe when you change your polish, give them a touch up. I find that even if my nails are really short (practically no white), then evening everything up with a file makes them look..well, more polished (har har har). But seriously, filing and making them a little shiny makes a world of difference, even if they aren't long.

#5 - If you're bad about picking at your skin, use some cuticle remover (Sally Hansen has one that's green gel that is great). I scrape around my skin with a gritty orange stick, and it gets off excess skin around the nail. If you don't want to do that, go get a salon manicure and then try to do some upkeep.

Also don't use those buffer things TOO much. They're OK, but can make nails thin and weak.
Another tip, which I'm bad about, is not to use your nails as tools. Opening boxes or mail, scraping stickers, whatever..Treat them gentler, they won't break, which won't tempt you to bite ("to just even them up!"...can you tell I'm still working on it?)

If you've never done acryllic nails, maybe first try for a little while to just try to keep up your own and see what the status is. I used to wear them, and also bit/picked them off after a while, which made my nails worse. After that, it was a "growing out" phase.
Of course there are other ways, like sit on your hands, "no bite" creams or something else that tastes nasty, wear gloves while you're doing idle things, if you're really desperate.

Okay..obviously you're not going to go around and worry about your nails 24/7..not sure if this post sounded like that! I don't obsess about them all the time, I've just picked up a lot of advice because this was a huge problem of mine. Just get into the habit of lotioning and putting on a clear coat, and you will see SUCH a difference. Not sure what shape yours are in, but give it a week or two. Good luck...hope you got some good advice you can use out of this book I wrote! Let me know if you have any other questions or need product recommendations!

housewifehobbiest · February 2012

I agree with the PP. I bit my nails down to the quick until I was 25. Then, in an effort to look nice for a weekend in Miami, i used press on nails for 6 days. I liked the look so much I worked to keep my nails filed and polished. Now, while not long, they're a very respectible length. I love th Sally Hanson growth formula in the gold bottle too! Keeps them from peeling and cracking.

kboyer84 · February 2012

TigerLily - WOW! You are full of great ideas! Actually, you all are, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one still fighting off this weird habit.

Ceglare - Good call on the vitamins... I want my hair to grow out for the wedding anyway, so I will def start there.

I have had acrylics before, and I actually don't bite my nails when I wear them. I tend to pick the nails off after 10 days or so, but that's not too big of a deal. The only reason I don't keep them on regularly is that they're expensive & I work in the field occassionally (wildlife biologist). I think I'll try the vitamins, lotion trick, cuticle remover, and use Sally Hansen hard as nails constantly. My plan is to do this for a few weeks, see how it goes, and possibly get acrylics then when my nails aren't tiny stubs!

Thanks ladies!!

housewifehobbiest · February 2012

That sounds like a great plan!! I would suggest keeping a nail file on you as well, so when you do get those little snags you FILE them off instead of nibbling.

Good luck!! It took me about three months to grow my nails out to a point I wasn't embarrassed by them, so you do have time if you keep up with it!

kekr0202 · February 2012

I'm not a nail biter, and this is random, but used to teach a special needs student who sucked his thumb. We developed a plan to deter his thumb sucking (bc of germ spreading) and it included this no-bite nail polish that is clear but once dried tastes super bitter. I think we bought it online. Not sure if it'd work but something different! Good luck!

Help me stop biting my nails!!!

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