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Finger Biters Anonymous
Poot
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've got this habit of biting my nails and the skin around them and I would really like it to stop. I've been trying for years but cannot for the life of me find a good way to get myself to cut it out. Any suggestions?
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wear a rubberband around your wrist, and anytime you find yourself having the urge to bite and chew, pull it back and slap yourself with it hard.
That being said, I've been biting my nails forever. I feel your pain.
I need to do this with my girlfriend.
I think i do it out of nervous habit
I've tried most of the usual routes. Rubber bands which never really work for me, the bad tasting clear-coat which I just got used to, chewing gum which started getting expensive (and can't be done all the time), Vaseline on lips (gets fingers greasy...a minor deterrent, but nothing for a true biter like myself), parent/sibling slapping hand away which just ended up pissing me off but not helping me quit, self bribery (i'll get myself X if i finally stop) which I always failed.
That said, I've been trying to stop since '91. I bite the nails and the cuticles/surrounding skin. I've managed to get some nails, but I end up...I don't know how to describe it... playing with them, as if I were cleaning them with my teeth, and then they get weak and I bite them off anyway. I notice I do it a lot without paying attention, like during a movie or a long car ride. The more idle or distracted I am, the more I bite, but it's not linked to nervousness or anything like that. If anyone knows anything, preferably unnoticeable by others, I would take a bullet for you.
I also do it without really paying attention, but I've never really tried to stop, maybe I should...I don't know how long I'll last though...its so difficult to stop something you don't think about.
Got me to stop
This worked for me a few years ago. But I totally went back to it so maybe you don't want to listen to me.
You might also want to do what my boyfriend did and buy yourself a big bag of plastic straws to chew on instead. He looked ridiculous but it seemed to work.
was this all fingers at once, or one/two at at a time like Star suggested? I've done them all at the same time for a day or two years ago when things got real bad. It sure brought some unwanted attention and called for some creative excuses (usually the "I burned my hands on a baking sheet that I thought was cold" worked, but it only goes so far)
But obviously that's not going to help you when you are by yourself.
I bought a really nice cuticle cream from Bath and Body works to help with the dead and peeling cuticles that are so tempting to pick at.
http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2257409&cp&sr=1&origkw=cuticle&kw=cuticle&parentPage=search
Put it on any time you have the urge to pick at em and it will heal the cuticles and strengthen the nails. Bonus: it does taste horrible if you do try putting your fingers in your mouth!
Also, carry around a pocket size nail file and file your nails when you feel like picking or 'cleaning' them (which always leads to biting as someone pointed out.) Even if you're filing them down short, they will still be and look healthier than if you were gnawing at them with your chompers and it will break the habit of biting.
And hell... even if you're a guy, treat yourself to a manicure once in a while, it's nice and it helps upkeep the health of the nails and cuticle.
Good Luck!
Then I ended up having to spend a week without even a nail file, and my teeth got back to work.
I plan to try it again soon though.
Just a point: this stuff can be addictive, and you can learn to like the taste.
My dad used to beg his mom for the stuff.
This happened to me too.
The rubber band thing just ended up with me having large welts on my wrist, and still biting my nails.
My sister wore that nailpolish stuff and was adamant about not biting her nails because she had a new boyfriend and she wanted to be able to hold his hand without being embarressed.
I watched the episode of South Park where Butters goes to the "Turn My Child Straight" camp (last season, methinks) and his roommate kept doing it. Seeing him do that obsessively turned me off it. For about a week.
Maybe some kind of gloves? That still allow me to type and aren't wool, because fingers in wool gloves rubbing against each other remind me of the sound of chewing on cotton balls which makes me want to rip my ears off just thinking about it.
i only really had a problem with my thumbs, i did one at a time and it seemed to work out. if you don't want the attention, the neosporin might be nasty enough to keep you from doing it, plus it makes the skin softer so you don't have the hard parts to pick at. but i didn't want to chance it so i went with bandaids.
The first month I did this, of course, I lost several nails to biting (where I wouldn't realize I was doing it until I had the nail off already) - but I kept the remaining ones growing anyway. By the third month I had totally given up the biting and all ten nails were still intact. I then stopped growing them quite so long and started cutting them regularly, every two weeks or so.
My theory is that actually feeling what a "longer" nail feels like cured my habit somehow. I don't know, but once I decided that I was not going to bite them any more, it only took a few months to give it up completely.
If you want to go hardcore, you could put bandaids on each of your fingertips. Just tell people you burned your fingertips or something
My only problem now, 1 month clean, is that my nails grow like MAD, and I have no idea how long they are supposed to be or how you properly groom them. Hell, I never realized that I type with the points of my fingers until I started having trouble typing with fingernails.
That's what happened with me
Satans..... hints.....
I'm not sure how well something like that kind of deterrent would work on someone who isn't under 10, though.
weird huh?
Then I had a disagreement with the shallow end of a swimming pool at age 16 (two years ago), shattering the bottom halves of my two front teeth, and both left and right canines. Note, they did not get knocked out, the bottom halves of each of the four teeth were shattered.
Ergo, I have four teeth which are half false.
As a result, my four front teeth are no longer strong enough to bite through fingernails without significant pain to myself. I have no problem chewing food or eating anything at all..most solid stuff like carrots and such, I just bite with my molars.
So, solution to fingerbiting? Get someone to smash you in the mouth with a hammer.