off, let me say that nail biting is now included in the DSM as a type of OCD. Of course, not everyone who bites their nails will have OCD or anxiety, but I like to point this out because it was such a relief to me personally when I heard the news.
If you can't stop nail biting, don't give yourself a hard time about it. We don't expect people to deal with other health issues on their own, so its only logical that you would need a doctor's help to stop nail biting. And truly mental health is more important than beauty so focus on reducing your anxiety first.
That said, I had a pretty stress-free summer so I decided to tackle my nail biting, which varied in intensity over the years but was always pretty bad.
At the beginning, my nails were bitten to the quick with the skin around the nails red and bleeding. I realized I was putting my hands in my mouth to ease the pain. As a substitute, I used Burt's bees cuticle cream. Any time I felt the urge to put my hands in my mouth, I put the cream on instead. Carry the cream with you everywhere! At this stage, my fingers frequently felt tingly, which was distracting and made me want to put my fingers in my mouth. If you're not a nail biter this probably sounds crazy but think back to a time you had a scab on your knee. As it heals the skin tightens and it itches like crazy right? Picture yourself as a little kid scratching at your skinned knee. Know
that's how your fingertips feel. A medicated cream with a mild anesthetic would also work.
My other suggestion is to get a manicure. A lot of advice will tell you to get a manicure as a reward when your nails have grown out, but that is BACKWARDS. Getting a manicure now will actually help you stop biting your nails. I used to feel that manicures were only for people with nice nails and that the nail techs would be grossed out by my hands, but that hasn't been my experience at all. When you go to the nail salon, they will file your nails so they aren't jagged. They will also trim all those loose bits of skin and cuticle around your nails. This means there is less temptation to pick at your hands. The second thing is that putting polish on your nails makes them stronger so they are less likely to break (biting a broken nail is major temptation for me) and will grow faster. You can ask for clear polish, but I recommend a solid color (get a skin tone if you're worried about drawing attention to your nails) because being able to see the white along the tip of my nails is another temptation for me. With a solid polish color, I can't see that. As for the nail techs, they really don't care what your hands look like and no one was ever said anything to me about having short nails.
Finally, don't feel like you have to have super long nails in order to succeed at your goal. Start looking around and you'll see that most people wear their nails short. Many times the nail doesn't even reach the end of the finger. Start celebrating your accomplishments sooner!
As you may have guessed from my post, I've done this process several times. Maybe that means you don't want to take my advice, because I haven't been successful in quitting for good. If so, stop reading. But if you've found my advice helpful I'll mention that every time I start biting again it's related to stress. So this time around I'll be trying to take better care of myself and be proactive about dealing with stressful situations.
Now, just for fun, a photo of my nails.
