I am disgusting. Bad. Bad bad habit I have.

[Waldo]

I feel quite ashamed. I have a really disgusting habit, it's something I've done for years, I bite my nails.

 

I want to stop, for good (have tried stopping before, but only lasted a couple of weeks or so). Clearly, the thing with breaking any habit, is persistence; even when you fail to stop, keep trying again, and again.

 

I've considered using gloves or some kind of physical barrier, between nails and teeth, maybe sticky plasters. Problem with these, is that it would make it hard to type on a keyboard. Maybe a face mask would work. I've also tried yucky tasting nail paint stuff.

 

Problem is, the problem is just in my mind; I'm comfort biting, if I feel a little nervous about something, somewhere in my mind the impulse to bite and chew my nails is born.

 

It annoys the crap out of me, I feel I should have the mental control and self-mastery, not to do this.

 

Do they have false nails for guys? Something I can stick on, so I can get to my real nails under the fake ones?

[barleycorn]

You can't bite your nails with gums.

 

jb

[Glennis]

I have been trying 60 years to stop, and I am still chomping away at my knuckles. Not that I would wish to discourage you from trying to stop.

[medusa]

Have you tried a displacement activity? Lots of evidence from psychologists shows that it's hard to stop something just by stopping it than to replace it with something else which produces a similar effect.

 

By all means cover your nails in the nasty tasting stuff, or gloves or whatever it takes to be an immediate reminder that you're stopping when you put your finger in your mouth, but instead of stopping chewing, how about changing what you chew?

 

Anything from a pen top to chewing gum or a bag of carrots can take the place of your nails as long as you have them to hand so that in every situation that you would normally bite your fingers you have that thing readily available.

 

The key time that seems to come out of similar research is about 3 weeks, so that's your target time. If you can manage to get your brain in gear for 3 weeks of consistently focusing on replacing nail chewing with something else then it should be easier after that. You already know that this is a comfort thing more than a straight up habit so if you just try to stop without getting that comfort you're making yourself more stressed. A displacement object means that you'll still keep your mouth busy.

 

Good luck

[InigoMontoya]

Have you tried using clear nail varnish?

 

It makes your nails more pliable and less brittle, so they won't break off when you try to bite them.

 

(Putting mustard on them, or the preparations you can get from the chemist are a waste of time imo)

[Ghozer]

I bite my nails too, and badly (so badly, that there's almost no nails on multiple fingers) - I can't stop either, I have tried, I have stopped for a few days, but then find myself biting them again soon...

 

Nail Varnish - doesn't stop me

Foul testing gel/cream - I just wash my hands, or keep biting until the taste has gone! :S

 

I am in EXACTLY the same position as you Waldo, my reasons for biting, and the reasons why I can't stop.... and it really annoys me too!! :S

[spilldig]

I never bit my nails but I used to bite the skin round them until it bled.

[barleycorn]

You could try

. Skip to 1 min 6 sec.

 

jb

[Halibut]

Try taking up smoking. I smoke and never bite my nails.

[Waldo]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Not sure removal of the fingernails would be a good idea though jb!

 

Just bought some gum, need to remember, every time I feel an urge to bite, to do a pattern interrupt and stick some gum in my mouth instead.

 

Actually, I just had a really cool idea; if I could put some kind of brace (with a sensor on it) in my mouth, and then attach sensors to my fingers, and as soon as the finger sensors get too close to the mouth sensor (i.e. fingers are near mouth), a high pitch alarm goes off (which would jog my awareness and I could pull back etc).

 

Is there any devices like that available? I think it would be a sure-fire way to stop.

 

What would I need to build something like that?