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bad habit HELP

i always bite my nails. I was thinking if I got fake ones that I had to spend money on to upkeep I would keep my nails out of my mouth. Nope doesn't work. I still have the fake nails and love how they look.

HELP HOW DO I KEEP MY NAILS OUT OF MY MOUTH?


Tue. Jun 20, 2:57pm

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there are products that are made for preventing children from thumbsucking-maybe that would help?

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:17 PM

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try substituting a different habit-gum chewing.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:17 PM

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I bite my nails too. i recently read that it's based on childhood, not getting enough "sucking" time, breastfeeding, etc. I also read that it's an extremely mild form of self mutliation. I know I've picked and bitten my nails until they've bled so I can understand the latter explanation.

I recognize I do it when I get under stress and sometimes I'll stop, right before I do it. Hope this helps.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:18 PM

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Don't get fake ones-- I did that to try to curve my nail biting habit and ended up biting those off instead.

This is what worked for me-- get a manicure done every week (or as often as you can afford it). Spend some time every day maintaining the manicure, wash your nails, add clear coat if needed, even whip out the old emry board when you need to (alway carry one w/ you incase you get an erge to bite). When you do feel like biting your nails just don't- if you find your self biting them- just stop and fix the damage with a nail file. It's hard, but you can do it.

Before long your nails will be so pretty you wont want to bite them.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:20 PM

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to the 3:18 poster

OP here- I bite mine under stress and bordem. I have been trying to really hard to notice when I have them in my mouth so that I can pull them out right away.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:35 PM

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They have sprays that taste bad that you can put on kids' fingers to make them taste bad. Try doing it to yourself. It may just help you to become aware that your hand is in your mouth b/c you taste the bitter flavor.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 3:50 PM

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Self-mutilation! come on, it's just a habit. And one that we call "bad" because of cultural norms, not biology. All other primates use their incisor teeth to groom themselves to one degree or another, so why do we consider it unusual in people? :-)

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 6:19 PM

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from 2nd grade- a nail biter

I started young... at first I was all nervous because I thought they would not grow back, and then I remembered my mom trimmed them all the time with clippers.. so then I realized it was a renewable "snack." We never had any snack foods in the house growing up... haaa.
I would bite them down until they bled as well, and even got my fore finger infected in 4th grade- came into school late around Halloween... I remember the class was out and all these costumes were all over (back in the day when you could celebrate holidays like that in school)
I also had the bitter apple stuff... just crossed over into my food so nothing tasted good...
rewards did not work... bribing did not work... her yelling did not work...
I stopped for awhile so they would look nice for prom... then back and forth, as I grew into an adult I was able to leave some white so they were just really short. When I do start growing them out I buff them, and even file and buff the edges so they are soo smooth... but after about a week I will find myself mouthing them and just wanting to eat them. I think I actually like the sensation of having my teeth in between the finger pad part and the nail, and splitting of the nail with my teeth along it's natural tear line. So I am not sure If I like the nail grown out better or the breif experience of chewing them...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 8:43 PM

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I used to bite my nails for years and just decided that they looked nasty. Sometimes I would bite them so far down that the tips would bleed or the tips would hurt. I stopped that pretty easily. But now I find myself chewing on the side of my finger nails. Again it looks horrible, I don't know how to stop. I do it sometimes not even realizing I'm doing it, my hubby will slap my hand. The stuff you can by for kids doesn't work, don't waste your money. You'll have to figure a way to break the habit. The nail filing idea was good.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 8:56 PM

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I just quit biting mine about a month ago. I started putting that hard as nails clear coat (Sally Hansen Triple Strong) at first, now have added some color because where the white tip part meets the pink part looks weird (dirty), I figure because I bit my nails down so short that they are kind of deformed compared to non-nail biters. The thick stuff on the nails feels weird when my fingers "accidently" find their way into my mouth, that it surprises me, and I can catch myself before the gnawing has done any damage. It's too hard to bite thru that thick polish, so for the last month my nails are looking pretty good! My quick and all the hang nail stuff that usually exists on my chewed up fingers is also healing nicely. I treated myself to some fancy nail grooming tools so I can keep them clean (it's amazing how much more gunk you collect under the longer nails) and keep the cuticle pushed back and trimmed away. Good luck, OP!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 10:30 PM

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OP Here

so far since this post, I have tried really hard to notice when I have my nails in my mouth. today it has been a week since my last manicure and my nails look much better than when i was not trying to keep them out of my mouth. I have fake nails on and I would start to bite them when I felt them grow out and I would bite them so that my natural nail would detach from the nail, but at my last manicure I had to get a whole new set of new nails put on, and she told me it was because I was chewing on them to much. I'M TRYING!!! PLUS I KEEP TELLING MYSELF HOW MANY GERMS LIVE UNDER MY NAILS! We'll see I have one more week til my next manicure, I can only hope next week goes as well as this.

PLUS! I think posting about it has helped cause i'm actually talking about it, and keeping in mind how bad it is. Thanks so much!

Thursday, June 22, 2006, 12:05 PM

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i bit my nails since i was ... i dont even know as far back as i can remember. when i was 21 i got a wart on my pinky. i wrapped it in a wart remover bandage that had salilic acid on it. i had it on for a couple weeks, and b/c of the medicine on there i just didnt bite that nail. so my pinky nail grew, and my wart went away, and i decided to keep the pinky nail, and just bite the others. somehow, i stopped biting BOTH my pinky nails...i ended up with 2 nails. i was so amazed with my nails...i groomed them daily...filed and put clear coat on them...after a while i just stopped biting my nails all together. kind of random but it worked for me. i still bite on my cuticals a lot when i dont get manacures, but its not nearly as bad of a problem as when i bit my nails. if you want to try to stop biting one nail at a time...just designate a nail, maybe this will work for you too? who knows worth a shot!!

Friday, June 23, 2006, 2:11 AM

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