How do I stop biting my nails?
350239
You can do these other suggestions until they grow out long enough to have artificial nails put on. but the real answer is stress reduction techniques, if you don;t figure out what bothering you and how to let it go, you will just switch to another habit such as hair twisting&#92;pulling or skin picking.
347429
Give Yourself a Pedicure Step #1: Remove polish from nails\nGiving yourself a professional pedicure is an 8-step process. The first step is to remove the old polish from your nails.\n\nInstead of cotton balls (which will leave fuzzies on your nails), use a cotton band, such as Miss Webril ($5.60 per box; 800-545-2506). Saturate the cotton band with acetone remover and rub off the old polish. If the color isn't coming off easily, press the saturated cotton on the nail & let it soak in first.\n\nTip for picking the perfect polish remover: Alcohol- and acetone-free removers are less drying, but don't work as well, especially on dark shades. Use the 'free' stuff on lighter shades\n\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #2 -- Cut & File Nails\nIt's best to use high quality clippers made for clipping toenails such as Tweezerman Deluxe ($10, tweezerman.com). To avoid ingrown nails, cut nail straight across, leaving about 1/8" of length. Make sure your nail doesn't extend over the tip of your toe.\n\nTo get a soft square shape, file nail around the corners slightly in one direction. (Hint: Don't use metal files, they'll rip your nails). Basic emory boards like the ones from Revlon work great, but if you want to go truly pro, try the Mehaz ingrown toenail file ($19, amazon.com) which allows you to easily lift nail corners for shaping.\n\nEmory board tip: The fine-grade surface is for smoothing the nail edge, while the coarser surface is for shortening & shaping nails.\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #3 -- Soak Your Feet\nFill a large flat-bottom bowl with warm water. Throw in bath salts, your favorite aromatherapy oils or Epsom salt & let your feet soak 5-10 minutes. The more cracked & calloused your feet, the longer they need to stay in. \n\nTrick only the pros know: Add a quarter cup of milk to your bath along with the essential oils & salts. The lactic acid in the milk loosens dead skin\n\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #4 -- Trim Cuticles\nApply cuticle remover to the base of each nail & rub it in (Sally Hansen, $4 at most drugstores works great). Leave on for a minute, then use an orangewood stick (Tweezerman works great) to gently push with a circular motion everywhere where skin meets the nail (including the sides). Be careful to remove skin only on top of the nail, don't touch the toe flesh.\n\nUse cuticle nippers (Mehaz nippers work best) to trim any loose skin. Be careful not to nip your toe flesh.\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #5 -- Scrub Your Feet\nApply an exfoliating body or foot scrub to a foot file or wet pumice stone to slough away the dead skin on the balls & heels of your feet. You'll want to scrub the balls, bottoms & sides of your heels & around the toes. To get the most leverage, sit on the side of a bathtub, facing inward. Remember tje pedicure motto, "smooth, don't remove." Stop if your foot turns bright red (you've scrubbed too hard). Remember, that tough skin is there for a reason.\n\nAny basic foot file or pumice stone from your drugstore will do the trick, but if you want the Cadillac of foot files, try Perfect Beauty certamic foot file, $20, 800-694-4866)\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #6 -- Moisturize\nDry feet thoroughly including between the toes & rub in a thick foot cream like Barielle Total Foot Care Cream ($19.50, barielle.com). Rub the feet & theh calves. Rehydrate cuticles by rubbing in a dab of cuticle oil. Wait 2 to 3 minutes\n\nGive Yourself a Pedicure Step #7 -- Polish Your Toes\nUse acetone remover to get rid of any excess oils on the nails (including the cuticle oil you just applied). Apply a thin base coat using 3 strokes, one down the middle, then one on each side. Don't paint the cuticle. Wait a minute before adding two coats of your favorite polish, then finish with a thin top coat (try quick-drying Seche Vite, $10 at ulta.com). Clean up any errors with an orangewood stick wrapped in cotton & dipped in acetonoe remover.\n\nLet nai
72141
Treat yourself to some professionally applied acrylic nails. You will love the way your nails look and hopefully be unable to bite them.
1127121
Stop itching right away. Find an anti-itch cream or powder. You're damaging your skin. There could be a whole slew of microbial germs underneath your fingernails. At the very least, scrub your hands and nails thoroughly and as often as possible. Use a anti-bacterial soap and a nailbrush.\nEducate yourself with some dermatology basics. You'll be amazed what you can learn. Someone said earlier, your clothing detergent and bleach may be suspect. They're right. Never sacrifice quality when it comes to detergents.\nMany times also, there could be furniture with unseen mites which could irritate the skin. Vacuum often using hepa filters. Steam clean once in a while. Try changing your bedding linen with more frequency. Good Luck.
350042
I do not know much about the ways to stop her sucking her fingers but I very much urge you to teach her not to suck them. I was like that until the age of 12 and the horror stories people tell you are true. Already at the age of 8, I had to get braces, my teeth were horrible and I was lisping because my teeth grew in a really horrible way - they were protruding outwards from my mouth. Not very pleasant. Children at school made fun of me and I was not very happy. Since my thumb was sucked so much, I had to wear plasters on them because they had wounds on them. \n\nDefinitely make all the neccessary steps to make you child stop sucking her thumb, as soon as you can. Do not let her grow with such a bad habit. It was difficult for me to get rid of it too. I am now 21 years old and I have no problems, only because of those braces and my own strong will. I even stopped lisping because I taught myself how to speak properly. And let me tell you, it was one of the most difficult things to do.
658493
When you get bitten, take your nail, and make a cross over it. It will stop the itching, and then take some rubbing alchol and rub it on. It will go away sooner.
11790
I was told that a habit takes 14 days to break!  My sister used to do it, she bought this awful tasting stuff that you put on like nail polish and it worked, I'm not sure where to get it though!  You could try just applying a very strong hand cream all the time it will tasted bad and after 2 weeks of concentrating on not biting maybe it will be broken!  I hope this helps!  Also it may be a nervous thing!  Are you Stressed?  That could be it!
988967
paint your nails or get a gel or acrylic overlay. if you paint your nails it will taste nasty when you bite them and with the overlay you cant bite it because its so hard! and your nails will look pretty so you wont want to hehe :)
844517
I am 22 and have been biting my nails since I first got teeth.  I have tried everything and nothing has worked: fake nails, hot sauce on my fingertips, rewarding myself...nothing has worked...but maybe he'll grow out of it.
569747
I have the same problem and it is really hard to quit this bad habit I have tried alot of things and nothing works for me. The only thing when I have acrylic nails that really works because I do not bite those. Well good Luck trying to quit that bad habit!
45121
1. Paint your nails with a clear coat, dry, then 2 coats of the color paint, dry, and then 1 coat of the clear coat again, dry.  Make sure in between each painting make sure your nails are TOTALLY dry.\n\n2.  After your last coat is pretty much dry, dip your hands in a cup of ICE waTER with ICE CUBES.  Must be extremely cold water.\n\n3.  Don't do dishes.
30378
Try looking for clear nail polish that gives your nails calcium and strength. A careful diet also helps to strengthen your nails. Maybe even get pedicures. It may help!
70323
I also bit my fingernails until well past the age of 40.  The only thing that made me stop that disgusting habit was to look closely at my nails when I was out in public.  Everyone I seemed to notice had beautiful, manicured nails and mine were stubs.  I did everything to hide them, but it's pretty hard to hide your hands.  I purchased a clear polish, and every time I thought about biting I would polish instead.  You have to combine that with the sheer willpower that you want your hands to look "presentable!"  Today my nails are strong and beautifully shaped, and I think of what I missed all those years by "nibbling" all the time!  Now I don't have to put my hands in my pockets...I'm proud of my nails and want everyone to see them!  Good luck.  You can do it!
494766
I started biting my nails as a small child, being stressed at school, carried on all my life until I had false nails put on - the tips variety, it cost me alot of money in maintenance, but I had the confidence back in my hands and wasn't ashamed to wave them about, after several months I had the tips removed, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my real nails underneath, two years on, I still haven't bitten them. And so enjoy a manicure and wearing rings.
962692
i myself had a horrid nail-biting habit until about two years ago.... when i got braces.\nmy orthodontist told me that my excessive nail-biting was causing my teeth to grow at an awkward position, and she gave me a bottle of clear nail polish that i was to wear at all times.\ni soon discovered that the nail polish tasted HORRIBLE when you put your mouth to it.... and that pretty much solved everything, since i didnt want a bad taste in my mouth every single day just because i wanted to get a part of my finger in my stomach....\ni think they sell that kind of nail polish at every drug store (CVS, Rite-aid.... etc) and you can ask them for it if you can't find it, cuz believe me, they WILL have it.\nif that doesn't work, another way that one of my friends (an excessive nail-biter also) solved this issue was to keep a fabric-covered hair elastic on her wrist, and whenever she involuntarily brought her nails to her teeth, she would sinap the elastic so that the slight physical pain would bring her back to reality and stop her from taking another bite. \nif you don't want to go that way, you could do it all in your head..... buy yourself a reward if you get through a month without biting your nails, another month, another reward... but that IS a little immature, and it's sorta the way a mother would train a little child, so i wouldn't suggest that.\nyou could also get your nails professionaly-painted, so prettily thaty your friend would NEVER wanna bite her nails again...\nother suggestions may be to:\nwear gloves, but that seems a bit weird, plus, inconvenient\nchew a lot of gum so you don't feel the urge to bite your nails when nervous\n\nhope this helps (for your friend) and that she gets rid of that habit!\nonce you stop biting your nails, you look back and think "why did I EVER do that?"\n\ngood luck!
1131077
This happens to lots of people.  I am speaking from personal experience.  What I found finally worked (after several years) is that I focused on what I ate.  So I eat reasonably and healthy.  Jello is supposed to have some stuff in it that is good for nails, by the way.\n\nSecond, I started to exercise every single day.  So now I walk, sometimes run and ride a bike.  Doing something physical is important.\n\nSomething else I changed, I did clip my nails regularly, even the one that had changed to the dark almost ugly color.\n\nWhat happened is the old toe nail finally dropped off with a new one under that was nice and clear.\n\nI had tried those things they advertise on TV, and even went to a doctor, but none of that did anything for me.
677349
Hello my fellow nail biter! \n\nFrom one nail biter to the other let me just say I feel your frustration :P But recently I found that haven't been biting my nails as much, which is an extreme improvment for me. What I did was I just didn't do it, I said to myself I'm not going to bite anymore and everytime my nails came to my mouth I was conscious of it and I just pulled them away. An excellent thing to do is to occupy yourself with something else, take up another hobby and it'll replace your nail biting...I thought it was ridiculous but it actually works. It doesn't come quickly though, it takes a bit of time. Just be patient and one day you'll look at your nails and go all wide eyed and just go "OMG THEY ACTUALLY DO GROW!!" :P Gewd luck!