Nailbiting

[popcorn]

I've bitten my nails my whole life. It is a revolting thing to do so I have decided to stop.

I'm three days in. This has already been enough time for my nails to have grown longer than they have done possibly in my adult life. I can tap them on things.

Placing them between my teeth is excruciating, like putting a Malteaser on your tongue and just letting it sit there.

The biggest challenge so far is consciously recognising I'm about to bite my nails in time to stop doing it. Sooner or later I'm going to blink and find I've chewed a thumb off. One day in I bit a nail and only realised immediately afterwards what I'd done, so that one's lagging behind its mates.

Has anyone tried that foul-tasting polish some people use? I'm trying to see if I can get by without it for now.

That's the end of my nailbiting post.

[ToneLa]

Take up picking your arsehole and the nail-biting will stop!

Alternately you could try sitting on the edge of your seat instead

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I thought this was going to be a really suspenseful thread.

I'll be honest with you, I'm a bit disappointed now.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Tried that polish stuff when I was a kid. Just got used to the taste in the end. Made me enjoy biting them even more.

The only cure I've found is being happy and content without any stress in your life. End up with proper talons if I'm happy. But the moment my brain hits any stress, I'm chewing them off again.

[mrpupkin]

Tried that polish stuff when I was a kid

Bigos?

[ToneLa]

I learned finger picking guitar which is a good motivation for having nails.

Still bite em when I'm overly tired and end up with blisters. Which I choose to see as cool

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I did this some years ago. Sadly, it's probably the greatest act of willpower I've ever mustered.

I have a little Swiss army knife, with a nail file, on my keyring. It helped immensely, as I could deal with any ragged edges on my nails, without resorting to biting, which invariably ended with me biting them down to the quick.

[Norton Canes]

Not bitten nails since I was a kid but I do chew the skin from around my fingers. I really wish I could stop cos it's dead gross but there's nothing more satisfying than tearing off a really long strip from around the side of the thumb.

[Endicott]

I thought this was going to be a really suspenseful thread.

I'll be honest with you, I'm a bit disappointed now.

I think it's riveting.

[kittens]

stopped last summer. easy. you just stop doing it. i bite and clip them every two weeks now and i hold the fingernails in my mouth for weeks on end even sleeping with them in my mouth and i have truly no idea why i do this.

[ToneLa]

Try biting someone else's nails, wean yourself off slowly.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Try biting some panel pins instead.

[hedgehog90]

I was a relentless nibbler until a couple years ago but stopped abruptly when I realised it was ruining my teeth.
I was chomping away one day when the top part of one of my lower teeth broke off. It took me a few seconds to realise I didn't have a severed nail in my mouth but a big chunk of tooth. Bit into it slightly and got that horrible, crunchy, gritty sensation.
What remained of my tooth was jagged and razor-sharp, right where the tip of my tongue would usually rest. I had to wait almost a week for a dentist appointment so for the time being covered it with blutack.

Not long after that I broke a chunk off of an adjacent tooth when I forced my thumbnail in between the gap while trying to remove a bit of food.
My teeth look ok but they are structurally fucked, basically. Giving up nail chewing was not a choice but a necessity.

I've now developed the even worse habit though of picking the skin off my fingers. It's gotten particularly bad recently, I've started going past the joint.
I always have a stinging/pulsing exposed flesh on one or several of my fingers, it must look pretty hideous. It doesn't feel that great either. Can't help it though, when my hands are unoccupied they just start picking away at each other.
I should consider getting my fingernails removed.

[Lost Oliver]

And me. Though I have started to take a bit more care and cut them once every two days and then file them. Doesn't stop me from thinking about touching the side of either of my ring fingers, ever so slightly so that it hurts a little bit. I considered hypnosis to stop and I do think that would work but will power (who's Will Power?) is less expensive. I just wish I could go more than a minute without thinking about it.

[St_Eddie]

I really ought to knock nailbiting on the head.  It wouldn't be so bad, if only they were my own nails.

[Lost Oliver]

Whenever I try to nibble on Mrs LO's nails she retracts them immediately. I don't know what her problem is.

[St_Eddie]

Whenever I try to nibble on Mrs LO's nails she retracts them immediately.

Is Mrs LO a cat?

[Lost Oliver]

Is Mrs LO a cat?

How did you know? Have you been spying on us?

[St_Eddie]

How did you know? Have you been spying on us?

In the bushes.  Wanking.

[a duncandisorderly]

I did this some years ago. Sadly, it's probably the greatest act of willpower I've ever mustered.

I have a little Swiss army knife, with a nail file, on my keyring. It helped immensely, as I could deal with any ragged edges on my nails, without resorting to biting, which invariably ended with me biting them down to the quick.

I was a biter, bad, until mid 20s. I did the swiss-army-knife thing too, & it worked. that & finally giving enough of a shit about my appearance because of wanting to impress someone I fancied.
the poisonous nail varnish didn't work. also, I got into a band playing bass, & couldn't do this if my fingers were sore from nail-biting. that helped.

[popcorn]

I've gone back to biting my nails now.

[bgmnts]

Dermatophagia is one of those ridiculous conditions where its genuinely quite painful and dangerous but nobody really takes it seriously because its fucking nail/skin biting.

A bit like toblerone addiction I suppose.

[alan nagsworth]

As a rollercoaster tester it's not really one of matters I have a say in. My contract even states to leave it a few days in between each session to let them grow out a bit again.

[jobotic]

I need nails for my incessant tapping and nail drumming. How I've laughed at the amount of times people say "will you stop that fucking tapping?". Sounds much better with nails.

Since i turned 40 they grow really bloody quickly too.

[alan nagsworth]

If you want longer nails faster then standard manure fertiliser works great. Oddly though that just made me want to bite them even more. Reminded me too much of "living off the land" as it were. The smell of it. Eating your own produce. It was a slippery slope from there and when I was kicked out of Pret A Manger for asking them to bang some horse shit in with my falafel wrap before they heated it up I knew it was time to stop.

[St_Eddie]

I've gone back to biting my nails now.

I bet you have, you dirty old bollocks.

I need nails for my incessant tapping and nail drumming.

I love that song!

[hummingofevil]

I only realised yesterday that I don't bite my nails, I kind of nibble a bit into the edge then tear the rest off - a bit like opening microwave rice packets.

[Ray Travez]

I have a few tics like this. I bite my nails, but only the ones on my left hand. I pull nose hairs from my nostril, but again only the ones on the left. The right I allow to grow bushy and luxurious.

Every so often, I tear off my entire little toenail. It hurt like fuck the first time I did it, and probably the second and third times as well. It doesn't hurt so much now. That's probably my worst tic. It's fucked up. Also sometimes slice off toenails with a cheap scalpel blade actually I think I'll stop typing about this.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Also sometimes slice off toenails with a cheap scalpel blade actually I think I'll stop typing about this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3pk9CMwtN0

[St_Eddie]

I only realised yesterday that I don't bite my nails, I kind of nibble a bit into the edge then tear the rest off - a bit like opening microwave rice packets.

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Made my way upstairs and had a smoke
And everybody spoke and I went into a dream
And then I realised that I don't bite my nails