Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

I realize asking a bunch of computer nerds about personal hygiene is somewhat ridiculous, but I've looked for some answers about this and can't quite seem to find any.

So I've bitten and picked at my fingernails as long as I can remember, over 20 years. I've stopped a few times for a while (weeks to a couple months) but always seem to restart again. It's a hard habit to break when you're nails are always an arms length away.

Anyway, I've once again gotten sick of how my bitten and red nails look and have stopped biting them for about a week. One question I have that maybe reformed nail biters can answer is how long does it take for the nail bed to grow out? Basically my nails are flesh colored out to the point where I was biting them, and then they're white beyond that. It's starting to look better now, but I have the feeling that they won't look non-bitten for quite some time. Any one know how long that takes?

I have read It takes quite a long time (years or so). I too bite my nails and have been sick of it many times but I must not have nearly the self control you do! Good luck and keep it up!

My girlfriend bites her nails as well. They are also bitten down to the beds and then some. She always says she wants to stop, and has tried many times, but never seems to be able to. She's tried putting on those fake nails to act as a barrier, but they only last a little while and she quickly goes back to biting.

I would imagine it would take a very long time for her nails to grow back and start to look "normal". Which I would love. I love her and all, but her nails are nasty.

Paint on some stuff that makes you nauseous.

I'd probably just be nauseous all the time.

I used to bite my nails when I was younger. In High School a teacher recommended having nail clippers always on hand. I bought a half dozen sets and placed them all over the place and carried one with me at all times. When ever I caught myself biting my nail I'd pull out the clippers and use them. I don't know why it worked, but it did.

YMMV.

I still keep a set on my key rings and in my cars. I also have some in my medicine cabinets, tool boxes, junk drawers, and other miscellaneous places throughout the house.

This worked for a friend of mine. They make odorless fingernail polish that tastes horrible.

http://www.amazon.com/MAVALA-Stop-Bi...761673-7310337

I think the nail biting I'm talking about might be different from your habit. My girlfriend's nails are bitten down so far that there is almost nothing left, at all. What's left of the nail bed is tiny and all muttled up and gross looking. Nail clippers aren't even possible at this stage.

EDIT:

Found an image on Google that is close to what I'm talking about:

Why not trim your nails regularly with a fingernail clipper? With no fingernails to chew on, would you resort to toes?

Yeah, my trick also depends on keeping my nails as nice as possible. A large part of the urge to bite comes from nibbling off rough or sharp edges of nails, so the first time I tried to stop I went to the drug store and bought a bunch of nail care supplies (emory boards, clippers, and the soft emory board to buff the tops etc) and I found that it made a big difference. Partly because they starting looking better from day one, it minimized the urge to clean them up with my teeth, and feeling a smooth, trimmed fingernail was a reminder that I shouldn't be biting.

The last time I had stopped for about three weeks. I was on vacation and had decided it would be a stress free time that would lend itself nicely to stopping. Of course two days before I was scheduled to fly home, I lost my passport and all the well-laid plans and neat trimmed fingernails went to hell. I ended up getting my passport back but it's taken me a bunch of months to find another reason to stop biting.

Oof, yeah, mine were never that bad, but I feel for her. It's an awful habit that strikes a bunch of different nerves. I am self conscious enough that whenever people can see my hands, and I'm not doing anything (like when we're sitting around a table, etc) I curl all my fingers into a loose fist and then tuck my thumb inside. Some people can benefit from anti anxiety or anti OCD drugs.

I tend to let mine grow for about a week or so and then I bite them all off because I enjoy it. For some reason my nails grow really quickly and after a week or so there is a good amount of nail to be bitten off.

Besides the enjoyment of biting them, I am not always around nail clippers and my nails tend to grow quite quickly. I don't want "long" nails, but since I don't have clippers around me all the time, I bite them.

I could buy clippers like Railroader suggested, but that'd take away the fun

edit:
Where are that person's nails? Even to begin with, their actual nail part seems to be about 5mm. And how did they bite them down *that* much?!
Once in a while I bite mine far too much, nowhere close to that, and they bleed.

Nail biting like most small, bad habits is usually related to stress, and unfortunately are quite hard-coded for most adults. Therefore, removing this habit will be difficult, and will require some definite work.

Firstly, make your nails taste as bad as you can, perhaps with stinging hot sauce and something innocuous that you consider rancid. Secondly, replace nail biting with something else, like a stress ball; this should give your hands and mind something to focus on instead. Thirdly, take steps to reduce the stresses and anxieties of life; exercise more, eat healthier, take frequent breaks at work or from homework whatever may be the case, and do good things for yourself like volunteering at an animal shelter.

Not only should you be able to end the nail biting, but you should also be able to ameloriate the conditions that bring about habits like nail biting.

Yes, actually.

My fingernails never used to look as bad as in the picture above, but my toes were pretty close. I was constantly picking at them and biting them (yes I can reach).

The trick for me on the toe nail biting was basically to never go bare footed. Socks, always. And after a few months my desire to mutilate my toe nails vanished and I've had good nails for a few years now.

I kept battling with my finger nail biting until it occurred to me to try the same trick I did with my toes. So I picked up a few pairs of really thin, tight fitting gloves and wore them pretty much everywhere.

It worked somewhat. I went back on some of the progress I'd made after I stopped wearing them and still pick at them regularly. But for whatever reason I don't eat down anywhere near as far as I used to. So even though I still bite at them, they look much healthier than they used to.

Might wanna try the glove trick. Especially now that it's February. You can get away with it now better than you'll be able to in the sweltering summer, when wearing tight gloves 24/7 makes it look like you pulled or are planning to pull an OJ.

That takes some serious biting and gnawing. My girlfriend's nails are just like that, and she bites her nails and doesn't even realize she's doing it. Sometimes I'll say "hey! stop biting your nails", and she'll react as if she didn't even know she had her finger in her mouth at all, let alone biting her nails. Its definitely become a true habit and not just something that she does when she's nervous or whatever.

I don't think she has the willpower to quit on her own. I honestly think she's going to need some professional help/therapy to kick this addiction.

My bf bites his nails and it disgusts me. I'm constantly having to tell him to stop. It's a dirty, disgusting habit. Fingers which touch hundreds of things in one day DO NOT belong near your mouth.

Wow, I can't believe that this many people in here have this problem or are close to somebody with this problem... Toes too!

I think I'm more perceptive of the problem than most since I do it and I'm a little ashamed of the bad habit, so I notice it more often, but I wouldn't be surprised if 20% of people bite their nails occasionally and 10% do it badly. It's a lot of people.

I used to bite my nails for about 15 years. And I tried everything from that terrible tasting nail polish to wearing fake nails (ew!) to wearing mittens and nothing worked.

The ONLY thing that stopped me from biting on my nails was biting/chewing on something else. You need an oral fixative. This is when I got addicted to gum - which isn't a terrible addiction, considering I always had fresh breath.

As long as something was in my mouth, I wasn't inclined to bite my nails.

I still, at times, find myself biting the meat around my nails when I'm watching a suspense thriller - but other than that, I have no desire to do so.

My granddad's solution was to dip your fingers in chicken crap. Chicken crap was also his remedy for licking your lips and making them chapped.