Don’t bite your nails. How many times have you heard your friends or family saying these words? I have… lots of times. Luckily, it’s all in the past! Today, I feel I’m ready to tell you how to stop biting your nails. Curious? Enjoy!☻
I always thought I was a persistent and assertive person. After making a promise not to do something, I would simply stick to it.. Unfortunately, it changed when I started biting my nails. I was studying for my exams and was worried about the results. Feeling stressed out, I began to nervously bite the nails… which turned into a habit. I caught myself unconsciously biting them. It was really hard for me to break the habit so I started searching for info on how to stop nail biting.
ONYCHOPHAGIA is habitual nail biting
I’m not surprised that nail biting is a common problem. It is often talked about and many people I know do or used to do it. Still, I didn’t know that this ailment has a name. Nail biting which gets the features of an addiction (you can’t stop) is known as onychophagia. It literally means ‘to eat nails’ in Greek.
In most cases, we bite hand nails but I’ve hard there are freaks reaching to their toenails and biting them. I’m not that flexible! This habit is very common, affecting children around the age of 5, intensifying during adolescence and passing with time. It looked slightly different in my case.
Causes of nail biting
What makes us bite the nails? After all, not every child or teenager puts the nails in the mouth instead of a sandwich. There are various hypothesises trying to explain why we bite the nails. The one mentioning the fears and intensified stress is the most convincing for me. When we feel inferior and self-conscious, we’re emotionally sensitive – we can try to ease off steam and negative feeling on the nails. That was my case.
Other hypothesises say that nail biting results from the disturbed levels of iron, copper or vitamins. The body cries for these ingredients and makes us unconsciously bite the nails. Some scientists tried to prove that nail biting is connected with a low economic status but I doubt this far-fetched theory.
The consequences of nail biting include:
- strongly-damaged nail plate,
- deformed and splitting nails,
- disturbances in the jaw functioning, problems with chewing,
- damaged tooth surface,
- a higher risk of bacterial and fungal diseases,
- food poisoning and skin lesions.
How to stop biting nails?
It is a key question that accompanies the article from the very beginning. I have tested lots of methods and must tell you that nail biting is really hard to treat. I use the word ‘treat’ because it is a habit that needs treatment. Nevertheless, I encourage you not to give up. Different things work for different people so you must test various methods to get rid of the problem – as long as you find an effective and suitable one. What I recommend?
1. Bitter Nail Polish
Nail polish which aims at preventing nail biting thanks to tasting bad. This professional anti-nail biting treatment is inexpensive and available at almost every drugstore. It is mostly used for kids to help them give up nail biting. After applying the bitter polish, the nails are simply bad in taste so we no longer feel the urge to bite them. Bitter nail polish isn’t as durable as regular nail polish and it must be applied after every hand washing which is a drawback of the solution. I must also mention that it doesn’t work for everyone. I know people who find the bitter nail polish tasty.
2. Manicure
Asked about the way to stop biting nails, many people answer: suitable mani. If nails are long, we have more possibilities and are more eager to bite them. If we really desire to prevent biting, we should cut them short and polish them nicely. Applying nail polish helps many women because they don’t feel like spoiling the effect. It didn’t work for me.. I simply removed the polish with my teeth. Removing the gel nails was a bit harder so maybe it makes a better solution. Long-lasting manicure, e.g. gel nails, can be an effective remedy for nail biters.
3. Change of habits
The above-mentioned nail care is in a way linked to the change of habit idea – instead of biting nails, we start caring for them. It is always a good idea to keep a mani set close and reach for a nail file every time we feel like biting our nails. Another great solution involves exchanging nails for tasty snacks e.g. date nuts, raisins, nuts, dried fruit or fresh veggies. Of course, I’m far from telling you to kill stress with chocolates; crunching on carrots worked for me. They helped me stop biting and at the same time I got a vitamin boost and enhanced my summer tan.
4. Nail Extensions
If biting nails is your addiction and crunchy veggies fail to fix the habit, try nail extensions. There are two benefits. Firstly, acrylic or gel extensions are hard to bite so girls often quit the habit. Secondly, the natural nail plate can freely regenerate and grow under the extensions. Properly-nourished, e.g. thanks to oils, it will look beautiful right after taking extensions off. Nail extensions are both a surprisingly-effective remedy for nail biting and look really stunning and aesthetic.
What about your ways to stop nail biting?
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