Many children and teens have a habit of biting their nails.  Most people bite their nails when they’re nervous, scared, anxious, stressed or just bored.  Most people kick the habit once they turn 18, according to WebMD, but some still bite their nails well into adulthood.  I used to be a habitual nail biter.  I still have relapse moments in times of high stress.  I didn’t stop biting my nails until I was well into my college years.  Are you ready to kick the habit right now?  Here are some ways you can begin to break the chains and stop biting your nails.

1. The old nail polish method: You can use a bitter tasting nail polish that will discourage you from biting your nails.  Eventually, you won’t need the nail polish you just won’t bite your nails.
2. Keep your nails manicured: This is how I ultimately stopped biting my nails.  I started to get my nails done.  My mind would not let me bite and ruin nails that I spent money to manicure no matter how much I wanted to.  I started off getting tips and acrylic so that I wouldn’t be able to bite my nail.  Then I progressed enough to resist biting through just a natural manicure.  And finally the habit had been broken.
3. Start one finger at a time: I know it sounds counterproductive but this method has actually helped some people.  First consciously resist biting your thumb nail, then resist biting your index finger.  Eventually you stop biting all the nails on each finger.
4. Keep your nails clipped short: The thought process behind this method is simple—if your nails are short what is there to bite?  This only works if you are a mild nail biter.  If you are a nail biter that bites all the way down to the skin then this will not be enough to deter you.
5. Punish yourself for biting: Put a rubber band around your wrist and snap it whenever you get the urge to bite.  Or punish yourself in other ways like skipping dessert or your favorite TV show.
6. Make your fingers inaccessible: Wear gloves or put bandages around your fingertips.  You’ll look strange for a while but, people have seen stranger things.  You can’t bite your nails if you can’t get to them.

Nail biting is usually nothing but an annoying habit that simply takes some self-discipline to break.  However if you just can’t seem to break the habit using all these methods, talk to a mental health professional to see if there is a deeper issue that needs to be addressed such as OCD.

Brandi Giles

Editor, Health & Beauty

Source: http://www.webmd.com/beauty/nails/stop-nail-biting-tips\

Image Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas/comments/115q0c/recently_stopped_biting_my_nails_pretty_happy/