Are you a nail biter and why do you think you have that habit?

Question

My daughter and father have that problem. They have hardly a nail left . Is it from nervousness?

Answer 1

I bite my nails all the time. I started when I was little. The reason for this is because of pressure and nervousness. I bite them a lot especially when I have the State test. I tried the pepper, nail polish, everything you can think of. Nothing has worked for me. I will hopefully stop. But some people (like me) have hardly any nail left. Sometimes it takes time. Some people never stop. I think about what nails are made out of, (dead skin cells and vitamins being pushed out of the skin) I don't bite them. And I forget and bite them again. Maybe you should tell them that and they not do it any more. I tried telling myself that. Didn't work. Hot sauce, nope. But it takes yourself to stop this habit. I am 12 now. My nails are only about 1 or 2 inches from my cuticle. ad isn't it? Yes. So, it takes time. I started since I WAS 3. 9 YEARS!

Answer 2

It usually starts very young, and yes it IS a habit. I hated that I had ugly short nails but I could not stop biting them. My step mom bought me stuff to try and get me to stop, but everything I touched, like food, would taste like that nasty stuff.

I finally quit biting them when I was 23. I put on those press on nails long enough for my own to grow a bit, and I have only bit my nails off once since them (I am 44), and that is when my dad died 2 years ago. I chewed them all off on the trip over to Idaho to his house.

I do not believe it is a "nervous" habit, but comes from stress, as a child I was always feeling serious stress. and an extremely nervous kid and teen.

My son used to bite his nails when he was little, I would just direct him elsewhere to something more calming. And did not yell at him or tell him to stop it.

I would touch his hand very gently and give him something to do with his hands that was calming. He quit biting them and and is still not biting them at almost 18;-)

Answer 3

I am a nail biter and a nail tech. It is just a bad bad habit.
Sometimes it is also a nervous one 2.

Answer 4

I do bite my nails too! I think the reason that I do is definitely not because I like the way they look or how they feel when they are bitten down so short but because I am sometimes too lazy to go find the nail clippers, bored, or self-conscious/nervous.

Answer 5

Well i actually think it is something we do b/c we are bored. And we do it for so long that we start to do wit out even noticing all the time I now this because i have been biting my nails for 5 years!!!

Answer 6

i started when i was 6 because i had something happen to me that really bothered me but i stopped at the age of 23 when i started therapy.
i know i did it when i was nervous then it just turned into the point that i didnt even notice when i was doing it. i do know that people kept reminding me of how nasty and all the bacteria under my nails and it mad me slow down a little. but also they have this "nail biter" stuff at sallys and walgreens that taste really bad and that helped me.

Answer 7

yes I use to bite my nails alot when I was bored!
But for your daughter if shes older maybe take her to get fake nails. Thats what I do so that I will not bite my nails and after awhile you just stop.

Answer 8

i am a nial biter and i still dont understnad why. my friend used to be worse than me, and she recently stopped real easily and i dont know how. like she went from a centimeter to an inch of a nail. i wish there was an easy way to stop.

Answer 9

I don't really bite my nails. The only time I do is when I'm nervous or bored.

Answer 10

people usually bite thier nails when they are nervous. If you put a nasty flavored nail polish on your daughters nails, she may stop.