How to Stop Biting Your Nails: 12 Tips

Although nail biting doesn’t typically cause any permanent damage to your nails, it can spoil their appearance, destroy your teeth, and even make you sick. So 5-Minute Crafts put together some effective tips to help you get rid of this habit.

1. Cut your nails short.

If you keep your nails trimmed short, there won’t be enough nail to grab with your teeth and it won’t feel as satisfying when you give biting a try.

2. Carry a nail clipper with you.

People often start biting their nails by going after a loose hangnail at first and then moving on to their actual nail tips. If you always carry a nail clipper with you and clip those hangnails as soon as you notice them, you won’t have such a strong urge to bite your nails.

3. Apply bitter-tasting nail polish.

Coat your bare nails or manicured nails with a special nail polish that has a bitter flavor, let it dry completely, and reapply when necessary. Its awful-tasting formula will discourage you from biting your nails.

4. Get a manicure regularly.

When you spend your money and time at a nail salon, it’s more likely that you will take better care of your investment and will want to keep your nails attractive for as long as possible.

5. Wear gloves.

Covering your hands with gloves will prevent you from getting to your nails, so that you physically won’t be able to bite them. Instead of gloves, you can also cover your nails with tape or stickers.

6. Replace a bad habit with a good one.

If you feel the urge to bite your nails, try to take care of them instead. You can start painting your nails, filing them, or applying lotion to your hands. Your nails will only get stronger by doing this.

7. Keep your hands busy.

Find something to fiddle with — a stress ball, fidget toys, silly putty, or even sandpaper. This will keep your hands busy and away from your mouth.

8. Think about the bacteria on your nails.

Every time you start biting your nails, think about where your hands have been during the entire day, how many germs there might be on them, and what consequences this may lead to. If you educate yourself properly and are always aware of what could be hiding underneath your nails, you won’t want to bite them again.

9. Find your triggers.

Ask yourself the following questions — “Am I anxious? Bored? Stressed out? Underwhelmed? Under stimulated?” If you figure out what exactly causes you to bite your nails, you can learn to avoid these situations and develop a plan to stop this behavior.

10. Ask for other people’s help.

Tell your family and friends that you are struggling with nail-biting and ask them to call you out if they see you biting your nails again. Once you put this into practice, you’ll eventually become more aware of your behavior.

11. Focus on one finger at a time.

If you can’t give up your habit completely, try taking a gradual approach. First, choose one nail to not bite anymore, like your thumb. Once you’ve kept this promise for a week or so, choose another nail and put it in the “no-biting” zone as well. Step by step, keep moving forward with your progress until there are no more nails left.

12. Keep track of your progress.

Every few days, grab your phone and take pictures of your nails to see the results. This way, you’ll make your progress more obvious to yourself and get the necessary motivation to keep going.