Easiest way to keep em short so they donāt interfere with typing and pianoing
iām surprised the article didnāt mention that itās also an efficient data-collection method for your immune system. i maintain that itās partly why i tend to not get as sick as people i know who donāt bite their nails and who are constantly using antibacterial soaps.
I bite my nails and do so more when Iām tired. I generally catch myself biting my nails at those points when I find myself yawning.
Using good nail polish, or getting manicures (for guys that might not be so into polish) can be a great way to encourage dropping the habit. Many nail care enthusiasts, myself included, were habitual nail biters that used nail care as an incentive to quit.
Because itās the most efficient way to shorten them, which can be done while driving or otherwise away from clippers.
For me, I think itās just an āoral fixationā, whatever that actually means in current psychological terms, I donāt know.
I love to crack sunflower seeds, and smoking, and chewing gum. And when I had severe anxiety as a teen, I had trichogogra too (pulling out hairs one at a time and eating them.) I was able to stop doing that.
When I was a little kid, Iād suck on pebbles too.
This USED to be me. However, I have been carrying a Leatherman for the past decade. The scissors actually work quite acceptably as nail clippers.
I wonder if it is a impulse control substitution mechanism. That is when we are trying to exert control (and possibly failing) in one area, we bite our nails as a way of dealing with the loss of control to replenish our ability to control in the other area.
One manās problem is another manās efficiency! Iām not exactly going to grab nail scissors when stopped at a traffic light.
Because otherwise we go fucking mental? Seriously, āthings I have given upā includes nicotine, cocaine and heroin. Nailbiting? I lasted three days. Three. Fucking. Days.
Because otherwise I end up with holes in my socks.
Efficiency?! It takes 60 seconds, once a week!
I donāt know why people bite their nails, but I know the sound it makes wigs me the heck out.
Vitamin B12 deficiency. I bit my nails for years off and on and did not know why. A doctor told me to try sublingual Vitamin B12 and I did. After a few days the urge to bite, trim, even them up went away, I also had some anxiety and had peeled them. After the B12 I donāt think about them anymore and they are long and strong. Nail biting is something I was ashamed of but had no control over.
I particularly like the immune system update theory. Vitamin B12 deficiency and āmore convenient than clippersā close runners-up.
Whoa, thatās like, the holy trinity of addiction.
I tip my hat, sir.
The B12 theory is interesting. Iāve taken supplemental b12, but never noticed any effect on nail biting. Might have to experiment.
It helps me, a lot, to have clippers and files pretty much everywhere. Office drawer, box on the end table by the couch, bedside table, and at least 6 others wandering around the house. When I realize Iām biting (usually b/c I bit to the quick or tore the cuticle) I grab the clippers and trim them all up. It helps satisfy whatever weird need makes me want my nails to be even and usually curtails the nibbling.
When it was really bad, I would dab some rosemary essential oil under my nails. Under, because that way food I touched didnāt always taste like bitter rosemary, but Iād still get that overwhelming bitter taste if I bit. Rosemary extract is, after all, whatās in the BitterApple and no-bite stuff for dogs and cats 
Iām fidgety, and donāt like the sharp ends when I let them grow. Currently on stop 'n grow nail varnish (tastes yuck), accompanied by nail files on my office table. Coworkers a little mystified.
I donāt really see the problem; I donāt chew too far; itās convenient, I can polish the edges on my jeans, and itās fun to spit out the nails like a slob.
Iām really surprised that I never developed the habitā¦ I do chew on my knuckles and bite down on the ends of my fingers, though.
