stop chewing my cuticles

Ive been biting my nails and cuticles for as long as I can remember. I get the mentality that, once I start, I must finish, and even if it starts to hurt or bleed, I continue to bite! I notice it has a lot to do with stress, but I smoke cigarettes too!

My fingers tips are red and swollen, and my friends notice, its quite embarrassing. Anyone have a great way to stop?

it’s nice to know i’m not the only one…but my nails are absolutely nasty, they hurt like crazy, my friends notice, they bleed/are red and swollen constantly and i can’t seem to stop, it’s so hard. i’m going to stop starting today i just need some sort of method, and suggestions on how to quit? i want pretty hands.

but hoping telling the world will help! This is so revolting, but so incredibly difficult to control – seems like such a silly little thing.

I did this. As a side effect I stopped biting my nails and for the first time in years, I actually had nails.

Because of this, I realized I dislike having nails, and frankly I enjoy biting them! So yep.

Thank you all for sharing your stories, it’s great to know that my biting can be stopped by some of the methods you have all offered. I did not even realize that I was doing it as a response to stress. This is the first step to hand recovery!

That so many people want to stop this horrible habit too. It is such a nervous habit for me. I have been under so much stress lately that my hands have never been this bad. I have my fingers so chewed up that it even hurts to put hand lotion on. Hand lotion! The thing that’s supposed to soothe and make your hands feel better. Makes mine hurt slightly more.

I can’t believe how well I’m doing with this! The first couple days were hard but now I am hardly tempted to chew my cuticles at all. I have been using a lot of lotion and that helps.

Wow I had no idea there would be 23 other people out there trying to stop doing this! It’s totally gross…which is why we need to quit!

ok so maybe not the only only one but everyone else seems to chew their nails! i do it whne im bored, nervous, or upset. the one thing that seems to help me was putting bandaids on my fingers on my days off, it was only for two days a week but it made me more aware that i was doing it. unfourtunatly ive been slipping lately and my thumbs and pointer finger are getting the bulk of my nerves. i guess everyone has their oral fixation and since i dont smoke this is mine?

I had no idea so many other people did this. I’m glad I’m not alone in this. lol. For me, I think it’s at it’s worst when I watch a scary movie, or just when I’m really nervous :/