Biting Cuticles- No, Not Nails

Exactly, but I was thinking that explaining the Why might help with the How.



Saying "just don't do it anymore" might create images of forever, and how you're going to feel these uncomfortable forever.

Thinking of only for the next minute might makes it a small battle to be one, not the whole war.

I'm sort of going your route, Chai.

Manicure to manicure vs minute to minute.

I think it'll work.

I used to always have 'done' nails - didn't pull my cuticles. Hadn't been taking care of my nails - the pulling/tearing got going. Using creams at my desk isn't really an option. It just isn't. Maintaining a manicure by not picking at the polish, and not tearing the cuticle is my option.

what about replacing the finger picking habit with.lets say... toothpicks?

Me too!
I too have this problem...I am constantly putting lotion on my hands, particularly my cuticles, but I still bite and pick at them. Sometimes they bleed and occasionaly my cuticles will get infected...EWW!!

After reading all this, I'm getting less self conscious about my headpicking habit. Back before I left California, I had gotten into being headscratching queen. Once you do that once, you might leave a little tiny scab. And, of course that needs to be picked at. And so on.

I have excema and dermatitis anyway, and so when I got into that headscratching business, I'd get, on top of the stupidity of that, dandruff.
Somehow I stopped, got calmer. I think all these types of things, including cigarettes, are stress relievers - that work to combat stress at the same time they continue a stress pattern or cycle. I remember being surprised I felt calmer when I finally quit cigarettes, and I guess I feel calmer now that I'm not handgrooming my scalp. What'll be next? I hope it won't be nosepicking...

In re the cuticle biting - glad to hear I'm not alone!

I bought a dozen pair of white cotton gloves to wear while I watch television or whenever I get the urge to nibble but, I've only worn one pair a few times. Not trying hard enough to break this nasty habit. I don't get it???

But resurrecting this thread has brought it back to light.

One of my sons was a nail-biter, cuticle nibbler. I was forever lancing whitlows. He used to announce, "I've got another green finger."

I do this too and I hate it. It is so disgusting but I don't even realize most of the time. It becomes such an unconscious activity I'll realize that I'm driving twith my knees and tearing my cuticles apart with my hands. if anyone finds a way to stop, please let me know. Thanks!

i've been doing this for years, also. i think mine started because i saw this guy i had a crush on doing it. (lame, i know) now i can't stop. i've been able to stop temporarily for a few months at a time by getting acrylic nails at a nail shop. but that costs about twenty bucks every two weeks, and i have to stop when i run out of money. then i just go right back to chewing my cuticles. i know it sounds disgusting but do any of you ever think "yes! i just got a really big chewy piece of skin!" well, you might not but i do. (guess i'm a freak) i've noticed i do it even when i tell myself to stop. just painting my nails doesn't help either since i chew off the polish. i think if my skin didn't get caught on my blankets or clothes, i wouldn't have such an urge to do it as much. i knit too but that doesn't help cause i physically stop whatever i'm doing just to chew my nails for a minute or so. (just did it again, right now as i'm typing this.) grrrrr. guess as soon as i get a job i'll have to start getting fake nails again.

One thing you can try is to always carry a small nail clipper in your purse. May seem icky, but if you get the urge to bite (or if the skin catches on something), try clipping instead of biting.

You may end up with one obsession in place of the first one (plus a lot of people don't like to see this kind of grooming in public, so pick your moments), but it will be a lot cleaner and you'll be less likely to get infections. Plus, if you need to pick your moments or go someplace private in order to do this (e. g. a bathroom stall or the like), you may find some of the habit being broken because of the delays.

If you can't instantly gratify an obsessive habit, that does help to break you of it. At least that's been my experience.

Try something like using nail polish remover instead of lotion, that stuff tastes really bad. Or chew on something else and pretend like it's your cuticles.