Advice

Hey Rose,

I am a 20 year old college student, and I bit my nails for as long as I could remember. Here at school I saw other girls with pretty, long nails or cute manicures and I was just plain jealous. I've tried the bitter stuff, fake nails and acrylics. The acrylics from nail salons are the only thing that slightly worked, but when they came off the nails were so weak they broke and I bit them again. Nailbiting is definitely a form of obsessive compulsive disorder from my point of view, needing the nail to look just so, having no rough edges, the hand to mouth fixture, etc. I know that if I have a chip or split, that is a warning light and I'll be biting soon. I haven't bitten in about 2 months and I'll share some ideas. My boyfriend likes having his back scratched, so that was an incentive for me to grow my nails. It feels really good when you can itch your arm and actually feel something too! He also quit smoking at the same time I stopped biting, so I thought, if he can do it, I can do it. On the tip of each of my fingers, on the skin I wrote the letters Q U I T. For the 5th finger or thumb you can put an ! or an unhappy face or something. This is so when you go to bite, the message will tell you that you shouldn't bite! Another great remedy is to buy nail strengthener and apply it to your nails as often as you need it. This makes your nails less prone to chipping and breaking, etc, which causes most to bite. You should also carry a nail file around with you EVERYWHERE to smooth out any imperfections right away. I topped the nail strengthener with a translucent pink color so I couldn't see any imperfections in the nail, yet I could still see through the color to note the progress of the nail growth. Regular manicures, no matter how short your nails are, are great to make yourself feel proud, get healthy nails, and speed the growth process. Everyone can overcome this problem if I did! Good luck everyone!