I'm digging up an old thread, no point in starting a new one.....
So I'm a nail biter as well. I want to stop. Really. I just can't. I've been doing it for as long as I can remember, ever since I was a little kid.
Am I a nervous person? No, but I do find that I tend to catch myself doing it when my nerves are up a little. I'm a pretty easy-going, level-headed person. I handle stress and pressure quite well.
I call it my non-chemical addiction. I think it's my OCD. I don't even notice that I'm doing it until I'm in the middle of it. But then it's too late, because I've started (believe it or not, I've actually nibbled a little while typing this post!).
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I think that is why I continue to bite them once I begin. It's like this: My nail catches on a piece of material (eg. my shirt), or I look at a finger and the nail looks like it needs a little fixing, so I need to bite that piece off. However, it just makes it worse. So I bite more off. Which makes it worse. Etc, etc..... and then it just looks awful.
The funny/ridiculous thing is I know exactly how it will play out, yet I can't stop myself.
Once my nails have been bitten down enough, I won't bite them for a few days. But when they grow back enough to catch on a piece of material again, the cycle of biting begins again.
If there's one thing about myself that I could change, this would be it. So, I decided to write this post to see if any other nail-biters out there have had success quitting.
I've tried the bad tasting stuff, wearing latex gloves around the house, will power, when I was younger my mother tried bribing me, but nothing has worked thus far.
Also, anyone who posted in this thread way back in 2006 that is still around, are you still biting or did you find a way to stop?
Anyone else who has been able to find a way to stop biting, please share your method.
I like WildCowboy's idea ("I just all of a sudden stopped biting a couple of them and they started looking good...I have no idea why I stopped. Anyway, they looked good, so I kept adding fingers that I wouldn't bite. About nine months ago, I got down to the last one, and now I am bite-free!"), but I question if it will work for me. Are you still not biting?
Anyway, I think that's long enough..... hopefully someone will have a good, helpful idea for me!