Increase Your Awareness To Decrease Your Nail Biting Habit

If you bite your nails from boredom, habit or stress there are some steps you can try to change your habit. Since nail biting is a subconscious and automatic behavior, you will need to increase your awareness of the times you do bite your nails.

Are you stressed? Bored? Hungry? Anxious? Tired? What feelings are going on inside you when you bite your nails? Recognizing the underlying feeling can be the first step in moving your unconscious habit to your awareness level.

Recognizing your personal feeling triggers can help you find patterns which trigger your nail biting behavior.

Record Your Findings
Get a tiny spiral notebook. Each time you get the urge to bite your nails; write down what you were doing when you bite your nails. Note the times you bite your nails and write them down in the notebook. After a few days you will see the times and triggers for your nail biting.


Take a few minutes to look at your notebook. When you review the information you recorded what patterns do you see?

What were you doing? What was happening in your life and how did you feel about it?

Keys To Change: Decreased Access, Increased Awareness to Make It Easy to Succeed

1. Substitute another behavior or activity
a. Put a piece of hard candy in your mouth
b. Substitute another action such as playing with silly putty or play dough
c. Get worry or prayer beads to finger instead of biting
d. Carry a small smooth rock in a tiny cloth carrying case. The case can be felt, velvet, satin or some high touch texture material. The distraction can be a good substitution.

2. Make it more difficult to bite your nails.
a. Have acrylic nails applied.
b. Get a couple of pair of thin gloves or nail moisturizer gloves. Wear them at your trigger times.
c. Paint your nails with a polish that tastes bad
d. Knit, crochet or otherwise occupy your hands. Having snacks doesn’t necessarily help and may lead to weight gain. (Which can be stressful in itself)

3. Make yourself more aware of your nails
a. Get a professional manicure.
b. Polish your nails with clear polish
c. Buff your nails to keep a shine on your nails.

4. Get and use a cuticle cream to minimize hangnails.
a. This decreases the need to pick and bite.
b. Cuticle oil works well and most of them taste horrible.
c. Get one of those small containers of nail moisturizer and rub in and on your nails and cuticles. The nail moisturizer will minimize the dryness of your nails and in the long run decrease the peeling. Burt’s Bees has a Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream that smells good and does a great job of moisturizing. It’s also small enough to tuck in your jeans pocket or in your purse.


5. Have a small emery board with you at all times.
Have a rough nail edge? File it don’t bite it. Bitten nails tend to be thinner and peel and crack with rough edges.

Overcoming the nail biting habit takes time. Reward and recognize yourself for each step you take. These tips may be the start of a change in the nail biting habit for you.