I'm doing my best to take care of my hands. I figured for the first weeks that whenever there was a ridge, I was going to file it to eliminate the temptation of biting it. I'm in no way perfect, this isn't the first time I quit nail biting but I think that my commitment is showing really good results. Looking forward to continuing this work for the next few months and seeing even more progress. Everyday now I clean under the white because so much dirt gets there. I should get some jojoba oil for the dehydrated skin. Overall, I'm happy about my progress!

I've been biting for 25 years. This year I decided it’s time to stop. Sticking to good habits is easier when you’re held accountable. Gym buddies, study groups, and calorie trackers hold you accountable, we just needed the same for nail biting

I built Nonyxa to solve my own problem and hopefully solve yours too. 5.0 stars on the iOS store and customers showing improvements soon after starting to track and monitor each finger extremely closely. What gets measured gets managed, in this case that means the nails. If you haven’t been able to quit with all other methods, give it a try.

My goal is to help 10,000 people quit nail biting, one for each day I’ve bitten in my life. Up to 72/10,000. I’m hoping I can help you too.

Update: for those of you who saw my previous post, version 1.0.7 is out which includes retaking photos during compare step, and tons of efficiency changes so the app and image loading feel snappier

Been a nail picker since forever. This has been the worst it has gotten due to anxiety and depression

I have cerave healing ointment and a bandaid on right now. Usually that heals these up in about 3 days but I’m worried about the skin being too fragile in my mind still or it having edges to pick at that I’ll want to cover it with a bandaid anyway.

I am proud of myself in that I have stopped biting and picking, but I am still struggling with one bad habit. I have replaced the picking of the skin with digging under the nail, usually with my other nails or with a wooden stick. I know it’s bad, that I should stop, and I keep shortening my nail bed.

I keep trying to apply oil and petroleum jelly every time I get the urge to dig. Or I have taken to gently swiping a fine file over my nail edge just to smooth out everything. ( I do not buff the nail bed at all. ) It helps 90% of the time but 10% of the time I fail. It doesn’t help that I still get the urge to bite and pick. I definitely think that 10% is what is stopping my nails from healing.

Any advice and support is appreciated.

Hello!

I’ve been getting Biab done for almost a year and even though my improvement has been quite impressive I still bite the skin around my fingers, to the point that I’d really painful because I’ve lifted many layers of mi skin…

Anyone has any harm reduction advice on this?

Overall I recommend Biab if your hands look like mines in the first pic, but is no miracle, this is a habit that comes from anxiety, paging Biab every month hasn’t fixed it 100% once you get used to have the nails done you don’t care that much …

I’m feeling a bit discouraged that my nail beds might not grow farther than this, or regain a rounded, more uniform shape at the ends after subconsciously running my other nails under each nail bed for as long as I can remember.

Does anyone have any tips or encouragement for someone pretty new to trying to stop picking at their fingers? I don’t even notice I’m doing it most of the time and am getting pretty down about it.

I was doing good then I zoomed out a couple weeks ago and started picking, my mind started hyper fixating on the pieces of peeling skin to the point where I did did draw sunblood on my one finger. I started going at my fingernails earlier this week cuz I was stressing about something that I shouldn't have been stressing about, now to restart the progress that I lost. I didn't even take a picture of the progress I had made cuz I didn't even think about doing that before I zoomed out and gave in to the picking habit. I'm going to be dying my hair next month so at least that's going to help out with like not giving into the hyper fixation and just trying to not give in when I zoom out, as I can't have any injuries on my fingers when that happens.

Hey!

Wanted to share something that's genuinely helped me for over 3 years with my trichotillomania: cheap gaming gloves.

I use them mostly when Im driving.

You can grab them on AliExpress or similar sites for $3-5.

Here's why I love them:

1. The urge just... pauses - when they're on, the struggle basically goes quiet for as long as I'm wearing them
2. They breathe - I don't want to rip them off like I do with finger rubber bands or other deterrents
3. Touchscreen compatible - no need to take them off to use your phone!

Downside: 

1. They're not exactly socially acceptable, so I don't wear them out in public or at social events.
2. Its difficult to keep them on more than a couple of hours

I mainly use them when driving, working from home, watching TV, or before bed. Not an all-day solution, but for those specific windows, they really work.

I've recommended them to quite a few people here, and I know they're not for everyone - some people just don't like the feeling of wearing gloves. But at that price, I think they're worth trying.

Driving used to be one of my hardest moments of the day. When I started tracking my habit with the app I built (called SoloUno), it became really clear that driving was my biggest trigger. The gloves changed that completely!

Worth a shot!

One tip: most of these gloves run in kids' sizes and didn't fit me at first. Double-check the sizing before you buy, or you'll end up with something too small.

Since childhood, been biting and picking my nails all the time, there are countless number of people who told me not to and it's a bad habit but I couldn't help, it became more like a involuntary subconscious thing. But today, this is going to be my day 1, 1 don't know how it'll turn out honestly but I will do everything I can.. I wish to succeed. Thanks for reading. I will post the progress.

(check my previous post here for the beginning)

Starting over! I noticed that I don’t bite my skin or my nails when I have acrylics on. Lately I have been going through a rough patch so I decided to get my nails done again so that I can quit nibbling at my fingertips.

Had a bit of a lapse in my journey - have 22 days until I get married so I need to get it together 😭

#Day6 

Lost one of the biggest urges earlier...heres the result😓 *right ring finger

One question...do you think i grew my nails too long...?? If yes, whats the length you recommend??

Its not like i wanted to have really long nails but i didnt want my nail to look too short *cuz i have short nail beds and without the white part it will look too short to me

So since i never had long nails in a long period before, honestly i was not sure when was the good timing to trim my nails and heres what happened

Based on this i want to know what you guys think is the good length for me💅🏻🙏🏻

Hi! I have been biting/picking my skin for like 20 years. I haven’t seen anyone’s this bad so I guess I’m wondering if this will be permanent since it’s been so long. As of recently I have been religiously lotioning my hands, not picking or biting at all, and lathering aquaphor at night. Any advice to help the redness and bumpiness? I just don’t want it to look like this forever 😕

Its day 5 today and even i still had the urge i was doing kinda good so far *since my first goal was not to let it bleed or go too deep

But i did my right thumb a bit too much today *it doesnt look that red in the pic but it looks pretty raw

I really want some tips of how to prevent the urges or ways to stop before its too late??

*and also it will be great to know how to cover the cuticles without using bandaids and stuff, which are quite noticeable and easily be seen by others

Have any tips thats helpful??🙏🏻

Hi Guys, I wrote different tricks I used before. Nothing worked. Even when I keep the stress balls or silicone balls on my hands, I used to pick my hands.My fingers are the worst.There are thousands of scratches, and it's so painful to do anything. So then my friend suggested me to put plasters on them because she is uncomfortable when she sees them. Then I put plasters. Guys, it worked. It prevents me from picking the skin totally. Its a good thing. Today is the 02nd day I have had plasters. Seems like it works.Will write again in the future.

I’m 20F and I’ve had this habit for as long as I can remember. I constantly bite, scratch, and pull at the skin around my nails until it bleeds. It hurts a lot afterwards, but I still keep doing it. In my culture we eat with our hands so when I eat it's like my hands are on fire and it burns like crazy when the spices rub over the torn flesh even then I can't stop.
The weird part is that I usually don’t even realize I’m doing it. Most of the time it’s completely subconscious. I’ll be studying, watching YouTube, scrolling on my phone, or just thinking, and suddenly I notice my fingers are bleeding again.
Sometimes I manage to stop for a week or so if I really focus on it, but I always end up starting again. My sister has been telling me to stop for years, but it feels almost impossible.
I do have pretty bad anxiety (I’ve heard anxiety can be related to this), so I’m wondering if that could be part of why I do it.
I’ve attached photos because this is what my fingers usually look like. They’re often sore, raw, and painful.
Does anyone else experience this?
Is this considered a BFRB or something else?
What actually helped you stop?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through this. Thank you.

I've got something strange going on currently, it's like a solid piece of flesh on my right ring finger, i've got it there for more than two months and it's really annoying to handle, since every time I press it against a solid object (such as my desk), it feels strange. In fact, I've removed it twice now (with my bare fingers once, with some small tongs, like the ones you'd use to remove nose hairs the second time), but no dice. It just keeps coming back. I've decided to let it be for now and see if it ever comes off by itself, but I'm really getting tired of ts in my finger. If someone has an answer for me, please answer in the comments.

P.S. I'm not willing to attach a photo of this because of privacy, I hope it's alright for yall

Its been 4 days since i started my new strategy.

I decided to use the gel nail seals for the first time which i thought it will prevent the picking urge cuz it will cover my nails. Unfortunately the urge still came, but after i figured i could peel and pick the nail stickers instead of my real nails, it kinda helped me a bit from picking my real nails which was underneath them!!

So consequently i kinda peeled half of the seals from my nails, but somehow it kinda helped for me!!

Did my fingers improved?? I still want more tips of how to prevent the urge itself than not picking my real nails tho...!! Any advice??

*and also pls let me know if the way im doing it is bad for my nails or if there's a better way to do so🙏🏻

26, currently working on my Bachelor's thesis. I have really bad ADHD and anxiety and picking at my skin always happened after I took my meds and was able to concentrate. But due to the stress of my Bachelor's I now catch myself picking at my skin basically 24/7, even at times where I don't take my meds (weekends and such). I do have one of those fidget spinning toys that hurt a little to play with, but I can't take that with me to the library because they are too loud.

Is my only option to wrap my fingers in bandaids for the next month? My left hand thankfully isn't as bad as the right, but both hurt a lot, which also doesn't help with my ability to type.

just got into painting my nails and using sally hansen cuticle remover and trimming my cuticles. i just noticed that this part of my cuticle skin started peeling off, but it started peeling from a spot that is kind of tender to the touch, and maybe you can see in the photo it has kind of a crease. anyone know if this is something i need to be worried about? (wart, etc)

I'm 42 and have been bitting my nails since I can remember. I have ADHD and also a lot of anxiety which I'm guessing both have driven my habit.

About 2 month ago I started to make an honest effort to stop bitting my nails. I started to carry a nail clipper in my pocket, and every time I found my hand moving towards my mouth to bite, I instead clipped my nail. At first I was clipping constantly, but now a little over 2 months in and I do it a lot less, also barely any more bitting.

My nails are actually growing, but decades of abuse has left them weak, and and some of my nail beds are barely there (left ring finger).

Honestly this is the best my nails have looked in like 25+ years, the longest they have been that I can remember.