Fingernail biting

So the cowboy comes riding into town after a long time out on the range. He looks dusty and trail worn. He rides up, ties his horse, walks around behind it, lifts it's tail and kisses the horse square on the behind.

An old timer sitting up on the porch asks:

"What the heck you doing, son?"

the cowboy replies:

"I've been out on the trail so long I've got bad chapped lips"

the old timer says:

"...and you think doing that will cure them?"

"No, but it sure stops me from licking them."

:twisted: I'm sure glad Izabella doesn't pick his nose :lol: :lol:

I can sadly say that I might be an expert at nailbiting.
I am 45 years pld and have bitten my nails from the time I was real young until about 2 years ago.
Don't get me wrong, I have not completely quit. I have my fret hand pinky bitten off right now.
But out of the other 9 nails, 2 where long enough that I had to trim them today.
It took a conscious effort to get this far.
I got really tired of hiding my hands when I went to pay for something because I came to a point that I started getting very self conscious about it.
I started growing my thumb nails first and slowly started leaving more and more finger alone.
I still can't seem to keep my fingers away from my mouth, but at least I am not chewing them, for the most part, when I do.
It's not an easy habit to break but I think the only way to do it is to be very aware of your fingers and even when you find them in your mouth avoid chewing. (I tend to run my teeth under my new nails)
If yours are like mine where, you don't have alot of skin left under the nail.
It will look funny when they first start to grow and the nails will stick out away from the fingers a bit. This will correct itself over time.
Mine almost look normal now.
Best of luck.

I got some advice about quitting smoking a few years ago from an old chief (I am in the navy) He told me that I should tell myself how much I hated smoking every time I had one. It took about 6 months but after that I truly hated smoking, even while I smoked and I gave it up and never looked back.

I have adapted this to other bad habbits of mine and it always seems to work well. I used to bite my nails and I convinced myself to leave them alone just by telling myself how stupid it was, as I was biting them. Now my wife is jealous; my nails are better than hers.

Kind of a weird method but It has worked for me.

Also, try to keep a good nail clipper near your guitar.

Good luck.

Many drug stores carry a product called "Thumbs". At least they did about two years ago. It is kind of similar to a clear non gloss fingernail polish, but tastes much worse. If you keep your nails coated for a few weeks, you will condition yourself to never putting your fingers near your mouth.

I'm still kinda surprised that I quit chewing my fingernails. Forget how old I was, probably round 10. I hated how my nails would snag on stuff - cause of the rough edges when I bit them. It was practically overnight that I stopped after making that epiphany. If only I could rid myself of other bad habits that easily...

I gave up when a girl told me just how unatractive bitten nails look.

Seemed a small sacrifice :lol:

Great thread, what a laugh i have had reading this!

Matt

What about Habitually biting OTHER people's fingernails?
How do you stop someone from doing that? A restraining order?

What about Habitually biting OTHER people's fingernails?
How do you stop someone from doing that? A restraining order?

:lol: At least that would keep your own nails looking nice.

im a biter too...but i never manage to cause myself pain..hmmm....sit on ur hands everywhere...thats wat i do..

LOL, how many guitar playing psychologist/pathologist/physicians do we have here?

Maybe you should double book your guitar lesson days with a trip to the shrink for a little hypnotherapy.

While hes got you out, maybe he could throw in a couple quick lines of you being a guitar hero with more talent then anyone on the planet.

Couldnt hurt :D

Kido

Speaking of hypnotherapy........ this is kind of odd, but I'm kind of odd, so go figure........ about 25 years ago my mother, older sister and I went to a hypnosis seminar because we wanted to quit smoking. For some reason the hypnotist guy singled me out and noticed that I bit my nails. So he threw in this thing about how I had "little girl" hands because only "little girls" bit their nails............. anyway, long story much shorter........... I never bit my nails again after that day.......... I still smoke like a chimney........ but I don't bite my nails!!!!! :D

lol^

I used to always do this, but then my parents made me get braces, and I couldn't bite my nails no matter how hard I tried. When my teeth were bite down, the brackets got in the way of getting my fingers in there. A few weeks later I didn't even bother trying any more. I was cured!

I got this from this site on beating domestic habits, and I thought it was good.

Every time you have an urge to do the activity, start asscosiating it with something you absoelutely hate. Me for example. I am wicked terrified of spiders. If i see one, its like someone just dumped me in ice. If one is on me, i totally freak out and flail until im sure its off. Now, try thinking of biting ur nails...IN A TUB OF POSIONOUS SPIDERS!!!! Not very pleasent huh?

That story about getting your nail pulled out got me to stop, for the moment anyways.

As for cracking your knucles Izzy, if you pull your fingers to crack them it isn't a bad thing, you just don't want to mangle them, so I'd suggest converting to that way.

I'm still cringing from that story...