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I’ve been biting my nails for a very long time. I tried many different things to help me stop, including, gloves; cream; pepper etc. If you know of a good way to stop, please let me know. Thanks!
You could try putting bandaids around each nail tip, first directly over the nail, front to back, then around that bandaid. Whatever you end up doing, do it for SIX weeks. Research shows that it takes 6 weeks’ time to break a habit of any kind.
If there is a will, there is a way!
Chazal said it takes 40 days to break a habit.
oomis, joseph – seems like research and chazal are always a couple of days apart. here it’s only two.
Joseph
I guess researchers finally figured out what chazal knew a long time ago 🙂 (they just added two days to fit it neatly into weeks.)
Yes, but science has proven it takes six weeks.
Joseph- he said six weeks= 42 days, about what chazal said
and if you bite your nails?? think why you wanna stop. if it’s really important to you, you’ll do it. send a little prayer to the one above each morning for continued help. not kidding.
da: i have the same problem, and i too still didn’t break it.$ i would also appreciate it.$
and like intellegent intelligently pointed out, Chazal where way ahead of any “researchers.”
oomis – which research decided six weeks is the magic number?
Curious – Google it. I came up with some info there.
I can’t quote the “MAKOR,” but I have heard it in psychology discussions, regarding giving up any bad habit, whether it is biting nails, smoking, overeating, etc. Psychologists assert that it takes about 6 weeks to truly break a cycle of any habit. Learned behaviors take root in six weeks. Chazal knew this before any psychologists. It’s not a “magic number.” It has been observed that it takes that amount of time to break oneself of the psychological pull of a conditioned behavior. Any habit, is simply a conditioned behavior.
Except that I’ve often come across 3 weeks as the magic number. No matter how many researchers/psychologists you ask, that’s how many answers you get.
Joseph – Trust me, this topic doesn’t interest me enough to spend the time searching for a “mekor”. If it did, I’d search in professional behavior journals, not google.
i once heard nail polish works!!!!! kinda girly, but yeah!!!
Polish, not necessarily – but going for an actual MANICURE… that’s a different story. Most girls would be reluctant to spoil a pretty manicure by biting their nails. And seeing how pretty their hands look would eb a great incentive to keep it that way.
So what do you do if you’re a guy???? I think the bandaid idea works if only because many people bite their nails from stress and subconsciously, as well. If everytime they put their nails to their mouths, tehy encountered a bandaid, it would make them more aware of what they are doing. Self-awareness is the first stp to changing a behavior pattern. Three weeks are not enough to completely alter a behavior. it might be enought o detox a body from drugs, though.
thanks oomis, i was wondering how long it would take
Agreed oomis…get a mani- will solve all nail biting problems 😉
maybe the manicure could help dd-i donno if dd is a he or she, but i can’t see my dear friend qwrtyuiop tryin that!!!
qwertyuiop: try the band-aid one!!!
There is a special colorless polish u buy in the pharmacy to apply to ur nails every morning. Once u apply the ploish try biting ur nails,the taste is HORRIBLE. U will stop biting ur nails for good!! It’s a bit annoying at first since u r so itchy to bite ur nails. SO u’ll keep tasting this and that will be the end of the bad habit.
For something less severe, why not try an expensive nail hardner. U will physically not be ABLE to bite ur nails.
It’s really good of u to try and stop this habit bec nails are a dangerous thing to leave around or spit out of ur mouth once u chew it off.
That horrid tasting polish will work on many people. But someone who is really determined to bite nails, will bite them regardless of the taste. It is a stress-releasing behavior, and the compulsion to bite is often stronger than the need to stop biting. I like the nail hardener idea, if it works, because when you are physically thwarted, it makes you aware, so an unconscious nail-biter will break the cycle.
BTW, nail biting is bad for the teeth, too. You can actually wear the dentin away.
i’ve got to agree with all those saying to get a manicure! i know that after my friday manicure and my nails are perfect theres no way im biting them bec why would i wana ruin my nails but once they start chipping and theyre ruined then who cares…so my advice: keep your nails pretty and polished!
for guys – try clear polish! and you should prob apply at home bec i dont think you’d wana be seen in gorgeous nails on ave m!!
Joseph,
Where’s that Chazal?
when i got my braces, i couldn’t bite my nails cuz it hurt to much. That lasted for a few weeks (less than six :))untill i the braces got looser. Now i bite them but not have as much. i doubt you’ll try that though…
notpashut,
I believe it says Moshe got the Torah after being on Har Sinai 40 days and nights because it takes 40 days for a person to transform himself into a new being.
asdfghjkl: like there is so tottaly nothing wrong with getting a manicure.$ jk.
i would nevere ever ever get a manicure but i’ll keep in mind the band-aids, thanx for looking out for me asdfghjkl, you the man.$
qwertyuiop: ha!! no it’s, you the man!!!!
asdfghjkl: i wanna tell you something to nrver forget: YOU THE MAN
hey i dare you to go get a manicure. how funny would that be?
“Can I wear the band aids on Shabbos? (and NO, I am not going to use colored nailpolish!)”
I would ask a shailah about it, only because it might be considered muktzeh if not specifically necessary for Shabbos. There is a kosher eruv where you live, right? (just in case, it is considered carrying, because you asre not wearing it for a cut)…
qwertyuiop: & you never forget: YOU THE MAN!!!!! now er even buddy!!!!
moish: if you’re daring me, keep dreaming i would never.$
moish01: how about you try it first???!!! then tell us all about the experience!!!!
ha ha qwertyuiop, i should hope not. not sure which is wimpier: to take up the dare and go, or to chicken out. either way you lose 😉
you crazy? i’d probably die from smelling that stuff.
moish01: ha!!! how bad could the stuff smell like??? i say like permenent marker or white out-btw i love those smells-i so could get high on it!!!
moish: when you get a manicure, let me know how it went.$
well, i never stepped foot into one of those places, but they STINK when they come out afterward. so i can only imagine what the place smells like inside. don’t you know any girls? maybe a sister or cousin or someone (not sure how close you actually get to your sister or cousin)
moish: yes, i actually have been near my sister, and cousins, moish do you think i’m one of those really frum people who looks in a sefer, and posts in the CR all day.$ well guess what, i too had my problems.$
moish: maybe anonymisss could help us with the whole manicure thing!!! smell & all!!!
this has got to be the most outrageous thread in the CR
maybe the CR should create an all male manicure room off of the main coffee room
I am proud to announce that I am a former, and now recovered, nail-biting-holic.
Stress release habit? How can a 6 year old be stressed out? I started very young and only kicked the habit about 6-8 months ago
da- How? determination. Why? because I was being mechalell shabbos
Stress is common in young children. Don’t kid yourselves. If any of you have small children, it’s important for you to know. Kids can be very sensitive and pick up on bad vibes easily. And they react to it. Open your eyes.
areivimzehlazeh: great idea with an all male manicure room, off of the main coffee room!!! you wanna go first & tell us all about the experience???!!! funny one my friend!!!! congrads on crackig the addiction man!!!
Any young child can be easily stressed. When they are, they act out, have nightmares, cry and show other signs of depression. Do not be fooled into thinking stress is an adult condition. Watch a child whose parents do not get along, or who has a new baby in the family and is being ignored, or mnaybe is being bullied in school. There are lots of stressors for children, unfortunately.
I give anyone a lot of credit for trying to break this habbit, since nails is not a simple thing and a preg woman shouldnt be stepping on it. Any nail biter will tell u that they cant keep track of properly disposing all their nails.
joseph
40 is for any transformation:
40 years in the Midbar before we were transformed into a nation fit to enter Eretz Yisroel
40 days on HarSinai
40 makkos to transform a rasha into a tahor
40 days for a blob to become a fetus
40 melachos to create the mishkan (40-1 as in the case of makkos, the extra one has to come from the person’s own machshava)
40 seah in the mikvah to make a goy a Jew, a tamei into a tahor.
Mem (40) is the middle letter of the Aleph-Bais which the Boreh used to create smething from nothing. (i made this one up, the others have a mekor.)
40 posts on YW until the thread degenerates.
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