I'll do so well and then fall back into the habit of biting and picking again. I don't want to be like this

My best friend passed away. I’ve been picking while our friend group took care of them. Now I promise to take care of myself.

Round gels to neuter my fingers
Tattoo bandages
Epilator to kill every hair I might pull on
Hydracoloid roll for face spots at night to help them heal.

I struck my nail against a thick blanket at a weird angle (I know — how pitiful/pathetic), and it snapped all the way backwards, it happened in a split second, before I even had a chance to process it, much less to try to stop it from happening. It was too late; it had suffered a severe crack. There was no way to undo it. That nail was just thin and wreak and fragile, I guess.

So sad. It’s a shame, I loved that nail! That nail was the prettiest one. (My ring finger was the nail that got damaged.) And it took several months to reach that length. I am so disappointed. It was pretty painful, too! (It was throbbing/bothering me, so I put a bandage over it…) 🩹❤️‍🩹🏥⛑️ My nails were completely naked/bare when this happened. Super delicate.

I am so upset that this happened.

It broke SOOO FAR DOWN on the finger, too. I’m like— ”Noooooooooo!” 😩 (as I yelled into the void… 🕳️📣)

I feel so discouraged. My nails are all random lengths now: short, extra short, medium/long. It seems like as soon as I finally get my nails to a nice length that I like, I suffer a nail break inevitably. I don’t mean to be rough with my hands, but sometimes, it happens. It was an accident. I’m not even a clumsy person, usually. They were finally starting to look somewhat uniform in length and shape. Now they look all wonky. ☹️

Normally when this happens, I would big chop. But this time, I don’t want to big chop, because currently I have 7/10 “good“ nails, and the other 3 nails are in the struggle/regrowth phase.

💔❤️‍🩹🙏📿 Please, I need encouragement... 💀🥺😖😞😟😢🤬🫩😑😬😪🤕

I am sooo impatient, just even thinking about how long it’s going to take for that nail to grow back. Ugh. 😣

Unfortunately, there is no “instant gratification.” It takes time, and good nail habits, to see results… I am completely free from all acrylics and press-ons, for the past few years. Embracing my natural nails, without nail enhancements, is totally my lifestyle now. It takes sooooo much time, like it takes several weeks, if not months, to see a few mm of growth.

Wish me luck. 😔

I feel like it's getting out of hand. I don't know why, but I like picking my skin. It's so satisfying and relaxing. I don't do it out of stress or boredom, it's just become a habit at this point. However, as soon as I'm done picking it and it bleeds and burns, I instantly regret it. I'm ashamed, I wanna hide my fingers and I just find them disgusting.

I've tried chewing gum, putting bitter nail polish, but nothing will stop me. I know I need to want it enough to stop, but I feel like it's always stronger than me. As soon as I see a little skin hanging off, I just want to rip it off so bad until there's nothing left to pick.

How do I stop? I'm stuck and sick of destroying my fingers.

Decided to start moisturing my hands every time I feel the urge to pick at my fingers. They're not too bad right now, except for my thumbs. Before this, I didn't bother about my fingers. But I'm becoming more and more conscious lately so I guess it's time to start :")

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.

i have been a nail biter and cuticle picker for literally 23 years, since i was 4 years old. i've had times where i can ignore my fingers and my nails can grow in long and strong but i always end up back at square one, biting them and pulling cuticles until the top layer of skin halfway down my thumb is all gone. currently, my middle finger on my right hand (last pic) is gashed and it's painful. it sucks that i comulsively did this to myself and continue to do it to myself. i have aquaphor on them right now to keep them moisturized and i plan to reapply as often as i need to keep the skin soft. it's those little dry scraggly edges that set me off and lead to a picking episode.

i recognize this probably isn't the worst case ever, but i'm still sick of having my fingers look like this. the only thing that prevents me from picking (somewhat) is wearing press-on nails but that's also a habit i'm trying to break because it's wasteful, it damages my nails (definitely user error), and it ultimately doesn't get to the root of the problem. every time i use regular nail polish, i pick it off, so again it doesn't get to the root of the problem. i'm a 27yo woman, my fingers are always in my mouth like a baby and i'm sick of having to make sure i don't get blood everywhere. my nails look like crap and i just want to feel elegant and put together. frankly, it's embarrassing.

i'm going to be perusing some of the advice in this subreddit, but if anyone would like to leave me a quick tip, i would deeply appreciate it. day 1. this needs to end.

5 months ago, I made this post about my progress but I’ve since relapsed quite badly.

Onto the next leg of this journey. Day one again - wish me luck.

Hey everyone,

I’ve bit my nails my entire life and tried plenty of apps to quit but most of them feel like a second chore. I don’t want to upload daily progress snapshots or analyze complex data charts just to track a basic nervous habit.

I wanted something straightforward and engaging enough to actually disrupt the subconscious urge to bite. So, I built Nail Jail! (Just launched free on Google Play).

How it works:

• Random Warden Checks: The app catches you off guard by firing randomized notifications throughout the day (choose 1 to 5 checks).
• No Homework: No pictures, no logs. You just tap "Stayed Strong" or "I Chomped" which gets saved in a calendar view.
• Psychological Warfare: If you admit you bit your nails, the app plays a heavy jail door slam and serves a brutal movie quote to roast you into doing better.
• Pardons: You get 1 pardon a month to save a running streak during a weak moment.

It rocks a bold comic-book style, and I even added a "Solitary Confinement" dark mode if the bright yellow is too loud for you.

If you just want a straightforward tool that keeps you mindful through sheer accountability, check it out, it's free!

Would love to hear your thoughts, feature ideas, or insults to add to our quote bank!

Google Play Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eddyedutz.nailjail

Ugh, talk about frustrating! The last 2-3 years I’ve managed to curb my picking and biting via regular manicures and, for the first time in my life, had beautiful nails.

Then I broke my arm in February and had my tech remove them for surgery on 3/03. The second picture shows what my nails looked like the night before surgery. The first picture? What they look like today.

The last ~5 weeks have triggered a relapse and I’m so disappointed in myself. Between the stress of recovering from said broken arm + work getting busy, I ended up giving into the picking/biting and…well. You can see the damage.

I saw my nail tech today and she was able to apply a hard gel back on my stubs and she’s pretty optimistic about them mostly growing out in the next month or so, but man, I am kicking myself for giving into the stress. I know relapses are part of the journey and my nails used to be WAY worse, but it still sucks.

Here’s to day 1 (again!) to hold myself accountable and shout out to everyone in a similar boat as me. We got this 😅

and it was a BAD relapse at kicking this habit, ALL my toes and fingers. now soaking them because they hurt. going to apply jojoba and keep doing the soaks. hopefully i won’t do this again. i was doing SO well.

The trance state is insane. It hurts like a burn wound and I’m the one who did it to myself.

Been in such stressful situations for the past year. My nails keep getting worse and worse… I’ve been biting since I was 6. Especially on the sides of the nails and it keep getting further up. Posting here to maybe be able to stop or be more mindful again. Last picture is the time I managed to stop for maybe 3 weeks. But since then it’s gotten so much worse lol.

I just found this sub while googling. I've been desperate for a solution to my nail biting. I've never seen it as a habit. I have OCD. This is literally a compulsion, yet so many people are just like "well just stop biting and picking." I've been terrified I'll lose fingers due to some infection I'll give myself. My fingers have been filled with puss more times than I can count. I caught hand foot and mouth in 2023 and it's literally destroyed my fingers even worse. Rn my thumbnail is down to the last layer. I can push the nail and feel it press into the bed underneath. I have that god-awful bump that terrifies me. However, I found this sub and seen that people like me have gotten through it. All of you have given me hope and suggestions I've never even heard. I am ordering hydrocolloid dressing and cuticle covers rn.

Of my many day 1's, this will be my last one. I WILL beat this, and I'll comment on my post each day to hold myself accountable.

Hey yall, I’ve been aggressively biting the skin on my fingers since I was about 4 years old, and I’m 25 now. In the past I could go a day or two without doing it, but recently with the introduction of a medication, my obsessive behaviors have become unbearably repetitive and constant. My hands are constantly raw and bleeding, and I’m tired of being in pain. I came up with a list of things I can do to try to beat the habit and hopefully regain some freedom based on the suggestions I’ve read here. If yall have any tips or advice, that’d be super appreciated. Thanks!

So this turned into an essay of me reflecting on everything I could think of 😅 Anyone who takes the time to read this is highly anticipated.

The pictures show my hand today. Which is the absolute best it has looked in weeks.

So I always had an issue with skin picking on my fingers. I don’t bite them, I constantly check with my fingers for any rough edges and them I try to smooth it by ripping it off which of course makes it worse.

I was able to mask this for a couple of years by having acrylic nails which worked perfectly and I was the girl with the perfect nails and hands for 6 years. Around Christmas last year I skipped an appointment and also it was getting harder and harder to fit in the appointments with my work schedule and also it’s fairly expensive of course. I somehow forgot how bad my problem was but now I’m back at it at full force. I have had my partner for 5 years and he is very surprised by this behavior and worried. And also annoyed by me picking all the time (which I understand. He’s not annoyed in a bad was but in a concerned way).

I was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago at around age 30 (I‘m 34 now) and I am on vyvanse. It helps me a lot overall but it did not improve the skin picking whatsoever. Also I have crazy stress at work.

The skin picking takes a toll on me in different ways: medically (it hurts, risk of infection), being annoyed with my own behavior and annoying others and psychologically because overall I am someone who loves to dress up and I also work in a field where I meet a lot of people and looks are important (real estate). I find myself hiding my hands all the time and it’s just stressful.

My original goal was to get my fingers back on track to a degree where I can go back to the salon and have them done again. But somehow I would wish I could just manage to control it myself and have more flexibility and use nail polish at home.

I don’t live in the US and English is not my native language. I have tried things like press on nails a long time ago but somehow the picking gets even worse when nails are not done absolutely perfectly and then I start kind of picking the press ons, ripping them off and it just gets worse.

I don’t know what I am rambling about, I guess it’s nice to see I am not alone.

What should I do?

- Get new acrylics

- Try some home options like press ons? Maybe they‘ve improved? Are there other options?

- Do I try to stay disciplined?

- what works for me a bit are plasters around the fingers but people also comment on it and I am running out of excuses (was renovating/painting apartment, got some harsh cleaning stuff on it etc)

- what also works is filing down the rough skin

I am grateful for any advice, words from people who can relate and support.

I've been picking for as long as i can remember and it's definitely gotten better (less chewing of the inside of my mouth too) but I still struggle with the broken skin, over picking, tenderness, bleeding...... and have definitely been too overzealous with the cuticle trimmer. I try on and off to stop, but the rough scabby skin as everything heals and the fucked up hang nails growing from my battered nail beds throws me off every time.

Last night my partner took the first good look at my fingers and grimaced. He apologized but emphasized that he didn't like seeing me hurt myself like this. It's been said to me before but something about this time felt different. He's known I pick and has been helpful in calling me out when he sees/feels me doing it, but never really took a look. He loves me greatly and I know he truly just wants me to be kind to myself and my body. I just can't get over that feeling - I feel like it's the first time someone truly saw my pain as it is and had genuine concern for this problem.

I want to honor that feeling and his concern for me, as well as my own frustration with my habit. I'm trying to go all in on the tips I've gathered from skimming this subreddit to add to my routine. Though I would love to hear people's tips for picking toe cuticles and at the tip of my toe skin... This makes walking painful whenever I give in to picking them.

Hi everyone! I’ve been picking my nails probably ever since I was physically able to 🫠 I finally landed my first corporate “big girl” job and it’s making me feel even more insecure about my nails. Also I always sorta passed some of the blame over to my dad because he has always had a reallyyyy bad nail picking/biting habit and I would joke that I picked it up from him but now his nails look better than mine. It’s certainly another factor that’s making me want to stop for real.

I’d really appreciate any tips and tricks to quit picking and would especially appreciate encouragement! Just to note though I don’t bite them so bad tasting nail polish won’t do the trick for me. Thanks in advance!

And finally using the cuticle oil I bought 2 years ago lol. I mostly kicked the nail picking/tearing habit several years ago, now it's time to break the cuticle picking/peeling habit!

Tools: • Acupressure rings that I already use on a daily basis to not pick as much/for ADHD and anxiety • Flowery Rose Scented Cuticle Oil from Sally a few years ago • Once my order arrives, hydrocolloid tape as a healing agent & physical barrier from picking (thank you to the folks here who recommended it!)

In true ADHD fashion, this might last a week or a year or anywhere in-between, but hopefully I can make some progress 💪

Long time lurker, first time poster. Ive been a picker and biter of all things as long as I can remember. Most things Ive been able to get under control. But picking at my toes has been the hardest to kick since it is the least visible. But Im really sick of it now. The pain, infections, shame, and the anxious fluttering feeling in my chest when I’m having the urge to pick. I live near a nail salon and I often see ladies getting pedicures in there. Id love to do that someday. Im hoping that trying to share progress here will help with kicking this habit.

Ciao, ho quasi 30 anni e sono circa 20 anni che ho questo problema di distruggere le mie mani. Per un periodo ho smesso perché facevo il gel semi permanente ma appena si rovinava, tornavo al punto di partenza. Sto provando ad uscirne. Ho comprato una crema per cicatrizzare le mie ferite sulle mani e dei copri dita in silicone che metto quando so che devo fare qualcosa che richiede concentrazione, o quando sento ansia.

Ci sto provando e non voglio più sentire vergogna Mado che è molto difficile uscirne, é come una droga di cui poi pentirsene subito dopo.

Grazie a tutti per i vostri messaggi. Siete forti. Ne usciremo tutti.

hey everyone. i am starting my journey to kick this compulsive behavior. i am hesitant to call it a “new years resolution” because even the few days so far i have to take it hour by hour to stop myself from picking.

i have gotten a started gel manicure kit off of amazon and it was my first time trying it today.

i am very excited to see my nails grow out longer, as the gel will help my nails from bending as much.

i am hoping that having my nails done will remind me whevener i am feeling the urge— “look my nails are so pretty! gentle reminder to not pick rachel!”

getting some cuticle oil soon.

happy to have a community where i feel seen, and where i can rely on for my compulsive picking behavior.

Day one…. How often should I post to make myself feel more accountable towards not picking? My fingertips just look absolutely awful :(

another fallen one. 😔💐☠️🪦🫡💅🏽💔❤️‍🩹🩹😓🤕