When I was a kid I bit my nails and sucked my thumb. I only sucked my thumb as a way to put myself to sleep at night or as a way to calm myself down if I was upset. I quit cold turkey when I was ten and my dentist told me to or else I would have to get braces (never mind that my mother had been telling me that for years). I was also embarrassed that he could tell I sucked my thumb just from looking at my teeth. The only problem has been that since I quit that habit 12 years ago I started biting my nails horrendously. It’s how I deal with stress or boredom. I bite my nails, cuticles, and even the skin around the nail. It’s pretty gross and I know I’ve destroyed my fingernails but I can’t stop—it’s a compulsion. I do it mindlessly and am embarrassed when I catch myself doing it in public. When I was younger my parents tried everything: the gross tasting nail polish (to which I applied a mind-over-matter technique), band-aids (which I gnawed through), and mittens (which I snuck on and off when I was not in the company of my parents). Yep, I was and still am a stubborn little cuss.
The only thing that kind of worked was when my mom forced me to get a manicure when I was about 12—I was always embarrassed of my nails so never wanted one. I stopped the biting for about two weeks because my dad was away and I wanted him to see how beautiful my nails were with my fancy schmancy nail polish. But I went right back to it after that.
To this date I still haven’t found any super effective ways of quitting the habit, but I do know that I can control it. I’ve found that chewing gum works wonders. I try to keep a packet of gum with me all the time because I don’t bite my fingernails when my mouth is preoccupied. I also don’t bite when I’m wearing lipstick or chap-stick because I don’t want to rub it off. For me it’s not so much that I need my hands to be busy, it’s more that I need to be chewing on something.