How To Stop Picking At Your Nails

8 People Share How They Overcame Their Cuticle-Picking Habits

Pare picking affects i in every twenty people.

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We've all been there earlier, where suddenly yous notice the lesser border of the skin surrounding your nail sticks up a little flake and taunts you until finally you grasp it between 2 fingers and rip. Sure, y'all may spill a piddling bit of claret in the process but the terminate event? Satisfying. At least, that'southward how it feels to me every time I pick at my nails earlier speaking in public, handing in a projection at piece of work, or going to encounter the doctor. However, if you've always wondered how to stop picking cuticles, we've got your dorsum.

According to the International OCD Foundation, pare picking affects one in 20 people, and the large bulk of that percentage is women. The behavior can start as early as babyhood and can fifty-fifty prove to be the root of other psychological symptoms, like obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and anxiety. This disorder can crusade a lot of mental distress and spill over into bug with work, social, or other daily activities.

Information technology may sound dramatic, but you never realize how self-conscious of your scabbed cuticles you are until you have to shake someone'southward manus. We all handle stress in unlike means, so nosotros asked eight people how they beat their cuticle-picking habits—for adept. Hither'southward what they said.

ane. "I bought rubber fingertip guards."

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"I option when I'm stressed from work—I'll destroy my fingers while I lookout television," shares Chiara Peretti, a 35-year-quondam who works a loftier-stress job in public relations. While she doesn't typically wear her rubber guards during the mean solar day while she's working, she says they've been a saving grace for her in the evenings. These rubber fingertip guards are easy to skid on and off and tin can be worn all day with condolement and ease while however having the flexibility to carry out everyday tasks and errands.

two. "I keep my nails polished."

"I discover that I selection my cuticles more when my nails are bare," says Jess McGowan, a thirty-year-old woman. In response, she frequently paints her nails and finds that when they're polished, she'due south more hesitant to option at them as she doesn't want to mess up her manicure.

3. "I put tiger balm around my nails."

Mia Fredricks, 26, says she's flake and picked at her nails her whole life. Now, Fredricks has noticed that her cuticle picking manifests itself when she's stressed out, taking piece of work calls, or when she feels uncomfortable. After noticing her bleeding cuticles, Fredricks says that her manicurist recommended she put tiger lotion around her nails to prevent her from biting at them. "The scent and taste stop me from bitter, and information technology creates a cognitive flag for me," she shares.

4. "I constantly lather my tips in cuticle oil."

Revlon Essential Cuticle Oil

Chloe Zammit, 20, works in a retail store and finds she frequently picks at her cuticles aimlessly during a long shift at work. While Zammit admits to picking at her nails more when they're blank, she says that having cuticle oil on them helps a lot. Her favorite cuticle oil is from Revlon, and she loves how nourishing and luxurious the vitamin E-rich formula feels.

v. "I put on hand lotion and massage each nail individually."

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As someone who works in senior care, Odette Mezzapelle, 55, shares that since she washes her hands so often, her hands are constantly dry and croaky. Seeing her dried out skin triggers her to pick at her cuticles, so to combat the urge and solve the trouble, she frequently applies manus cream and massages each nail individually to give information technology individual attending.

6. "I keep a nail nipper in my purse."

SEPHORA Drove Cut to the Point Cuticle Nipper

Meghan Waller, 28, used to pick at her nails constantly—until she invested in a good cuticle oil, cuticle pusher, and a smash nipper. "I started doing my nails during quarantine, and trimming my cuticles has been a game-changer," she shares. "I continue the nipper in my purse so that if I'one thousand out, I can cutting [cuticles] and forbid them from ripping or bleeding." She says that regularly trimming her cuticles has made a large difference in her picking habit, and says her nails have never looked better.

7. "I regularly get acrylic nails."

"I choice until I bleed everywhere," says Natasha Stogdill, 26. "I've tried everything, and the but thing that keeps me from picking is getting acrylic nails." While she admits that the temptation is even so there, her acrylics arrive hard to get ahold of annihilation to pick at.

eight. "I wear gloves."

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Christine Marquet, 34, says that while she's always picked at her facial skin, she merely recently started picking at her cuticles and hangnails. To help her quit, a friend suggested she habiliment gloves to create a physical barrier between her mouth and her easily. Marquet had a pair from a '20s-themed political party, then she started wearing them non-ironically and noticed a difference afterward merely a few days. She likes that they're practical enough to prevent her from picking and functional enough to wear effectually boondocks.