I always pick at my nails, I can’t help it! What to do?

-Anonymous

You should know you’re totally not alone!  Plenty of girls (and guys!) list nail biting as their worst habit, especially when they’re nervous.  But you should also know you have the power to control and end your bad habit forever!

Biting your nails is not only a bad habit—it’s an unhealthy one, too.  When you bite your nails, you’re breaking the skin that protects you from germs and it opens your skin to infection.  Sometimes people bite their nails so much, it causes the skin around the nail to bleed!  If that doesn’t gross you out, think of all the yucky objects you touch everyday—your dirty gym socks, the germ-ridden keyboard in the school computer lab, your little brother’s hand after he sneezes—when you bit your nails, all of these germs go into your mouth!

Next time you find yourself about to bite your nails, don’t do it!  Some girls I know get manicures every once in a while to discourage them from biting their nails.  There is also a special clear nail polish that tastes bitter, so when you bite your nails, you get a really awful taste in your mouth.  One of my guy friends plays with the ring on his finger to resist the urge to bite his nails.  You’ll develop your own special way of dropping your bad habit and you’ll have pretty nails in no time!

-Best of luck,
L’Oreal