Wedding Manicures and Dermatillomania

I tend to pick at my cuticles too. Pick up a pair of gloves, slather your hands with lotion/cuticle butter/oil and either sleep with them on, or at least try to soak for at least an hour while watching a TV show or something. I also find that when I get manicures on a regular basis I am less likely to pick at my cuticles. Maybe its because they cut off the extra skin, or I don't want to mess my manicure up.

I do this too! I honestly didn't know it was a thing, but painting my nails works, or just redirecting my focus to something else. I do it when I'm anxious, but obviously there are other things that I can do as nervous habits that don't result in bleeding/pain. For me, if I can stop doing it for a few days, the skin heals enough that I don't like to mess it up and there aren't all the loose ends to pick at, so I'm less likely to do it after that. The problem is leaving it alone for a few days.

I haven't been diagnosed with it but I do pick at the skin around my nails, especially my thumbs, and when I have acrylic nails I don't pick. That's the only way I have been able to stop.

I pick just at my thumbs. I hate hand pics because of it, too. But shellac/gel polishes definitely help because I can't pick very well since it's so thick!!!

Keep cuticle scissors and cream on you at all times. I know technically you aren't supposed to cut your cuticles but I get crazy hang nails/out of control cuticles if I don't. If you have a tool to "fix" the perceived imperfection it may help stop the picking, since there won't be a dry piece or edge to pick. Gel mani's don't solve my cuticle issue, sometimes they make it worse!

Honestly it took getting veneers on my front teeth for me to stop picking and biting my nails. The veneers were because I have a broken front tooth, not to stop biting. Just a happy side effect.

I don't have quite the same problem, but I do have dermatillomania and I'm trying to break myself of it. Tips I've read online included wearing gloves around the house--that would be really obnoxious, but it would keep you from scratching your cuticles the same way it keeps me from scratching my face/neck/shoulders/arms/legs.

The less obnoxious thing I've read (and also done) is to leave notes for yourself. I have "NO!" and "STOP THAT!" on post-its on my bathroom mirror. If you usually scratch when you're at the computer or something, leaving a note next to the monitor might help. If your compulsion is like mine, you aren't always aware that you're even doing it until you're in the middle and then you can't always stop. The notes increase my awareness of the behavior and make it easier to not start in the first place.

And lastly, and maybe best, is to make some people around you aware of it. I can't believe NO ONE IN MY WHOLE LIFE ever called me on it until FH. My mom thought I was just excessively vain, locking myself in the bathroom for an hour or more at a time. FH knocks on the door if I'm in the bathroom for more than five minutes, and there are days I can't trust myself to shut the bathroom door at all.

Just off the top of my head, too, would liquid bandage gunk help protect your cuticles? Like, not as invasive as gloves, but something that's THERE when you start to scratch, so then you remember to stop?

Taz, did you have to "train" yourself to not have a visceral reaction when people told you that? When people tell me that I either get all huffy like I"m five and go "I KNOW ITS OK" or get huffy and silent. I can't help it, it's such a knee-jerk reaction, and it's 100% from embarrassment!

@M -- I cry pretty much every time FH catches me. But I also want him to catch me because I want to stop. But I also hate crying. But I also can't help it because I'm that embarrassed every single time.

I do something similar, but it's my cuticles and my nails. My nails are usually smaller than a child's because of it. I got acrylic nails a few months before the wedding, and let those completely grow off, then I was able to have enough nails to get a manicure for the big day.

I feel relieved to know I'm not the only one and that this is an actual thing. I pick at my scalp, not my cuticles/face, but I think it still falls under the same umbrella category. I have no advice, though. Good luck!

I honestly had no idea there was a name for this but I pick at the skin around my nails constantly. FH is always telling me to stop- I don't even know I'm doing it most of the time and once I start it's hard to stop.

I've noticed i don't do it as much when I have my nails done but I don't have the money to get them done consistently so it's nice to see some other alternatives. Glad to know I'm not alone in this!

Oh god, RIGHT? "LET ME JUST GET THIS ONE AND THEN IT'LL ALL BE OVER.... for five minutes."

My poor DH, always constantly telling me to quit it. The hardest part is when he sounds upset or disappointment or frustrated... and then I get frustrated trying to explain to him how much more frustrated I am!

I would love middle finger nails without that dent from my other nails though...

I always get so embarrassed when FH catches me and I have cried before.

There was one time I picked my thumb until it was raw and bleeding and wore a bandaid for 4 days to cover it so he wouldn't see. Pure embarrassment. It was awful. And I hate that I do this to myself!

Oh god that annoying ass dent! The one you try to fix, then somehow fuck up royally, so you have to cut the entire nail. Then you have to cut all of them so they're even and there goes your damn manicure!

No? Just me? Lol!

I tend to pick out my eyebrows, eyelashes, and arm hair. Is it just me, or does it feel like a personal victory when you pull out a follicle? Lol.

This and chronic nail biting were what got me into nail polish to start with. When my polish is fresh, I'm always aware of it, so I don't chew or pick (unless there's a rough patch). I polish my nails regularly and keep cuticle oil and balm on them as much as I can to keep the skin soft and from getting rough places. I trip up occasionally, but it's LOADS better than it was, and I pick to bleeding. :/

@Future Mrs. Webb!, I don't have trich, but I feel that way when I tweeze my eyebrows. Lol!

I don't have a huge problem with picking at things. But I am OCD. For me acupuncture was the best thing. I highly recommend it. As for the appearance of your hands, you could just do what I did when I had hives. Wear gloves. Once I got gloves to cover my house, the hives disappeared but I still love the look of gloves so I wore them

@Future Mrs. Webb - that's (the personal victory feeling is) trich for you! I pull mostly my eyebrows these days, but childhood through high school had NO eyelashes. Which really sucked doing/having make up done for dance recitals and as a cheerleader in high school.

My first and third boyfriends were good about bringing my attention to it when I would pick at my brows - I went through a few year period where I didn't pick at all. I actually completely forgot that I did that until a couple of months after I broke up with the third one!

I hear it's a mostly woman thing, but my BFF/Man of Honor actually does it too. Honestly have no clue how that came up in conversation one day.