What is the best anti-nail biting polish and how do you choose which one to use?
There are a number of good anti-nail biting polish products and after 35 years of nail-biting, I have tried quite a few of them.
In my opinion, the best anti-nail-bite polish is Mavala Stop (link to check the price on Amazon). It’s a clear polish and has the “perfect” awful taste if you ask me. Just one attempt to bite a nail and the taste is stuck in your mouth for hours.
Anti-nail biting polish, if used right, is very effective and lots of people see good results after 2-4 weeks.
What is anti-nail biting polish?
Anti-nail biting polish is a bitter taste polish you put on your nails. If you bite a nail, you will immediately get an awful taste in your mouth. And it will be there for quite a while.
The two main objectives this polish has are:
- Reminder
Most nail-biters don’t even realize when they do it. The bitter taste nail polish serves as a reminder, that you are about to do something you should not do. - Bad taste
If the reminder is not enough, then maybe the taste is. The bitterness will stay in your mouth for hours and so far I haven’t met anybody who thinks it’s a nice taste.
What to consider when you choose your polish
In general, you need to try it, to find out if it will work for you. But there are a couple of things you can consider before you head out and buy the first anti-nail biting polish you can find.
Read the reviews
As you probably know, websites like Amazon has great customer review systems in place. Here you can get many of your questions answered and can read what other people think of the product you are looking at. So use it before you buy! And don’t be afraid to ask questions yourself.
Begin with one bottle
I have not tested every single anti-nail biting polish on the market, but I am pretty sure they all – one way or another – taste bad. But remember, we are all different, also when it comes to taste buds.
So just because I (or anyone else) think a nail polish taste really gross, it may not have the same effect on you. You might think the taste is not gross enough!
Therefore – once you have decided on a nail polish, start with buying one bottle. Try it and see if it works for you – if it helps to keep your fingers away from your mouth. If it does, continue with that brand. If not, try another one.
Brands to consider
As I wrote in the beginning, in my opinion Mavala Stop is the best product. But there are other good anti-nail biting polishes on the market. So if Mavala is not right for you, then you might want to take a look at one of these:
I am not saying that you can’t find other good polishes out there, but these are the ones I have tried over the years.
If you don’t like these types of products and instead prefer more natural ones, then you should read my post about great home remedies to stop nail biting.
How to apply anti-nail bite polish
This is straightforward. Most nail biting polish comes in a small bottle with a little brush attached to the lid. Simply apply the polish with the brush and let it dry for a couple of minutes.
Some people only cover the tip of the nail. Personally, I have always covered the whole nail. Especially in the beginning, you may accidentally put your fingers in your mouth and by covering the whole nail it will take you longer to lick off the nail polish.
Depending on how much you bite your nails, to start with I recommend you re-apply the nail polish every second day. If you are a heavy nail-biter you may need to re-apply daily.
TIP
Don’t stop using the polish too early. Remember – we are trying to remove a bad habit for good and not just while we use the polish. I have several times made the mistake to stop using the nail polish to early. And then from one day to another, I was right back where I started, with 10 bitten fingernails!
For those of you who paint your nails, all the anti-nail biting polish I have come across can be used on top of normal nail polish.
And if you for some reason need to remove it, just use a normal nail polish remover.
Don’t use it for toddlers
I don’t recommend using any kind of anti-nail biting polish or other bad tasting remedies for toddlers for a couple of reasons:
- Toddlers will not associate the bad taste nail polish with nail-biting. But when they eat and at the same time put their fingers in the mouth (and they will), they might associate the bad taste with the food you just gave them. And that´s not a good situation.
- Toddlers taste buds are not fully developed so they could end up liking the bitter taste, which clearly is a very bad scenario.
Read my full article about nail-biting in toddlers.
Conclusion
As I have said before – we are all different. What works for one, may not work for another.
But based on my own experience, people I have talked to and the reviews on Amazon, I think there is a very good chance Mavala Stop will work for you.
