No matter your algorithmic preferences, if you’re scrolling through short-form videos on any social media platform these days, you will most likely encounter manicured hands performing some sort of action. Almond-shaped tips tapping on a microphone A.S.M.R.-style; hyper-realistic press-ons gripping the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz; tiny masterpieces shaped with Gel-X, unboxing serums in slow motion — no matter what they’re doing, each nail always appears pristine. Not a single rugged edge or hanging sliver of cuticle skin in sight.
You could be forgiven for thinking everyone in the entire world takes meticulous care of their nails.
In reality, onychophagia, the clinical term for chronic nail biting, is fairly common. According to the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, up to 30 percent of the general population chronically bites their nails.
Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find bitten nails on any red carpet, clutching a luxe bag in a fashion campaign or even just casually displayed holding a drink on your friend’s Instagram story. While acne has been destigmatized to some degree by bold stickers, and body hair appears in ads plastered across buses and trains, chewed up fingers have failed to capture that same cache of authenticity.
That may be because this form of body-focused repetitive behavior is not just something you have, but something you do. Acne is hormonal. Body hair is biological. But biting your nails? According to Dawnn Karen, M.A., a former psychology professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, that act is behavioral. In theory, a person can outgrow the habit or employ self-discipline to stop it. Nail biting is often viewed as a failure of self-control that is uncomfortable for others to witness.
That discomfort is contagious, according to Ms. Karen. “When someone sees another person biting their nails, it may actually trigger their own anxiety,” she said. Ms. Karen describes it as a form of emotional mirroring, meaning one person’s coping mechanism becomes another’s source of unease, which could lead them to give in to their nail-biting urges.
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The post We’ve Embraced Acne and Body Hair. Why Not Bitten Nails? appeared first on New York Times.
