Mavala STOP Nail Biting

I've had a nail biting issue since I was 4 years old- I turn 32 here in less than a month so for almost 30 years I've been contending with this. I've tried all kinds of cures under the sun to stop my habit but this problem was deeper than something of a simple 'habit'.For anyone reading this review and thinking of this product to stop a serious, chronic habit- I want to recommend a few things.If you struggle with anxiety as many nail-biters do, consider visiting your doctor, a therapist, even a psychologist. Nail-biting is a symptom, not the problem. Part of the reason I'm finally able to tackle this is that I'm not only using this product to deter me but I have now been on an anti-anxiety medication for a few months prior. This has made me far more capable in terms of trying to take these OCD habits by the horns and work them out. You need management skills, to understand antecedents to your behaviors, and how to modify those situations. So ending your nail-biting habit if anxiety related might take more than a simple paint on product.Secondly, it states to use it once every other day. I use it almost every day - and become rather aware when the taste is fading and make note to keep coating it on. It's working great, my nails are the longest they've EVER been, and I'm thoroughly happy even if the taste of this stuff is completely rancid. (Aka- it does the job it's supposed to).Keep the bottle somewhere visible and where you frequently have your line of vision (but obviously away from children). For me, I set it next to my monitor screen. I'm on my computer daily - so I'm bound to notice it being right there. Don't let it go out of sight, out of mind.KEEP your nail clippers handy! Even if it seems easier just to bite or peel away an uneven bit of nail, you'll spare most of it by just clipping off those rough edges. Sounds like common sense, I know. But anyone with an OCD habit for nail-biting understands what this refers to and how much of a 'trigger' those rough nail edges are. Keep all these things available,Next, I also take Biotin. It's a supplement- you can get it from any kind of drug store or Wal-Mart, etc. Read the bottles carefully, make sure you grab the one-a-day variety. You don't want to have to pop 3 of these a day to get your recommended dosage. Biotin helps improve nail strength- and many chronic nail biters I know have flimsy nails. Mine are definitely stronger - and my hair! So double benefit.Mavala Stop has definitely been the best product I've found for deterring my nail biting. This stuff is foul and will even be obvious if you put food in your mouth with your fingers like... eating french fries might be a chore. Just a heads up. Which is good! Sometimes having our hands near our mouths like that is an unintentional antecedent. Try to use forks and spoons for your food as much as possible.Good luck!

We have a 2.5 year old daughter who was one of the most compulsive thumb-suckers that I have seen of her age. We understood that it was a way of quelling her anxiety (in addition to the fact that it was just habit), so we hesitated to take her thumb away from her. It was especially bad at night. Her dentist expressed concern about the effect on her teeth (bucked teeth, high arched palate, lower front teeth curved inwards), which is readily apparent. I was skeptical of this, but wanted to make sure we got her done with sucking her thumb all in one shot (rather than dragging it out over time). So this is what I did:1. We prepared her for weeks in advance that she is a big girl and almost ready to stop sucking her thumb. Never once did we say, "Stop sucking your thumb" or pull her thumb out of her mouth. We knew the motivation had to be internal, not external. We told her "bye-bye thumb week" was coming up. We made it sound exciting and fun :)2. We picked a week where I knew I could afford to lose sleep.3. This may sound counter-intuitive, but we attached a pacifier to her lovey. She carries it everywhere, so we wanted the pacifier to be available at all times. We didn't want to completely take away the "safety blanket" of her thumb, and wanted to give her an alternative. We used the "soothie" brand since it is more like a thumb.4. We made a special afternoon of it, painting her fingernails pretty colors, and putting Mavala on it. We told her it was time to say "bye-bye thumb."5. We put a band-aid on her thumb to help her remember not to suck it.6. We bought a bag of chocolate Easter eggs and told her she could have one every evening if she didn't suck her thumb during the day.She tried sucking her thumb not long after I put this Malava on it. It was bitter, but she was determined, and within seconds threw up all her lunch. This made me sick to my stomach and I almost regretted it putting it on her, but decided to stick with it. She cried, and we offered her the pacifier instead. Never really having used a pacifier, she didn't know what to think of it, but it soothed her a little bit anyways. That night, she could not fall asleep. She was used to using her thumb and didn't have it anymore. I sat by her bed for several hours, and she finally fell asleep. This happened three nights in a row. (After the first day when I put the Malava on her thumb while painting her fingernails, I doubted she would let me do it again because she kept saying that she didn't like the fingernail polish because it tasted bad. So I put it on while she was sleeping. As all the other comments have said regarding this product, a little goes a long way.)Miraculously, she never really put her thumb back in her mouth after throwing up. She would look at her thumb sadly and cried a couple times, but soon became proud of the fact that she was a big girl. She used her pacifier every night, but usually spit it out within minutes after falling asleep. The chocolate Easter eggs were a big motivator for her too.Within 4-5 days, I didn't really feel the need to put Malava on her anymore, because she had almost forgotten what it was like to suck her thumb. I thought she would revert at night, but she didn't. She started falling asleep on her own and staying asleep, sometimes using the pacifier but rarely. The only thing I wish I had done was to keep putting Malava on for about three weeks to a month. The reason is that about a week into it, she couldn't find her pacifier one day and started sucking her thumb, realizing that it didn't taste bad. I put some on that night again, but the "no-thumb spell" had been broken. She tried it a few days later again, so I regretted not just sticking with the program for a bit longer. She almost never sucks her thumb or pacifier anymore.I'm grateful that this product helped me get my daughter past her thumb-sucking habit. I was afraid it would be traumatizing to have this stuff on her fingernails, but I think it helped make the process over quickly rather than dragging it out. This was SO much better than having to put braces or a palatal expander on (yikes!) when she gets older. Overall, it was a relatively gentle and painless process.