How to change your bad habits:

First, you need to recognize what they are. Maybe, ask your best friend if you aren’t aware of any. I have noticed or been told of many different things that people do that they were possibly totally unaware of. I had a friend that would pull out her eye lashes when she was stressed. Since eye lashes take a long time to grow back, she didn’t have many at any time. Another friend, only stuttered when he was extremely nervous. I was frankly surprised when I first heard him do this as I had known him a long time and never heard this before. An acquaintance would look around to make sure no one was watching and then scratch his behind. He did this a lot. I thought this was kinda funny. I don’t think he really knew he was doing this so often. 

One of the more common bad habits is biting your nails. I have actually seen this to be so bad that the person had deformed looking nail beds and ends of her fingers. One reason this is so bad is that the ends of your fingers could carry pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or fungi. This is also rather unsightly, both long term and while doing it. There are products out there that can be used to paint the nails to help you stop this habit. I highly recommend this.

Another common and rather unsightly habit is to twirl your hair.  I have seen this so many times. One friend used to bring strands of her long hair to her mouth and bite the ends. She solved this problem by having her hair cut very short. I had a family member who would twirl the tip ends of his collars and stick these ends in his nose. He totally destroyed his shirt collars this way and drove his immediate family members crazy. He especially did this when he was studying which he did often as he was extremely studious.  He finally broke this habit, (not sure how) when he was in his forties.

Another family member would wad up bits of paper to roll around in his hand. He did this when he was studying and to my knowledge he still does this. This is a rather benign habit, though, and of all the habits I have noticed, this is not so bad.

I remember a student in High School who simply could not keep his hands away from his “groin” area. He was a star athlete and we all kind of ignored it as he was liked by all. But one day, we were in the school auditorium during some kind of sports assembly when he was in front of the whole school to make a short speech.  I’m sure he was very nervous and of all things, he grabbed his “crotch.” Unfortunately, the whole student body broke out in laughter. How humiliating. No one ever saw him do that again.

Poor guy. I doubt he ever forgot that.

Another family member, would claw at the back of his neck along his hair line. He always had bloody looking scabby places back there that he couldn’t keep his hands off. I have seen many people  scratch their scalp constantly. Some of these people seem to have no idea they are doing this. I recommend changing shampoo to these people. It could very well be dandruff  and there are good shampoos for this.

Another friend, years ago, would take her shoes off any time she could and pick at her toe nails. This was rather unsightly, especially as she did this so often. I haven’t seen her in years, so have no idea if she stopped.

When I was taking Dermatology in Medical School, I remember one Instructor telling us that a very common skin problem with older people (usually little old ladies) was that they would claw at their facial skin, usually around their mouth and chin until they had scabs which they would then make worse by continuing to claw at these small wounds. I have seen this in many older females. We would treat these areas with topical gels or salves but it did not stop them. No one seems to know why this is such a common problem.

I would be interested in hearing from others as to “bad habits” and what solutions are found.