Mavala Stop Deterrent Nail Polish Treatment | Nail Care to Help Stop Putting Fingers In Your Mouth | Bitter Taste | Easy Application | For Ages 3+ | 0.3 Fl Oz

"Taste the Mavalaaaa!" is what my husband screams when he accidentally puts his nails in his mouth. He is a chronic nail biter who always gnaws his claws down to the quick, and so he's never had the white show on his fingernails before. After using Mavala every day for a couple of weeks, his nails were long enough that he actually needed to cut them with clippers! I was ecstatic! But wait! There's more! It's not just a temporary fix. After those weeks of regular use, he had become completely conditioned (read: disgusted) to stop biting his nails, even once we ceased applying the Mavala. It forced him to acknowledge his subconscious habits, and the bitter taste was unpleasant enough to deter him from idly biting his nails. Truly the miraculous cure you've been needing for you or your loved one's nail biting! More about this product: It comes in a nail polish-style bottle with an applicator brush in the cap. It also applies much like a clear coat nail polish, not like a thin liquid, as I originally thought it would. As such, it adheres to the nail like a glue, making it pretty difficult to wipe, lick or wash off by accident (or on purpose, muahaha). You need to use only a little bit, on the edge of your nail (if you're a biter). One application will last you the entire day, sometimes a little into day two. My advice for success with this product: Just remember that any bad habit dies hard. We purchased Mavala several months ago and stopped using it when my husband stopped biting. He went several bite-free months, but since then, times have been stressful at work and he occasionally relapses into nail-biting. If this happens to you, immediately go back to Mavala! Always keep it handy. Put it in your desk at work or keep it in your purse or car. Just remind yourself how horrible it tastes! You're much better off with this stuff to help you stop chewing. Also try applying it earlier in the day, before you go to work/school/places where you tend to bite your nails the most. Avoid eating finger foods and touching your lips (or at least be very careful)! Popcorn, pizza, sandwiches, etc. are a nightmare to eat with Mavala on. Even if you are behaving, the flavor tends to rub off on anything you touch. My husband has even given me a hello kiss after a long day at work where he struggles with biting his nails. Even THAT brief contact transferred the taste of Mavala to my lips, blegh! All that being said, I cannot testify to any of its other uses (such as to deter thumb sucking), but I do highly recommend it to anyone with a nail-biting problem. Be consistent, have the discipline to apply it every day, and correct yourself when you catch your bad behaviors. You will have healthy nails in no time! :)

I have been a nail biter most of my life and I wanted to stop. I tried everything I could think of to try to stop biting my nails. And this is something I would do subconsciously. I would do this while sitting watching tv, reading a book, magazine or computer and when I am bored. Enter Mavala Stop. I would sit here on Amazon and other websites reading reviews and just about every review I would read raved about this product for helping them quit biting their nails or keeping their children from sucking their thumbs and fingers. I had my doubts reading these reviews but I decided to take the plunge. I got this product on Monday, right after Easter, and applied this product. I forgot I had this product on my fingers and put them to my mouth. The taste. OH THE TASTE!!!! I'd swear the same sadists that created "The One Ring ' in the bowels of Mordor, created the taste of this product (those that have watched "The Lord of the Rings" movies or read the books will get this reference). It is the most vile, horroble bitter taste I have ever tasted. The taste sticks to the inside of your mouth and stays there for a long time. There is nothing you can do to get the taste out of your mouth once its there. Plus, not only does the taste stick to your mouth and tongue, it sticks to your lips and around your mouth. So anytime you lick your lips or anywhere surrounding your mouth, you get that taste as well only not quite as strong. As far as how well the product lasts, it seems to have some staying power but leads to one of my complaints about the product. It seems to have a weakness to soap when you get a bath or wash your hands. It knocks the taste of the product down a good bit, especially after getting a bath. So if you reapply this after getting a bath, you should be good. If you can spare getting soap on your fingernails though the bad taste does seem to last but does get somewhat weaker over time. I can't speak to how the product works on children, but I can speak for an adult and this product does work. I have been using the product for a week and after that first day, I have rarely put my fingers to my mouth as I don't want to taste that taste in my mouth. It does effect eating snacks like popcorn and potato chips as well as eating finger foods. But now, I don't bite my nails, and for that...this product is a really good thing. In closing, if you are a nail biter and you want to quit? Please, I implore you... get this product. Yes, it tastes horrible and nasty but it works wonders. If it can help someone who has bit their nails for the last 33 years plus then it will help you, too.

I have never written a review on Amazon before, but feel that if you have a child who can't stop sucking his/her thumb: read this! My six year old daughter sucked her thumb very often. She could not be stopped: in the car, watching t.v., at bedtime. Basically, if she wasn't talking or using her hands, her thumb was in her mouth. We tried bribery, we tried a band aid, we tried a glove. Then I brought a product called Thum that I saw at the drugstore. This is also painted onto the fingernail. She could wash it off (and did so at school) and it faded quickly so the spicy cayenne pepper taste would lessen and she could tolerate it. I was ready to order a hypnosis CD to assist with breaking the habit, via Amazon, when I found a link to Mavala. I read a handful of reviews and besides one unhappy parent. It seemed this might be the product that worked. My dentist said once her permanent teeth started coming in she would need to cease the sucking. We had considered having a retainer-like instrument put in her mouth that blocks the thumb from fitting in, though my dentist even described it as "cruel" and "a last resort". I applied the product to my daughter's thumb and she struggled emotionally when she realized, after tasting it, that she could no longer suck. A few tantrums occurred which we assist her through by distracting her with book reading, a bubble bath and lots of love and encouragement. She insisted that she couldn't have her blanket because it gave her the desire to suck even more. The taste: I touched my tongue to her nail and the taste is truly awful, a sour acidic chemical taste that dulls the tip of the tongue and then the taste shoots down both sides of the tongue. It lingers for quite some time. I took the advice of another reviewer and kept a glass of water by her bedside, When she would unconsciously suck her thumb while sleeping the putrid taste would wake her up and she would drink the water and fall back to sleep. It is day 6 and my daughter is doing fantastic. She doesn't like to talk about it, but her confidence is visible and my husband and I are overjoyed! I know first hand the difficulties thumb sucking can cause, I sucked my thumb until I was 12, so the desire I know, is strong. I went through braces, neck gear and needed to be re-taught how to swallow properly via a speech therapist. Try this product! MAVALA Stop for Nail Biting and Thumb Sucking

I am a mental health counselor in Phoenix, and for as long as I remember having teeth and fingernails, I have put the two together. In the past I have tried a number of different approaches including other polishes - some nasty, some spicy, and some which served just as a reminder as the light reflected off my nails and into my eyes. I have covered my fingernails with band-aids, applied small hairbands around the tips of each finger, employed the rubber-band on the wrist technique, and even underwent psychotherapy for the issue. All to no avail. After having had no fewer than dozens of serious infections, two of which prompted my physician to emphasize the urgency of this matter - and after having removed the white part of my middle finger nail on my dominant hand (while leaving the remainder in tact) on two separate occasions, I thought I would give it one more try. I cannot say that this is going to stop you from biting your nails - because the behavior exists for a reason, and until we either substitute a different behavior or remove the need for the behavior, we're going to continue to pacitfy ourselves by ramming our fingers in between our teeth and gnawing as if we were ravenous dogs. That being said, if you have the desire to quit and the will power to discontinue a behavior when it is brought to your attention, there is a chance that this product will help. This stuff tastes absolutely horrible. It is, quite simply, the most vile flavor I've ever had in my mouth before. I'm a bit of a glutton, though. I painted my nails with Mavala Stop and, after it dried, decided I just HAD to know what it tasted like... so I licked my nail. I sure won't do that again. Others have pointed out that this product rubs off on other things, and I definitely agree with that. The taste found its way onto both my cup of water and my apple cider pancakes. It certainly isn't something I will intentional put anywhere near my face. That brings me to the greatest benefit of this product - self awareness. There's nothing to jolt me from a nice afternoon gnawing at my nails quite as well as the flavor of a bottle of nail polish concentrated on one fingernail. While making those delicious apple-cider pancakes, a little batter got onto my finger. Without thinking, I stuck my finger into my mouth. It. was. horrible. There are only two issues I see with the polish: The first is that it relies upon user compliance with the application regimen. The bottle suggests that it be re-applied every two days. I know, though, that I'm not going to remember to do it every other day, and so I'm going to be doing it daily, just to be safe. The second issue is the shine. As you can see in the photo, this product has a shine comparable to that of other clear nail polishes. It does not have a matte finish and is not a liquid which is simply absorbed into the nail... so this may draw unwanted attention to unsightly nails. Really, though, I'd rather have the attention to pitted, cracked, and short nails, than I would to a swollen, red finger filled with some sort of infectious goop. At the end of the day, if you are consistent in applying Mavala Stop to your finger nails, and you make an honest effort, this product will serve well as a tool to help you get the beautiful nails you deserve!

I have been trying to quit nail biting for over a decade. Everytime I about give up I look at my bloody cuticles & remember why. Before my wedding I sucessfully quit for 3 months by wearing gloves from morning to night. It wasnt a very easy task, daily things like cooking, cleaning, showers, you had to take them off and remember to put them on again. Tried this approach since & now with children it's impossible. A few years ago, I had several I thought to be good bouts of non-biting after reading this book http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Your-Nailbiting-Gilbreth-Brown/dp/1412023645/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352313041&sr=1-2&keywords=stop+nail+biting. I would still suggest this book as a great read on the insight of biting, made me realize its not as cut and dry as biting it's more of a OCD. People who don't understand call it a nervous habit asking; "what are you nervous about?" Really?! It might have started that way, IDK I was such a young child I have no idea, then it turns into a OCD, something you do non-consciencly. That's what the book said, and I agree, but I woudld go one step further and say.. I ENJOY IT! I like the constant busy work of it, the way the nails and cuticle feel when i chew them, the way feeling afterward when I know I smoothed out that hangnail. Then I look at my hands. They are BAD, it's no wonder either. ----->Now to the product, after applying it less then 24 hours ago for the first time. At first I absent-mindedly put them in my mouth, this stuff in TERRIBLE! It takes any and all enjoyment out of this habit. Making you conscience of what you did & are doing with a lingering disgusting aftermath depending on how big of a hangnail you got. It tastes kinda like power steering fluid,(nail-biting is how power steering fluid ended up in my mouth, haha, the irony) I have taken a shower, done the dishes, & washed my hands at least 6 times; the stuff is still coating my nails with taste still there haunting me. I LOVE IT! I think this is finally the key! Because now I keep looking at my nails, knowing that the taste is not worth the bite. I'll let you know in a few months... Sorry such a long review UPDATE 4/14/2013 This stuff does work!! Of course I'm still struggling with such a deep OCD but when I start to fall off the wagon, (when I'm stressed out about something) a few applications of this, spaced every 3-4 days and I'm back on track. The fluid seems to penetrate into the 'meat' of your fingers. So the deeper or more you bite the worse the punishment is. It really makes you Hate what your doing, which think about that sentence means you now fully realize when your doing it which was the first step of the battle. I have grown several sets of beautiful nails. I even got to paint them pretty for the first time in my life. My mother who has been biting for 60 years asked me for it. She likes my pretty nails. :)

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.

This product is amazing! I have been chewing on my cuticles for at least 10 years and have never had anything work like Mavala does! I used to chew on my cuticles CONSTANTLY throughout the day, which left my fingers bleeding, raw, and horrible to look at by the end of every day. In fact, I envied people who chewed on their nails because their fingers looked light years better than mine did! I didn't realize half the time when I was chewing on them, which definitely makes it hard to break the habit. At first I tried to have my boyfriend and other friends just stop me when they saw me, but they can't watch me all the time, and I just got really good at waiting for them to stop looking. After trying some other creative ways of breaking the habit, I decided to purchase Mavala Stop to see if it would deter me from putting my fingers near my mouth. Did it ever! The taste is NASTY (which is great for reminding you to stop) and it lingers for a while on your lips and tongue afterward for at least a few minutes. This is great for me because it just reinforces the lesson even after, which means I am less likely to attempt to chew again. I swear I would try to convince myself that it wasn't so bad, but when you have the taste still on your lips for a while there is not way to deny that is it gross. I am proud to say that my cuticles are healing up wonderfully and I am less likely now to try to put my fingers in my mouth. There is enough nail polish in the bottle to last you until you have permanently broken the habit too, so you don't need to worry about a temporary fix and then when you run out falling back in the habit. The polish is not very noticeable either, just a little shiny at first and then dulls after a day or so. A few things to note though: The first day I used this product, I put a lot of it on and all over my cuticles just for safe measure. I don't put any more on my cuticles just because it was too much, but it was a great shock factor to teach me not to do it any more. I would say though be careful with children because it will be REALLY bad if they put their whole nail in their mouths without realizing it. The taste also lingers on your lips if you touch them (which is really disgusting while eating food), so be careful when you freshly apply the stuff. And for adults, slather it on every 2 days with someone else to watch you, since it would be easy to "forget" to put it on without a support system to make sure you follow through. Seriously though, I carry this stuff in my purse and I have not had a problem! I dread the thought of chewing my cuticles cause I know I will get a nasty taste in return! This product would probably also work for kids who has issues putting different stuff in their mouths (fingers, boogers, blankets, toys, etc) or with pets chewing on things. Be creative and give this product a try, you won't disappointed!

Mavala® Stop (0.3 oz) My three year old daughter has been suffering from severe trichotillomania (hair pulling), trichophagia (hair eating) and thumb sucking. The habits seem to go hand-in-hand in her case. Her pediatrician was concerned because she was eating the hair as she sucked her thumb which could cause a blockage in her intestines which could be fatal if not discovered and removed surgically. We've been seeing a psychologist and trying everything to stop these habits (such as using other polish that claims to do the same thing as Mavala, we also tried having her wear gloves, we tried distraction, tried putting bandaids on her thumbs, tried stress relievers like squishy toys for her to squeeze and bracelets for her to fiddle with, we tried a reward program where she would get surprises if she didn't suck her thumb or pull her hair, we tried disciplining her when she would do these things, we had her pediatrician and her dentist talk to her about it, we tried everything). It has been a source of constant worry for me because I didn't know what to do and I was so fearful that she would be teased about this one day and that would make it even worse, not to mention the effect on her self esteem and the potential health hazards. We started using Mavala a few weeks ago (after having tried other similar products with no luck). I must say I was hoping for the best, but not expecting much due to the strong attachment my daughter had with her thumb. But after reading many reviews and seeing other people having positive results, I figured we had nothing to lose. Our next step was going to be medicating our daughter based on advice from a psychiatrist and we really didn't want to go down that road. I was worried that my daughter would not let me apply the Mavala to her nails because we had tried similar products and she would try to prevent us from putting them on her because she said they tasted yucky (but obviously not yucky enough to stop her from sucking her thumb). So I explained to her that now that she was three years old, she was big enough to use a "special polish" on her nails. The special polish was Mavala. I made a big deal about it and she became excited about trying it. I told her it would make her nails shiny. So she sat in my lap and allowed me to put it on her nails without a fuss. That first night was difficult because she kept saying she wanted her "thumbkin", and she wanted the polish off. She went to bed in tears. That is so hard for a mom to see. But I kept reminding myself why I was doing this. We put the Mavala polish on her nails every night before bed for several weeks. She continued to allow me to put it on her because she felt so special being able to use this polish (it's like she would forget every night that she didn't like the taste of it). For a few nights she would cry herself to sleep because she would try to suck her thumb and then when she would get a taste of it she would be so upset. It probably took about a week before she stopped trying to suck her thumb. We continued to use the Mavala every night for about 6-8 weeks just to be sure the habit was broken. Sometimes I would just put it on her thumbs and not her other fingers since that was really my only concern. I'm extremely happy to report that this product was a miracle for us. It worked. It actually worked. It saved my sanity, but more importantly, it saved my daughter's life. I truly believe that. Her trichotillomania (hair pulling) and trichophagia (hair eating) also stopped when she stopped sucking her thumb. That is life saving. This product works!!!!! I can't even begin to say how much this product means to me and my family. It's absolutely what we needed and I'm so thankful for everyone who posted positive reviews. Without those reviews I probably never would have tried this product. So that's why I felt so strongly about posting this review. I've never posted a review about anything I've purchased before. But if I'm able to help one other person out there it is worth me taking the time to write a review to let people know that this product worked for my daughter. Give it a try. It's amazing!

It taste awful so it does the job properly

El producto es buenísimo, se lo puse a mi hija de 4 años y no se ha comido más las uñas! Sabe súper feo y si dura dos días. Eso si, el tratamiento se lo tuve que hacer 21 días no 10.

I am a cuticle biter instead of a nail biter, and this has helped me tremendously. It dries fast when applied and the bitterness lasts for over a week until it needs another application. When it's removed, the bitterness can linger on your nails for several days so be warned. I do find that after a few days, the nail polish itself begins to chip and crack, however that's just an aesthetic complaint. It is incredibly bitter and can leave you with an aftertaste that is difficult to remove from your mouth. Even picking at my lips with this stuff on can warn me to stop. However, be careful when eating with your hands as this can carry onto the food itself. Regardless, an amazing product, it will help even the most chronic biters.

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Comprei para usar em meu filho para de chupar dedo. No segundo dia ele já não colocou mais na boca. Continuei usando por algumas semanas. Amei, super indico. O gosto permanece mesmo após ter o contato com a saliva, não tem cheiro forte. Vale a pena