some things that help me avoid picking:
putting a non-comedogenic oil or thick moisturizer on so your fingers literally slip off if you try
wearing gloves so even if you touch your skin, you can’t feel texture as much and can’t really squeeze
using a face mask that can be left on for a long time, cause they help your skin and hide bumps/redness/spots AND remind you not to touch
similar, but try those little stickers that you put on spots, cause they stay on super well, help encourage healing if there’s actually a spot there, and make it harder to pick
set a timer when you’re going to the bathroom/going to be near a mirror, so that it can go off and interrupt you if you start to pick
put post-it notes on your mirrors reminding you not to pick
reward yourself or just celebrate every time you don’t pick or pick less
if you’re competitive, try keeping a tally of how long you can go without picking and keep trying to beat your record
get rid of any magnifying mirrors you have
same for any blackhead extractors or tools you use to pick, even if that includes tweezers or things with other purposes
credit to my psychologist for this one: remind yourself that picking may or (more likely) may not help the spot, but it will DEFINITELY feed your dermatillomania
don’t be afraid to reassess techniques if they stop helping you! sometimes taking pictures of my skin helps remind me that picking makes my skin worse and keeps me accountable, sometimes it just makes me obsess more over my skin
not my quote, but someone wrote that if you stumble going down a flight of stairs you don’t give up and throw yourself down the rest of the way, you stop yourself, regain balance, and keep going. same thing applies with picking; if you do pick, don’t tell yourself “fuck it, might as well keep going since i already messed up”
romaincrisis
vaporwave
stormborns
areudirty
