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Journal Of Skin Picking & Hopefully My Journey To Stop It

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(@tinerda)

Posted : 11/01/2012 4:51 pm

Background: I am a young adult woman, and within the past 2 years, I started skin picking. It all started when I cut my hair short and I had to use bobbypins to pin my hair back, I never used a bobby pin in my life, until my hair was short, and bobbypins are like little extractors, and while sometimes, you really need to get that little blackhead or whitehead out, other times you "think" u see a clogged pore, but its just a folicile or a vellus hair...

 

I have fair skin and dark hair, so the vellus hair on my face is also darkish...anyways, so my picking started, I started using the bobbypins for my hair and it turned against my skin..my skin picking is literally sometimes at its worst.

 

like today at work, during my break, i took out a bobby pin from my hair, to pop some invisible pores..I dont what it is about pores being clear, but I just seem like I cant stop, I have tried throwing away bobby pins, hiding them in a hard to reach area, it just doesnt seem to work.

 

It is at its worst, when I sit on my bathroom sink, yes, on the sink and magnify my skin and try to find something...then i wreck my face and totally go postal on my skin, one finding turns into many, I say, "Might as well". Then I add more problems to my skin. I am SO TIRED of this, while I have gone a month or so, without skin picking, it STILL seems like come back...I think its because, of that satisfaction of getting the blackhead or whitehead out ( a LEGIT one)...it gives me so much relief and when I "feel" that relief, of getting one thats actually clogged out.

 

In this journal, i will try to post my daily/almost experience, and this is my first time with any online journal, but I hope it will help me and maybe afew of you

 

first goals are : I will stop skin picking

stop sitting on the sink counter in my bathroom

 

1. Will throw away or put away my compact mirror, thats in my purse

2. reduce bobby pins I use

 

so far thats what I will do today, and I will update on the days I have picked and the days I have Not, and if theres anything new I did to help me stop I will let you know.

 

Wish me luck

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(@tinerda)

Posted : 11/02/2012 2:17 pm

so last night, i tried to stop, i attacked a smal spot on my chin, and now of course it is a scab. I also think, not looking at the mirror helps, literally look at the mirror when u brush your teeth, so twice a day. morning and night, the more Busy i am, the better it is for my skin

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(@aberry89)

Posted : 11/08/2012 12:04 am

I know EXACTLY how you feel about wanting your pores to be clean. You feel there is stuff in there, and that stuff is bad, you need to get it out. I have had this feeling and I still do. I don't know if there is a way for our brain to stop thinking that. We have to be smarter than our cravings!

 

I live by this rule - out of sight, out of mind. (And mind you, only for picking!!! This rule will more than likey lead to disasterious results in other life situations. Trust me, do not apply whist driving. Not good)

 

Here is how I stopped.... okay, this is honest place, pretty much, almost, like 84% stopped. No one, NO ONE ever is going to stop 100%, know that.

 

Okay, if your alright to set in for a bit of a story, here it goes. My dad was re-doing our bathroom. In my old bathroom, we had one of those separate mirrors attached to the wall that you could pull up to get inches from your face. And nothing is more temping that too see all your filled pores just waiting to get squeezed and "cleaned". But when I stepped into the new bathroom, uh-oh, no more pull out mirror. Just one big one, about two feet away from my face. And I have bad eyes, so add that on top of it. At first I went back to my picking ways, and craned close to the mirror. But it strained my back to stand so far forward, and I would spend less and less time picking and just leave my skin. Slowly but surely I was noticing that I was breaking out a lot less. I used to get deep, painful, puss filled pimples. Not just around my period, but all the time. Now, all the sudden, just a spot or two around my time of the month, and they were far less deep and painful. Let me say, this was not normal. I hated when I heard people complain about their acne. Oh my god, I get like a huge pimple on my chin like once a month!!! I would just curdle with envy. But here I was, living it. Nothing else about my face routine had changed. So, rule of elimination? The picking had stopped! I figured out, I was giving myself acne. Sure my genetics, hormones ect, weren't exactly helping, but I was rallying them up into a frenzy that they wouldn't have done on their own!

 

For me, the biggest change I have seen in my skin (and I have been using, happily, Dan's products for about four years now) is how the lack up picking is leading to lack of pimples. It's a vicious cycle,picking. You pick, you breakout, you breakout, so you pick. When you stop, it reverses. You pick less, you breakout less, you pick even less, you break out less. You are not breaking yourself of the temptation (my mom is a drug and alcohol counselor, and she explains that temptation is always going to be part of you, what you have to do, is remove the thing that temps you. In our case, seeing our pores and pimples.) By removing mirrors, and subsequently, lessening your acne, are taking away the stimulation that leads to temptation.

 

And in your case, it sounds like close up mirrors, and bobbly pins are your scourges. So what have you got to do, GET RID OF THEM. On the mirrors, Go Phantom of the Opera on their asses, and remove them from your house, purse, hands. Bobby pins, collect the lot, and throw them down into the deepest darkest hole. Find an alternative to using them in your hair. Where a headband, do whatever you have to. Literally, remove your access to getting them. I can tell you from experience, you will break down and use them if you can access them.

 

I know we have heard "don't pick your skin" railed into our brains since forever. And you can hear it, and heart it, but until you take the steps to stop and see the results, you won't see that they were actually right. And you have taken a very important step here, you have made yourself accountable.

 

I will keep in touch if you like. Please help me, by holding me accountable too. This last week, I unfortunately broke down, and picked at my chin. Now I have a painful pimple, and I hav'nt had one of those in a while. I know I am going to be tempted like crazy sauce to pinch and push on it. Knowing that you can ask me if I did, will keep me from not.

 

And if you are still with me at the end of this essay, thank you. And please excuse any grammer or spelling errors. As an artist by trade, I can't be held accountable for such things. :) And good luck my friend.

 

-Anne

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(@astralweeks)

Posted : 11/16/2012 12:43 am

It is at its worst, when I sit on my bathroom sink, yes, on the sink and magnify my skin and try to find something...then i wreck my face and totally go postal on my skin, one finding turns into many, I say, "Might as well". Then I add more problems to my skin.

 

YES. I can identify with this line so much. There are times when I'll be so good about not picking, consciously dragging myself away from an inflamed pimple. But then the other times when I let myself go on the tiniest of clogged pores and can't stop until I've squeezed most of my face.

Anyway, good luck with this process and stay strong. You are worth it!

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(@lollypopfield)

Posted : 11/18/2012 9:48 pm

I want to join your anti-picking routine! :)

Its really hard to quit, I need some motivation.

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