OCD with popping zits and pulling out hair
- Thread starter whattodo1
- Start date
IdeallyFearless
Member
Hey, I know how you feel, that is what I have done for years, always trying to find new ways to get over it. I tried to send you a private message but in case I did it wrong, I'll write here as well.
the thing that works most for me is to just say "STOP" out loud as soon as I realize I"m doing it, stuck in the cycle. It is hard because sometimes you need to pull out hairs- or at least for me, like tweezing eyebrows- that type of thing makes sense. but from your leg, it does not make as much sense. It still feels right, it feels like its helping something in the moment, for me I get in a sort of trance sometimes..but I need to just say STOP to myself and remember that picking at my body is NOT going to help any actual issue- it is really just making it worse or at the best, helping me ignore what it is I am really thinking about or trying to avoid.
You could look into "skin picking" disorder..it's a subsection of OCD I'm pretty sure, and relates to that impulse to pick at your body compulsively. I know for me it happens after an emotionally intense episode- I'll suddenly want to just go at my body. It's not helpful, never is, never does a good thing at all- but you need to learn about your own relationship to it, what purpose it is serving for you, what feelings you are having while doing it that you can face on their own or while doing something else other than nit-picking at your body. The repetitive sensation of pulling out a hair is also addictive- it's like little pricks that numb out feelings in some way, at least for me..It has taken me years to get to where I am now, which is still not perfectly over it, but I do feel like I have much more control than I did. Hope that helps!
the thing that works most for me is to just say "STOP" out loud as soon as I realize I"m doing it, stuck in the cycle. It is hard because sometimes you need to pull out hairs- or at least for me, like tweezing eyebrows- that type of thing makes sense. but from your leg, it does not make as much sense. It still feels right, it feels like its helping something in the moment, for me I get in a sort of trance sometimes..but I need to just say STOP to myself and remember that picking at my body is NOT going to help any actual issue- it is really just making it worse or at the best, helping me ignore what it is I am really thinking about or trying to avoid.
You could look into "skin picking" disorder..it's a subsection of OCD I'm pretty sure, and relates to that impulse to pick at your body compulsively. I know for me it happens after an emotionally intense episode- I'll suddenly want to just go at my body. It's not helpful, never is, never does a good thing at all- but you need to learn about your own relationship to it, what purpose it is serving for you, what feelings you are having while doing it that you can face on their own or while doing something else other than nit-picking at your body. The repetitive sensation of pulling out a hair is also addictive- it's like little pricks that numb out feelings in some way, at least for me..It has taken me years to get to where I am now, which is still not perfectly over it, but I do feel like I have much more control than I did. Hope that helps!
awkwardamanda
Well-known member
That is exactly like me! I can't really tell you how to stop, but I can relate. I pop zits all the time. I have some scars from that, especially on my chest, back and shoulders. I pluck hairs too, and yes, from my legs. Mostly I just pluck my eyebrows, but I can't just pluck a few stray hairs to even them out and be done with it. It's the tiny, stubbly hairs that drive me insane. I have to pluck them as soon as they start to poke through and often they're too short to grab. So, I'll sit in front of the mirror for like, half an hour, hopelessly trying to pluck a few stupid hairs. I end up ripping the skin before I get the hair out sometimes so I get all these little pink marks. And worse than the time it takes up is the fact that I'll often start popping zits or plucking hairs late at night when I'm already up too late and still have to shower and stuff. I find if I'm bummed out or stressed, plucking can be sort of therapeutic. Sometimes I puck the hairs on my legs just cause a few oddball stubbly hairs annoy me - usually the particularly dark ones. So I'll grab tweezers and start plucking hairs here and there. But there is something so satisfying about popping a big fat pimple or plucking a stubborn hair I've been working on for half an hour. It's such a relief. I tense up if I try not to. Oh and I pick at scabs too. They drive me just as nuts. Sometimes when I've given up on an eyebrow hair I'll pick off the scab a day or two later and finally be able to pluck it. Or I'll pick off a scab from a pimple I've popped and squeeze out more pus. It's kinda gross, I know, but oh well. I made a rather long-winded post about it here if you want to read anymore. I'm too lazy to go into that much detail again.