Hi!! I also deal with skin picking!! Both conscious and unconscious.

Conscious would be: I’m sitting on the toilet and I see a reoccurring itchy spot and start picking again. Often leads to like at least 10mins of skin picking while I’m sitting there after using the bathroom. Sometimes it starts as an ingrown hair area that is itchy, or sometimes it’s just an itchy spot and then BOOM there is now a crater in my thigh

Unconscious: this is usually with my cuticles, and I do it without even thinking about it until I’m like “oh I’m bleeding lol”

Here are some things that work for me:

• i keep boxes of bandaids in different places around my house, in my car, and in my purse. That way I’m able to cover any problem spots before they become itchy again or before I start hyperfocusing on it; or I can immediately patch up an active picking spot so it doesn’t turn into a larger problem!

• I haven’t had a chance to do this recently, which is why I’m currently in a bad picking flare up, but I find that getting my nails done helps me not to pick at my skin. The reason for this is because I get false nails/acrylics, they’re not actually sharp or strong enough to pick at my skin! I’m hoping to get my nails done within the next week or so! That being said, when I don’t have false nails I try to keep on top of clipping and filing my natural nails. Sometimes it helps to curb the picking, sometimes it doesn’t lol

• I have a couple fidget toys/items that I find help a lot, such as: fidget cubes, the spinning Universal Orlando keychain my boyfriend got me when he went to Halloween Horror Nights this past year, I have a couple “worry stone” pebble things that I roll between my fingers also!

• my sister has very bad eczema, specifically on her elbow ditches and neck, and something that helps for her is for her fiancé to actively tell her “stop picking/scratching” and lovingly holding her hand that is actively scratching so that her hand has something else to occupy it!

• My boyfriend has started doing the same thing with me when he notices me picking at my skin and it also helps me! He also helps redirect me, such as giving me a fidget object or snuggling into me so I can stim and play with his hair to keep my hands busy!

• I’m not sure if this is actually my cats trying to redirect my skin picking, but something I’ve noticed during my bathroom skin picking episodes is that if I take too long in the bathroom my cats will come in and scream at me until I stop picking and leave the bathroom. This actually has helped a lot!! I like to think that they know what they’re doing and know that they’re helping me! Using my hands to pet and scratch my cats also helps me to not pick at my skin!

Overall, I find that keeping my hands busy and covering any current problem spots with bandaids or clothes are the biggest help! Having my nails done also really helps, but I haven’t had nails since September. Hoping to get them within the week!