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Lip picking for 18 years - experiences and tips
I've been picking since I was a young girl when I saw my mum do it and thought it looked a good idea!! Silly me. I do it when I'm stressed, depressed, bored, and absent/daydreaming but also it's a perfectionist thing for me - I love the feeling of smooth lips. And I have awful temptation control, I tell myself 'leave it just for a day, an hour, 10 minutes' but I can't stop. My boyfriend tells me off for it but I go into another room to do it. Sometimes I don't realise I'm picking like when I watch TV and look down at my top and see bits of skin. The only time I stop myself is at work where I can't wait to get home to pick. I've had so many comments about "what happened to your lips?", and I reply with my usual excuses - "the winter cold cracks them", "the sun dries them out", "I burnt them on hot cheese" (!).
So in my 18 years of picking this is how I try to deal with/minimise it:
Temptation - I try to keep my hands busy when watching TV/bored e.g. drawing, playing on phone.
Lip care - Vaseline does not work. It just coats your lips and doesn't actually add moisture to your lips. I swear by Palmers Cocoa Butter Lip Balm all the time but when I make my lips bleed, Savlon is a miracle. Just constantly apply a bit at a time and a few hours later it's less red. If I know soft lips are going to make me pick more/easier to pick, I leave the scabby bit to dry out naturally then clip the edges with nail clippers (clean ones!) to make it smoother and do my best to not touch.
Lip cover - I use a tiny bit of foundation on a lip brush (Revlon is good), sometimes mixed with a lip pencil. Or if my lips aren't so bad, use a lip pencil to disguise the darker bits.
If anyone has any other tips I'd love to hear!
AQUAPHOR.
I have a loving relationship with aquaphor, lols! In all seriousness my 1st habit is facial skin picking , er should I say WAS...BUT then the LIP picking started....but I am finally healing those wounds so I hope I can stop for good because I dont want to wreck the structure of my lips anymore. I am dealing with the aftermath- SCARS & CONSTANT CHAPPED LIPS. This has been a huge struggle....I am finding hard to quit picking my lips, too. But yes, AQUAPHOR its in the same family as vaseline almost but better. I always dabbed some on my wounds to heal them so I wouldnt wake up with dried skin with edges for my to tug on , and it heals them as well. So I always slather aquaphor on my lips during time at home ( apply it like clear colorless clown lipstick) and a ton before bedtime so in the morning my lips hopefully are soft and minus dry peelies. Aquaphor can be really expensive...like $20 a tub but if you get smaller sizes so the price does too- although in the end I feel the best deal is the $20 tub it lasts me FOREVER!!!! when it seems like the $10 or less ones go by so fast so it may be worth it. There is also the cheaper CVS or riteaid or whatever drug version sometimes cheaper.... it does the same stuff but I have noticed that it is harder to soften when putting on my lips but its cheaper so.... also there is a lip applicator too...but I love the tubs because you can use aquaphor for ANYTHING! put gloves on with aqua in them, on the heels of your cracked feet! on your eyelids to heal dry lids or for a dewy makeup look.... so many other things ITS HEALS! I swear by it can you tell? :)
Good luck!!
Rorie