So, I'm pretty sure I have this OCD habit. Okay, two of them. Okay, maybe three of them even. This may or may not trigger.
I pick a my facial skin. If not in front of a mirror & am by myself, I feel around for areas in my skin where puss or acne may be. I severely exasperate it by popping and picking, I know I am. I know it's difficult for me to keep myself from doing it or stop completely. Especially if there's a mirror nearby and I'm alone. It's gotten so bad that the acne has scarred my face, gotten infected, and left pockets of clear puss deep in my face that when popped, go projectile out of my face! It's totally crazy! Is that TMI? Even worse, I would pop my [now] ex-boyfriends pimples! I would do his whole face and he'd have to suffer through the whole thing, I would even barter with him by saying if he let me do it I'd give him massages!
Then, for a decade now, I've been compulsively picking at my "split ends". What was originally a split end picking habit at age 13 turned into me simply breaking the hairs by age 15. I would feel the texture of the hair, and if it didn't feel smooth I would rip at it and break it. I still do it to this day, I had noticeable hair thinning when it was really out of control. Now it's gotten slightlllly better and the hair has grown back in a bit longer, but I'm cycling back into the habit more and more.
Not to mention, I'm particular about body hair. I started shaving my body for no reason when in my tweens, and now a decade later I have a much bigger body hair problem than I started with at age 23! Now I spend lots of time bleaching and tweezing and just generally being insecure.
I'm pretty sure these are all compulsions.
What have you guys done to help end these things?
What would someone recommend I do?
I can't afford a therapist right now as I'm only working part time and am still looking for work as a recent college grad