It probably does border on "actual" self-harm, as reluctant as I've been to admit it. There have been times where i've dug my nails into my arms deliberatly and created new scratches when i'm angry or upset, although the normal scratching has a side of obsessiveness to it. As I mentioned, I tend to scratch my skin to make it look "cleaner" or "better", even though I know it probably makes it look a lot worse.
My parents tried to stop me doing that when I was little, by saying that I would get ugly scars, and they would never go away, and sure enough I have about three permenant scars now. But I stopped scratching the scabs on my arms, and they healed up, so my parents think I have stopped, although I was just scratching my face instead. I guess I did know it was self-harm all along, as I put off cutting my hair as short as I wanted it to hide the scratches.
I have a friend who does kind of know, but I convinced her it wasn't really self-harm (and myself too), so I don't really talk to her about this...
Looking at this, I should have guessed a lot of this stems from my anxiety. It's beginning to actually make me physically uncomfortable and fidgety to focus on not scratching now, and as soon as I stop concentrating I'm going to start again. Does anyone have any immediate tips (besides talking to someone in real life, because that isn't really an option right now)?