[Emily_Strange]

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

[bluzman]

Hi i suffer from ocd also and have been a certified candidate for nearly two decades now, and i know the intensity that each individual goes through although our physical traumas differ. One of my experiences was that I was plucking my facial hair in one particular section of my beard which ended up leaving a gapping hole of similar look like ringworm. The reason for this is i was looking for some stimulation and distraction to counteract my intrusive thoughts that go along hand in hand with ocd. I told one of my treating therappists at the time in which we were doing CBT without any medication at that time, And as crazy as this may sound coming from a therapist he suggested that I wear a loosely fit rubber band around my wrist and that any time the urge and compulsion came along that I should pinch myself with the loosely fit band. I have to honestly say it was hard and I persued with it for some time.Somehow now I still have the same gapping hole in my beard but it has remained the same size.Please dont despair and unless you have done so already i would suggest Cognative Behavioural Therapy also. Take care!

[Aunt Donna]

I have used the rubber band thing myself. Kind of got used to the pain and it was another compulsion. I struggle with OCD. I understand about the acne. Did you have real bad acne in high school? I did and now I am self-concious about it and constantly checking my face, and like you, feeling for pus or anything off base.

[DePressMe]

Hi Emily, I also battle skin picking--I get obsessed with it and I'll do it for hours. It is like an addiction. Right now all my sores are healed up pretty good because I just got out of the hospital. In the past I have had to take antibiotics because of infections where I picked at my skin. I also did it on my scalp and it caused hair loss.

Oh, I have found a shampoo and conditioner that helps repair damaged hair and prevents some hair loss--ones that actually work. They are made by Pantene and they are called "breakage repair" and "hair loss prevention" or something like that. I alternate between the 2. I noticed a big difference in my hair after just a couple weeks. You can catch them on sale at most pharmacies and grocery stores. I seem to pick less if I keep my hair nice and conditioned.

Hang in there,
DePressMe