How to stop picking at your pimples: A skin therapist’s guide.
There’s nothing worse than seeing a breakout come up and feeling your fingers itch to get at it, even if you know it’s going to make things worse. As a skin therapist, I see clients daily admit to picking at their skin and I always give them the same advice, so I thought why not share it!
First of all; Be patient
It’s a natural urge to want to remove something that shouldn’t be there, and yes, by the end of the guide you’ll have some tips to reduce this habit, but you’re only human and we all make mistakes.
Like any habit, it’ll take time to break and the best thing you can do is remind yourself why it’s better you don’t pick at them then move on.
So why is picking your pimples bad?
Think of a pimple as a small wound (not the most pleasant idea, I know) but that’s essentially what it is. A breakout is a small infection of the hair follicle caused by overgrowth of acne bacteria, oil and dead skin cells.
When we have a breakout, the best thing we can do is promote good healing in order to make it go away faster and reduce the chances of scarring. If we break it open, we’re exposing that pimple not only to external bacteria (risking making the infection worse) but also we’re restarting the healing process.
I take the same approach to spot treatments like tea tree oil and ingredients like benzoyl peroxide or acids at high percentages. Yes, they may exfoliate and reduce the cause of the breakouts, but once the pimple is here we really need to be reducing inflammation and keeping the skin hydrated. Those are the major pillars of healthy wound healing.
With that out of the way, let’s look at some tips I give my clients to help them stop picking at their skin;
Get rid of your skin magnifying mirrors: Unless someone is sitting right next to you and staring at your pores (which I’d be questioning why), no-one is ever going to be looking at your skin that closely and with as much scrutiny as you are. If you love to use one to do fine details in your eye makeup or when tweezing your brows, I understand, try bringing it out when you need it after you’ve finished your skincare routine.
Try a pimple patch: Professionally speaking, I rarely recommend pimple patches as a way of treating inflamed acne as they’re not as effective as they look. However, what they are great for is a mental block to help with picking. Once you start to feel a pimple come up, use a gentle spot treatment to improve the healing then whack a pimple patch on top of it. That way, whenever you are tempted to start picking, hopefully by feeling the patch you’ll be reminded to keep your hands off.
Throw out extraction tools; Extraction tools are divisive even amongst professionals as they have the potential to do serious harm to the skin when used incorrectly, and often don’t remove the full blockage from the pore. Extracting build up from the pores needs the skin to be prepped with hydration, gentle exfoliation and often steam to soften everything up and allow it to come out easily without damaging the skin. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to attempt it at home as you’re more likely to do more bad than good.
Get a good spot treatment: A good spot treatment will address the two major factors of a breakout; the blockage and the inflammation. I love using a gentle spot treatment that includes anti-inflammatories and hydrating ingredients to improve the wound healing process and reduce scarring. Also, a good amount of salicylic acid is great to clear out oil and dead skin cells from the pore, keeping the pores clear. Image’s Clarifying Blemish Gel is my absolute favourite and I always keep it on hand, or the Aspect Stop Spot is a great budget alternative.
I hope these tips helped and are easy for you to implement! For more personalized advice on how to take care of your skin, make sure you book in for a free consultation with one of our skin experts here!
Kai Morley
Open House Skin
