If anyone covers their flaws in makeup, this may be controversial.

I like how it looks but the problem is that when spots build pus underneath, I get really tempted to pick them 😭😭😭

Does anyone else feel the same way? If you don't pick, how do you manage with and without makeup?

I just find it so annoying when there's a blind pimple and it feels like forever for it to surface! It leaves something that looks like a bruise and I'm trying to ignore it but it hurts to press it. Arrrgh!!

So I have been struggling with picking at my face for a few years but this past semester in school (I'm in college) it's gotten way worse to the point where I have scabs all over my face the size of a dime (which as far as scabs go are HUGE) and I just came home for winter break and picked again for the first time in days and my face was almost perfect and now it is red and swollen and will have scabs EVERYWHERE and I am absolutely furious with myself because I wanted to look good while I was home and meeting up with my old friends. I already didn't want to go anywhere but NOW I DO NOT want to leave the house where anybody can see me and I am fed up with this and so so so dissappointed in myself and seriously don't know what to do. I'm trying to log but I will take absolutely any tips because my mom tries to help me not pick but she goes to bed before I do and I always pick before bed.

I picked the middle finger on my right hand today, which is a big problem area for me. I didn’t have my gloves with me and I felt desperate and out-of-control during a meeting. It’s sad because I had made such progress over the last few days. Now I feel the pain in my finger from the rough skin now exposed. I’m grateful to have feeling in my fingers, this was not always the case, so that itself is important. A really big gift, honestly. I’m starting to reopen the sensations I have in my fingers. There are parts of me I have neglected. Leaning into the possibility that all parts of me are important and worthy of protection and attention.

Hey everyone!

Found out most of my makeup products contain pore cloggers, which is definitely causing some rifts in my progress. Does anyone have any good recs for different base products? I'm looking for a good mid-high coverage skin serum, an SPF, a high coverage concealer, and a blush. Let me know!!!

(Marked as potentially triggering for containing negatative self-talk)

I just watched Maya Schonbach's webinar titled "Why Shame Keeps Us Stuck and What Helps Us Heal" (11/04/2025) and I highly recommend it! I feel like I just learned more about myself and my skin picking in an hour than I have in personal therapy sessions.

One of my biggest personal takeaways was how my shame really does feed into the cycle of skin picking. I remember once finding the courage to tell a friend about my struggles with skin picking, and he replied that he had never noticed any sores, scabs, or scars on me and would have never known. Of course, this was by design, right? I purposefully picked at locations on my body that the public would never see. I carried that shame close to my chest, and in turn, my shame fed on my secrecy. "If anyone saw this, they'd know how gross you are," my shame would say. My mind would respond "but if you pick here, no one will ever know," and thus, the cycle countinues! Sometimes I would feel shame for acknowledging I have a skin picking problem. "Other people certainly have it worse; why should I get help?"

This webinar opened my eyes to how unfair that is to myself. I do deserve self-compassion! We all do!! I'm super glad to have found this community <3

Hi everyone, I joined this program about a month ago. At first, the logging really helped me with self awareness and I noticed a decrease in my picking. But, I have a tendency to not maintain habits after a while. I have been busy with school and rarely ever log, because I just want to avoid it.

My picking has flared up again, and even though I have set 2 daily alarms to remind myself to log, I always am in the middle of something and end up snoozing them.

I have also struggled to log because a lot of the time I am not even experiencing a negative emotion, its such a persistant habit that I often times can't even identify a trigger.

I am hoping once the semester ends that I will have more time and energy to put in enough effort. Does anyone have advice to how I can stay engaged? I really want to improve but I have a hard time sticking to things.

One thing that I have been occasionally doing that helps is sitting on my hand while driving or in any situation where I am alone and can do so without looking crazy haha. But I have struggled to find other ways to distract myself, fidgeting doesn't give me the same satisfaction.

I also don't want to replace it with other methods of stimulation, I want to eliminate that craving entirely and be able to sit still and relax througout my days.

I have been picking since early childhood, so I have been finding it extremely difficult to make progress. I also am not doing everything that I could be, though, due to stress and distraction.

I really want to improve, because I am tired of having sore fingers, growing wounds on my face, picking around other people, feeling the lack of self-control, etc.

I also get so determined to smooth out my skin that I get stuck in a trance and cannot stop picking or get myself to let it go, and I genuinely feel like I am being held hostage by my own mind taking over.

If anyone has experienced similar struggles and have found ways to reduce them, i would love to hear about it :)

Hey everyone!

I wanted to say how grateful and relieved I am for this platform. I've been seeking resources for my BFRB for YEARS. I'm genuinely so happy to have found this community and to know I'm not alone in this- it's been maybe a decade since I started experiencing my dermatillomania and I've never been able to speak to anyone who had been knowledgeable/willing to open up. How amazing and liberating it is to know that I'm not alone!!!

Just found out about these yesterday. Starface hydro-star recovery patches. Excited to try em out when needed, a bit of self kindness <3

I have been picking for a long time. It started with my nails, then moved to the skin around my nails. I would cause myself to bleed and in the mornings my fingers would be so sore. But I still continued anyway. Because there is always one area or piece of skin that feels rough or sticks out and it has to be fixed.

I figured out that if I wore fake nails, gel nails, or anything that made my nails thicker; I was able to prevent the picking to a degree because the thick nails were harder to grab skin. But then I started obsessing with my nails being done, the cuticles around my nails and if the nails weren't perfect I would peel the gel, acrylic or paint off and damage my nails.

In the last several years, I have continued this habit and recently became more obsessed with picking blemishes on my face. This is what really has led me to here. I am so self conscious of my face now. It's embarrassing. Makeup doesn't cover it well and I don't like going out in public. I have also begun moving to the backs of my arms and thighs. So it seems this habit is just worsening over time and I have noticed scarring starting to occur.

Stress and tension often rise right before a picking episode. PMR can help interrupt that cycle.

Join us for a free webinar where you’ll learn:
✔️ What PMR is
✔️ Why it helps
✔️ How to use it daily to reduce urges

📅 19 November, 12pm EST
🔗 Register free: www.skinpick.com/webinar

One of our members shared a new mirror painting this week — and we’re so grateful she allowed us to share it again. 💛

These weekly drawings are part of her stimulus-control strategy, helping her stay grounded and offering a gentle reminder to moisturize instead of pick. Such a creative and meaningful way to support herself.

If you have your own small strategies or reminders that help, we’d love to hear them. Your idea might support someone else too. 🤗

Together, we created small but meaningful reminders of kindness, simple affirmations written on “sticky notes” that can be placed anywhere we need a moment of compassion, grounding, or encouragement.

Each person wrote one note. Either for themselves or inspired by someone else in the room and then we read them aloud. In doing so, we didn’t just create a message; we gifted it to each other. And in return, we each received a whole collection of gentle reminders to carry forward.

With permission, we’re sharing these anonymously so that the kindness we created together can ripple outward to anyone who may need it. If one speaks to you, feel free to keep it, save it, or place it somewhere meaningful.

Here are some of the affirmations we shared:
-I'm kind to myself. I'm kind to my hands, to my skin, and to my mind.
-I am enough.
-It's ok to feel my feelings.
-This too shall pass.
-I don't need to run to or run from anything. I am safe.
-My only obstacle must be attitude — MOMBA.
-Live, because if not now, when?
-I'm able to take care of myself.
-Mistakes are gentle ways of growing.
-I am a distressed animal that needs help changing her environment.

These notes may be small, but they carry so much tenderness, courage, and truth.

If you’d like to share your own affirmation, feel welcome to add it in the comments. Your words may be a gift to someone else reading today.

Shame can make skin picking feel isolating, heavy, and impossible to escape. It can make you feel like you’re alone—even when you’re not. 💛

Join us for our upcoming webinar with host, Clinical Psychologist Maya Schonback: “Why Shame Keeps Us Stuck and What Helps Us Heal”.

Register here: www.skinpick.com/webinar-invite

In this compassionate session, we’ll explore how shame impacts your relationship with yourself, what keeps it going, and how self-compassion can help you start to shift it.

-Why Shame Keeps Us Stuck and What Helps Us Heal – Understand how shame affects recovery and how self-compassion can help you move forward.

-Calm the Urge: Using PMR for Skin Picking Relief – Learn a simple, body-based technique to ease tension and manage urges.

Both sessions are free to attend and open to everyone in our community.
👉 Don’t miss out. Register here: www.skinpick.com/webinar-invite

I’ve been struggling with skin picking for as long as I can remember, and some days it just feels impossible. Today has been one of those days, and I’m feeling really frustrated and kind of down on myself.

I was wondering if anyone has little ways they get through days like this? Just knowing someone else gets it would help.

Thanks for listening.

I had a pretty bad picking spree yesterday, I had to call out of work today because of it. What do you use for post picking healing? I'll use hypochlorous acid, hydrocortisone ointment, and zinc oxide ointment. I need to heal up soon for work

One of our amazing community members — who kindly gave us permission to share this — has created a painted fox on their mirror that helps manage urges to pick. She changes the image weekly, keeping it creative and fresh, which adds an extra layer of engagement and mindfulness.

It’s not just art; it’s a tool for stimulus control and a gentle reminder to moisturize and care for themselves instead of picking.

We’d love to hear from you: what’s your favorite strategy? Your idea could inspire someone else! 💛

Did you know we host monthly webinars designed just for our community?

Tomorrow, SkinPick therapist and Clinical Social Worker Laura Santner will be hosting a live Skin Picking Q&A. A safe, supportive space to get answers to the questions you’ve always wanted to ask.

💬 Want to submit a question in advance?
You’re welcome to:
-Comment below, or
-Email us at support@skinpick.com

🔗 Register here (Free): www.skinpick.com/webinar-invite

We’d love to see you there! 💛

Hello,

My name is Inês Pombo and I am a Master's student in Product Design at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. I am developing a study entitled “How can design respond to the needs of Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB)?”

I am looking for people who live with these behaviors to participate.

The questionnaire is short (≈15 min), anonymous, and the data will be used for academic purposes only.

👉 https://tally.so/r/3xexyd

If this applies to you, I would greatly appreciate your collaboration in responding to the form.

Thank you very much for your attention and availability!