Lip Picking: How to stop picking my lips?

Lip-Picking and Self-Injury

For the lip pickers, it can be very difficult to break the habit. You may get the feeling that you need to even out your lips which is why you may constantly pick at them. Many lip pickers do it when they are just bored while others do it when they are stressed out or simply anxious. If you have the habit of picking at your lips in times of difficulty, then you may be involved in self-injury.

What is self-injury?

Self-injury is to deliberately or intentionally inflict harm to your body without any suicidal attempt. It is usually done when one is overwhelmed by emotions. Lip picking can be caused by some problems that you have faced in the past and not taken care of. It can also be caused by stress at job or at home. If you can identify the root cause of this habit, then you can reduce it or stop it altogether.

Breaking the Habit

When looking to break the habit of lip picking just because your lips are so dry all the time, you may consider going to a dermatologist to question the dryness of your lips. Dermatologists can only offer medication that will work as long as you take it. If you want to treat the dryness of your lips then you can use a product Ceralip, which does not require any prescription. This product contains vitamin E, beeswax and Shea butter. It does not contain any petrolatum.

You can curb the compulsive lip picking habit by making efforts yourself. When you get that strong urge to pick your lips and you cannot seem to control that urge, then the best thing to do is go right ahead and do it. But while you are picking your lips, just look at the mirror. When you look at your reflection and see all the damage that you are inflicting to your face, you will really think twice before doing it again. The before and after scenarios right there will be eye openers. When you see that you are causing more harm than doing good by picking your lips, you will find that you no longer have the urge to do so again.

When you are picking your lips, try to think about how this is wrong and all the damage that you are causing to your skin. Also consider how this will affect your appearance. When you do this exercise just a few times, you will notice that the satisfaction that you get from picking your lips goes away. This will help your mind generate negative associations with this habit and so you will automatically stop picking your lips.

If you are habitual of picking your lips in times of great stress or worry and you can’t seem to stop yourself in such a situation, then try talking to somebody — share your feelings, look for ways in which you can overcome your anxiety or your stress. In short, solve the problem! If the root problem is your resentment towards someone then try to forgive them and let go of those hostile feelings. Once you address the root problem, you will stop picking at your lips.

If you are picking your lips all the time to even out the skin then the problem is with your skin. Try to figure out why your lips are so dry and damaged all the time and use good quality products to treat them. Once your lips are smooth, you will no longer have the urge to even them out. You should make sure that the skin is smooth, not flaky, so that you are not tempted to pick at it. Lips can become flaky due to too much sun, too much wind or too little water. Otherwise, you may be suffering from a serious condition that has caused your lips to become dry. If your lips are usually dry then that means you are doing something on a daily basis that is having a negative impact on your lips. So you need to identify the reason behind your dry and chapped lips and deal with it accordingly.

Deficiency of B vitamins can lead to dry lips as well. If your lips are cracked at the corners then you may be suffering from a deficiency of folic acid. It could also mean deficiency of riboflavin or vitamin B2. Taking mineral supplements or maintaining a balanced diet will help to take care of all the deficiencies and give you healthy lips.

If you are over moisturizing your lips then your body will restrict production of natural moisturizers like lip plumpers that will lead to dryness of your lips. So make sure you are not excessively using moisturizers on your skin and lips.