#PickingMe CEO Lauren McKeaney has tried and tested every item in our Fiddle Pack. Here are some of her tips on using the pack, as well as some other tricks she does when she's feeling fidgety:
Consider the items elements of your new self care routine, each with its own job/place/purpose. Their goal isn’t to replace what the skin picking feels like/does, but what it provides. Take the tangle. Try keeping it on your nightstand and each night lay in your bed moving it around your fingers. Think about your day, things for tomorrow, how the fidget feels, what it sounds like... Consider this a training of sorts, some “you” time to work on your derma proactively while taking some mindful self care. You will be getting that excess finger energy off your body in a routine like fashion that will help prep your mind to wind down at night with that fidget.
Urge wise, if I’m looking to hear a pop sound from picking, I flick the foam square over and over to satisfy that need, and I carry the grapes in my pockets to tire my fingers throughout the day. If I get an urge I try and shake it up with other movements. Like if I’m scanning my arms while I’m sitting on the couch, and I find a bump I want to pick off, I stand up and walk around the couch. Sometimes when I come back I still do, sometimes I don’t.
If you’re a tool user, try freezing them in water so you have to wait till they melt to use them. At night, I put water on my sink so that I’m less tempted to lean forward to inspect perceived imperfections. And I usually leave the lights off/dimmed in the bathroom. For scars check out cicature cream, bio oil, aquaphor spray can, and plain old vitamin e. Another thing to check in on is allowing yourself to go to bed. Sometimes it sounds silly, but really get ready and deserving and willing to go to bed an hour or so before you plan to. My skin picking is at its worst when I’m revved up too high or too low, so I think I have to ease myself into either of those environments/feelings.