how to stop picking at your scalp
I don’t know. I can’t stop. I have these spots on my scalp that I pick at constantly. When I’m bored. When I’m waiting for something to happen. When I’m talking to someone, and then I realize what I’m doing and I stop trying to pass it off as just itching my head. When I’m on my phone, which is all the time, I’m picking at my scalp.
I have now a couple bare spots that I rotate back and forth through. The skin of course gets irritated and raw. I lay off and the skin starts to heal and then it dries out and gets flaky and then I really get after it.
It’s like a tic. It’s something I find myself doing before I’m aware of it.
Is it defensive?
Is it self-soothing somehow?
I’m not sure. I would like it to stop.
I have tried putting sculpting clay in my hair and then kind of works. But my hair is super short now because I want to be able to cut my own hair so I don’t need sculpting clay anymore. Also sculpting clay in my hair doesn’t work in the winter because I need to be able to wear a hat and I don’t want to get the inside of my hats full of sculpting clay.
I have tried counting on my fingers instead of picking. That worked for a day or two.
I have tried talking to my family and asking them to hold me accountable. But that seems too co-dependent of an ask to put on my family. Also it comes with a shame component. Like they are going to shame me out of doing it?
So that’s where I’m at. I have three to four small balding spots on the top on the crown of my head and one off to the right down lower on the dome.
I used to chew on the insides of my cheeks. Suck the side of my cheek in-between my teeth and pick at the skin inside. Switching back and forth. I don’t do that anymore. So I’ve been able to stop. So that’s good news. I’ll be able to stop picking at my scalp one day. For now it’s just something I do I guess.
Maybe it’s a control thing. Maybe I’m determined to undermine myself before anyone else can do it? Maybe it’s just really satisfying to find something dry and flaky to pick at.
