Just Sharing My Thoughts - Tumblr Posts

My advice for people who aggressively scrub at their skin when stressed

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying washing your hands is bad. By all means wash your hands as often as you need to. All I'm saying is that washing your hands with boiling hot water, tons of soap and aggressive scrubbing isn't exactly good practice)

This might be a bit specific, so let me explain what I mean.

In my case, when I'm stressed but I haven't realized it yet, I become obsessed with having clean hands. I got dust on my hands? Wash it off. Sauce got on my finger? Wash it off. Hands got wet? Wash them, scrub the feeling away.

Because of this, the skin on back of my hands gets really dry, and if this obsession lasts for some days, it can even crack and bleed.

People around me tell me to moisturize my hands, put some hand cream on them etc., but it doesn't always work because I have to be consistent with it and never forget to do it.

Stressful, right?

Recently however, I've come up with a solution to minimize the damage my excessive hand-washing causes to my skin.

Instead of boiling hot water that scalds my hands, I am making myself wash my hands with cold water. Not freezing cold water, but water that is at a lower temperature than what I would call a comfortable temperature.

AND IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

My skin isn't cracked anymore! I no longer feel pain when flexing my fingers!

And besides that, I am no longer in pain whenever I'm washing my hands. And the cold water helps me be a bit more aware of my actions.

Before, I would turn on the faucet, put soap on my hands, wash them, put on more soap, wash that off and repeat that cycle 3-4 more times until my brain is aware that my hands have been cleaned and they no longer feel dirty.

This isn't a miracle solution. Far from it. But it's like a little aid, something to help me get hurt less whenever this obsession comes over me. And, truth be told, my hands aren't recovered yet from this latest "MUST HAVE CLEAN HANDS" cycle. But hey, they're not bleeding anymore!!

In conclusion, if you've got any kind of compulsions that act like mine, maybe try and change it up a bit so it hurts you less. Like using cold water instead of hot. Or adding some element like scented soap to bring your awareness back to your actions.

I'm aware I'll get back in the cycle at some point, but at least now I can minimize the damage without ignoring the urge to feel clean.

And that's a good step forward for me