How many times you caught yourself touching your face? Whether you were trying to squeeze your pimple or were just unconsciously fiddling with your cheeks or forehead, you should consider all those microorganisms that might be present on your hands. There are many reasons why you should get over this habit that can bring you nothing good, especially if the skin of your face is overly sensitive. 

Why Should You Stop Touching Your Face?

Before we give you the answer to how to stop touching your face, you should firstly know why you should stop doing this.

1. It Could Cause Scarring

If you often touch your face, you will find any irregularity present on your face. Once you notice some blemish, you can't help to pick at it. However, doing this won't make your skin smoother; on the contrary, it may cause scarring that can become permanent.

2. It Could Lead to Breakouts of Acne

On average, people fiddle with their faces around 4 times per hour, and they often forget that they are doing this with dirty hands that picked up billion of germs from their phones and doorknobs. These germs can lead to some acne breakouts, so try to keep your hands away from your facial skin.

3. You Could Get the Flu

Since the influenza virus could be present on your hands, touching your face, especially your eyes and nose, can help the virus get into your body more easily.

4. It Can Cause Eye Bags

Patting the under-eye area can reduce your skin's elasticity, which can further lead to the breaking of your blood vessels and formation of those annoying purple-colored bags.

How to Stop Touching Your Face

1. Make Sure Your Hands Are Busy

Your hands are prone to reaching for your face when they have nothing to do, which happens while you are watching a TV show or waiting on a subway. During these periods, it is best to keep your hands occupied by surfing the web through your phone or doing a crossword puzzle.

2. Place a Reminder on Your Mirror

You are most likely to start picking at your skin while you are looking at yourself in the mirror. To avoid doing this, you should place a reminder on the mirror. This reminder can be a picture of scars that you may develop if you continue with this horrible habit.

3. Ask Others for Help

If it is really hard to sustain yourself from unconsciously touching your face, ask someone to stop you whenever you put your hand on the face. You will feel more pressured to put your hand far away from the ''banned area'' if others are constantly reminding you to do so.

4. Put Some Gloves On

In case you are one of those people who sleep with their faces resting on their hands, you can try putting on some gloves before going to bed as they will protect you from germs. You can even wear gloves during the day since that will inhibit you from squeezing pimples and thus prevent that awful scarring from forming.

5. Put Your Hands in Your Pocket

How to stop touching your face? Another way is to put your hands into your pockets or lay them on a table while in front of it. You can even try sitting on them, putting them between your thighs, or anything else that will keep them away from your head.

6. Other Tips

• Terrible habits, such as this one, require some time to break; therefore, it is important to be patient and persistent.
• Feeling self-conscious about your face is what makes you touch it, so relax and try developing some confidence.
• Whenever you feel the need to scratch your facial skin, before you actually do it, apply some hand sanitizer.

Other People’s Suggestions

''I normally start picking at my face when I am all alone and there is nobody to tell me not to do it. However, I have developed one handy habit that allowed me to break this wrong one. When I am alone at home, I often put a stretchy headband that keeps my hair back. It helps me think that my face is sort of a ''forbidden zone''. If you are struggling with how to stop touching your face, you can try my method.''

''I used to always touch my cheeks and chin while surfing on the web, but ever since I've started wearing bright red lipstick, I stopped doing it. I mean, I really don't want to accidentally smear the lipstick all over the face.''

''I have recently started applying facial masks because I really want to take care of my skin. It is impossible to fidget with your face with the musk on it.''

''I am always wearing a clean scarf that allows me to touch my face through it whenever I feel like it. In this way, I don't have to worry about acne breakouts even if my hands are dirty and I have no chance to wash them.''