GentleskinUrge surfing
Urge surfing means waiting out an urge by paying attention to it until it fades, without acting on it and without fighting it. The psychologist Alan Marlatt developed it in his work on relapse prevention for addiction. Therapists now use it for many kinds of urges, including the urge to pick your skin.
Why it helps
An urge feels like it will grow until you give in, but it doesn't. It rises, peaks and falls, often within a few minutes. When you pick, you learn that picking is what makes the urge stop. When you wait one out, you learn that it stops anyway, and the next one tends to be a bit weaker.
Telling yourself "don't pick" keeps your attention on the urge. Surfing means noticing it the way you'd watch the weather change.
How to do it
When you notice the urge, say to yourself that you're having it. Then find where you feel it in your body. It might be in your fingertips, your jaw, or a pull toward the mirror. Breathe slowly and keep paying attention to that feeling as it gets stronger, peaks, and starts to ease. You don't need to make it go away. When it has eased, do something else with your hands.
Some urges pass in seconds. Others come back a few times in a row.
What makes it easier
Holding a stress ball or a fidget while you wait helps. So does leaving whatever set off the urge, like the mirror or your phone. Keeping a note of the urges you got through shows progress that a count of picks alone won't show.
Gentleskin has a thirty-second wave for this: you keep a finger on the water until it passes. It works without a subscription. See it on the App Store.
General information, not medical advice. See also how to stop picking your skin.