Hickies are a temporary mark or a bruise on the skin when a person engages in kissing or sucking a certain part of the body. This will cause the blood vessels from the skin to break and this causes a bruise. If you suddenly realize that you have a hickey, then you will frantically start searching for ways to cover or remove the hickey. Here are some simple steps on how to take care of hickey.
Things Required:
- Ice or cold compress
- Toothbrush
- Concealer
Steps
- You can start with applying an icepack or cold spoon on your hickey as soon as you can, maybe right after you have got the hickey. Take some ice, wrap it in a towel, use some frozen ice packs or you can keep a spoon in the freezer for a few minutes. Now, you will gently have to hold the cold compress on your skin for several minutes and then apply it again after sometime. If you are going to use a spoon, then you will have to continue freezing, because a warm spoon is of no use.
- Try using the comb or toothbrush method and there are many people who swear by it. You will have to lightly brush the hickey and area surrounding it with a stiff-bristled toothbrush or comb. By doing this you will stimulate circulation, but make sure that, you don’t press hard or it will make the hickey worse. After this, wait for 15 minutes, the redness and the swelling will start spreading, but it will become less obvious after 15 minutes. Now, apply a cold compress and repeat if required. It will depend on the magnitude of the hickey, this method will surely work or it can spread the discoloration as well.
- Use a coin, but remember that is the most painful method. For this, you will have to stretch the skin flat by pulling the surrounding skin. Take the edge of the coin and start scrapping the skin. Use the coin in a manner like the hickey is butter on toast and start spreading it outwards. You will have to press quiet hard, but not very hard that your skin breaks and starts bleeding.
- In this method, some people believe that this will push some extra blood, which will escape from your capillaries towards the outside of the skin. There will be some redness from the scrapping, but it will go away quickly as compared to hickey. Remember that a scrape is very less conspicuous than a hickey.
- You can also apply a layer of toothpaste on the hickey, it will tingle initially, but when it stops then you will have to remove the toothpaste with the help of a cloth dipped in warm water. Wait for the next 24 hours and you can repeat it if required.
- Try concealing the hickey with makeup. The most effective solution is the green-tinted concealer, as this is specially designed for negating the redness from the skin. You can apply some foundation one tone lighter than your skin tone on the hickey and the area surrounding it, so that no one comes to know that you are concealing something. If you do not have a concealer, try using an eyeshadow, which is lighter than your skin tone.
- Make sure that you cover the hickey completely. You can wear a scarf, turtleneck or a collared shit to hide it. Try styling your hair in such a manner that it hangs over the hickey. Make sure that you keep checking the covering to ensure that it is hiding the hickey.
- You can use arnica salve as well. Arnica is a herbal salve, which will help in reducing the swelling and minimizing the appearance of your hickey. Most of the people believe that even witch hazel helps in covering the hickey. Vitamin K cream can also help in absorbing the blood, which is stuck around the surface of the skin that leads to the appearance of the hickey.
- You can also try applying heat to the hickey, which will last for a couple of days. Take a washcloth and saturate the same in hot water, wring it and hold this on your skin for several minutes. You will have to reheat the washcloth with some more water as required. Also, you can try the reusable heat patch from the pharmacy it will stay hot for a longer time and it is easy to use.
- Massaging the area will increase the blood circulation and this will help in lightening the hickey. Remember that hickies will fade in a couple of days or in weeks, and there is no sure way of minimizing the hickey. Therefore, be patient and hide the appearance of the hickey.
Tips and Warnings:
- If someone happens to notice your hickey, then you will have to play it off. You can make an excuse saying that it is a ‘curling iron burn’, but remember that it may not work well because a burn and hickie do not look similar.
- Always remember that you must never apply too much pressure on the hickey, it will allow the blood to go away, but will leave a lasting mark. These marks are green in color and will never go.
- Remember that you must never apply ice on the hickey directly. Wrap the ice cubes in a towel or tissue paper for making a compress, and take it out if the cold becomes unbearable. If it gets too cold or if you hold it for a long time then you can get frostbite.
- Never use a hickey cure if it sounds too dangerous. Use your common sense because a hickey is not that big a deal.
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