Worth breaking

Touching your face

Resting hands on your face or rubbing your eyes, nose, and mouth throughout the day.

Is touching your face a bad habit?

Mostly yes, though everyone does it constantly without noticing. Your hands collect germs from every surface you touch, and your eyes, nose, and mouth are the doors those germs use to get in, plus face-touching transfers oil and grime to your skin, which doesn't help breakouts.

How common is touching your face?

Do you have the touching your face habit?

Why touching your face works against you

◆Hands pick up germs from phones, keyboards, and door handles, and touching your eyes, nose, or mouth gives those germs a direct route in.
◆Rubbing and resting hands on your face transfers oil, grime, and bacteria to your skin, which can aggravate breakouts.
◆Habitual eye-rubbing irritates the delicate tissue around the eyes, especially during allergy season.

How to break it

1
Catch your resting positions
Most face-touching is posture: chin on palm at your desk, rubbing eyes when tired. Notice your top two positions and set up alternatives (hands on the desk, elbows off the table) in those exact settings.
2
Remove the itches that invite it
Treat the triggers that make your face demand attention: manage allergies, keep hair out of your eyes, moisturize dry skin. A face that doesn't itch gets touched far less.
3
Keep hands clean and busy
Wash hands regularly and wipe down your phone, so the touches that slip through carry less along. Give restless hands a job. A pen or fidget at your desk beats your chin as a resting spot.

Do this instead

When your hand heads for your face, redirect it to your desk, your lap, or a fidget, and scratch itches with a knuckle or tissue instead of fingertips.

Timeline: Because it's so automatic, expect several weeks of catching yourself before face-touching noticeably drops: awareness improves fast, the count follows slowly.

Communities that help

Peer support measurably improves quit rates. These unofficial communities are well-moderated places to not do this alone:

r/calmhands ↗
Support for nail biting and hand-focused habits, progress photos included

Breaking a habit sticks when you track the replacement.

Decide what you'll do instead of touching your face, then track it daily. A visible streak turns one good decision into a system.

Start tracking free on HabitTracker.io →

Written by Bernard Zitzer, builder of tools for habit change, including HabitTracker.io, and host of the Doism community. More about his work and habit content at bernardzitzer.com. About this site & methodology →