Table of Contents
How to get rid of hickeys – Let’s assume that you are getting dressed for a job interview and notice a big hickey on your neck. It is nothing to be ashamed of but also not appropriate for a first impression. Your potential new boss does not need to see evidence of your makeout sessions. The same applies to other professional situations. Or you might want to hide the hickey from the eyes of others.
So, what is a hickey? It is a bruise formed on your skin when someone sucks on your neck very hard. The blood vessels present just below that area burst, and this causes the red blood cells to leak into the skin. They can be of various colors- purple, red, orangeish, depending on your skin and how old the bruise is.
Hickeys can last for somewhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. It depends on how much effort the other person put into creating the hickey and how easily your skin bruises. The hickeys usually transform as it heals. It goes from being red to darker shades, like purple, and overtimes becomes more blotchy to something like pale yellow. The entire process is normal, although it may seem weird.
The hickey healing process requires a lot of patience, as the trapped blood is broken down to be reabsorbed by your body. There is no immediate cure to get rid of a hickey, but if you need something quick, your best option is to cover it up. Wear a turtleneck or a scarf, or learn how to blend concealer to match your skin tone.
But if you have a few days, you can use remedies to speed up the healing process. But it would help if you were careful in distinguishing between what cures and what makes the bruises worse. Let us look into some ways to get rid of hickeys!
Check out this YouTube video for better understanding.
8 Ways to Get Rid of Hickeys
#1 The frozen peas trick
The idea behind getting rid of a hickey is to eliminate the accumulated red blood cells around the area effectively. Doctors recommend the cold spoon or frozen peas trick for treating bruises. Even though the treatment has no scientific evidence, it seems to work for hickeys, as a hickey is a type of bruise.
When a cold object, like a cold spoon, ice, or frozen peas, is placed on the bruise, it cools down the blood vessels and reduces blood flow at the bruised site. So the method is quite effective in healing hickeys and reducing bruising. For this method to work, you need to apply the cold pack as soon as the hickey forms. Please do not place the ice or frozen peas directly on your skin; first, wrap it with a cloth.
#2 Use arnica gel or lotion.
Arnica is an herb that grows in temperate climates and places like Siberia and central Europe. It is a medicinal plant, and its extract is rich in antioxidants. Although there is no extensive research to prove that arnica gel can heal hickeys, it reduces the bruises to an extent. So it would help if you gave arnica gel a try.
Arnica gel has anti-inflammatory effects and reduces muscle aches and bruises, though the science behind the healing process is unknown. You need to directly apply the arnica gel or lotion on the bruise several times a day for it to be effective. An oral form of arnica is also available, though it is not recommended as it is not FDA approved.
#3 Lather on cream containing vitamin K
Vitamin K has also not been researched extensively as a cure for hickeys. It seems like scientists do not consider hickeys a priority for research or something that needs an immediate remedy! But independent studies show Vitamin K to be quite helpful.
When blood begins to clot, vitamin K is an integral part of it. It is available as a gel or cream, and you need to apply it twice a day on the bruise.
#4 Soothe the bruised spot using cocoa butter, aloe vera, or banana
If you want to provide some relief to your broken and aching skin, these natural ingredients prove to be magical. They do not heal the hickey at once but reduces the ache for immediate relief. While applying these items, please don’t use too much pressure on your skin, as it can make the hickey worse.
Let’s look into each ingredient one by one. Cocoa butter has a high content of fatty acids. So it not only hydrates your skin but also acts as a protective barrier and improves the elasticity of your skin. Even without these endless benefits, cocoa butter is just great to apply to your skin.
Aloe vera is a medicinal plant whose gel can soothe your skin. It is the best treatment for sunburns as it cools the skin. You can buy aloe vera gel from the market where it has been extracted and bottled up for consumer use. Or you can directly buy the aloe vera plant and cut its leaf in half to find the thick pulp-like gel inside it.
You can also give the banana peel a try. It is eco-friendly and contains vitamins and minerals. The polysaccharides present in them reduce inflammation, and the peel hydrates your skin.
#5 Cover the hickey with makeup
The best solution is to cover up the hickey using makeup products. You can’t be expected to wear turtlenecks in the middle of summer nor scarves or something similar. And if modest summer clothes do not conceal your hickey, then makeup is your go-to option. Now let’s go through the proper makeup steps that will not give your skin an awkward coloring and blend in.
Use a primer followed by a color-correcting concealer.
Your hickey can be of various colors- red, purple, or even yellow, depending on how old it is and your skin tone. So a few rules of color correcting are as follows: Use a red concealer if you want to hide a dark purple hickey. If your hickey is red, select a green concealer. But if your hickey is bluish, you might have to use a salmon corrector.
- After you are done with the color corrector, you need to use a concealer. Use a concealer with salmon undertones if you think you need a little more pigment in your skin. But skin tones with a large amount of pigment should use concealers with orange tones. But in the end, make sure that it is always one shade lighter than your skin.
- The last step is to blend thoroughly. Blend in such a way that the tone of the covered area matches your skin tone. Avoid rubbing too much as it will make the bruising worse. Gently tap to get a proper blended tone. Use a setting spray on the makeup to ensure the longevity of the colors.
#6 Put on a turtleneck or scarf
It is not a real way to get rid of a hickey, but it will help you look chic as well as camouflage it. But it may only be applicable in certain seasons. You can use a fancy silk scarf or sleeveless turtleneck as materials for hiding your hickey for warmer seasons. These clothing ideas will also help you look at the same time.
#7 Treat the hickey like a cut
If you are not interested in putting on makeup or wearing something that covers your neck, you can use a bandage. It will not get rid of your hickey but will surely hide it from prying eyes. It is the easiest way before someone calls you out on it.
#8 Spend money on laser treatment
Laser treatments are the best way to heal your money faster, but you may also need to shell out some serious cash. For the procedure, dermatologists use a special kind of laser. It breaks up the blood cells that have pooled under your skin and accelerates the healing process. Though the result isn’t immediate, it is quite fast and can get rid of the hickey in just a couple of days. They can cost as much as $300, depending on the city you reside in.
If none of the above ways work for you, then you can try using a cooling gaiter to hide your hickey. We got crazy collection of cooling gaiter. Check it out.
Conclusion
To avoid the entire ordeal of getting rid of a hickey, ask your partner to avoid sucking very hard. It will prevent the blood vessels from bursting and thus resulting in a bad-looking bruise on your neck. You need to be the judge of how much sucking will bruise your skin. You can also try placing the hickeys on less visible parts of your body like your chest, collarbone, or hips.
A few methods that you must not try out to get rid of hickeys quickly are: massaging it, rubbing it with a coin, applying peppermint oil, etc. These will only make the bruise a lot worse. People believe that massaging a hickey can “break it down” and heal it, but it does no such thing. It leads to more pressure on the bruised area and can cause more blood vessels to break. Rubbing the hickey with a coin is quite trend-worthy on the internet, but it puts even more pressure than massage and makes it worse.
Toothpaste is believed to be a universal solution for all problems as it contains anti-inflammatory ingredients like triclosan. People used it to calm the skin. But nowadays, tubes of toothpaste do not contain triclosan, so it is no use to apply it on a hickey. Toothbrushes are quite gentle while massaging a hickey but in no way get rid of it.
Lip balms may be more useful than a lip balm cap as it contains waxes and oils to protect the skin. Using essential oils on hickeys can irritate your skin, so it is not the way to go when you want to get rid of hickeys. You can use aloe vera as an alternative.
