Rubbing things against your mouth/face?

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I've noticed I do this a lot with various things, when I really want to get a sense of how they feel....I do this with my two stones, my die cast cars, my Calico Critters, some of my stuffed animals, and I've recently found myself doing it with my Tangle toy. I also like rubbing my arms, hands and fingers against my mouth as well. Not necessarily putting things "into" my mouth; (although I did do that with absolutely EVERYTHING as a little kid - toys, erasers, Play-Doh, Silly Putty, my shirts, wet washcloths and towels - everything...and still sometimes do), but just sort of "cuddling" various objects against my mouth in order to see how they really feel.

Does this resonate with anyone? Is this a sensory thing?

ETA: Also, does anyone know of any sensory/therapy toys/items that are good for this kind of input? If you could please tell me a bit about them if you do, that would be great!

Last edited by LtlPinkCoupe on 12 Oct 2014, 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I do this with woof, my stuffed dog. His muzzle is super soft- and it feels like the only way I can really feel that softness is with my lips.

The lips are very sensitive so investigating with them is pretty natural- it's even a phase of development.

I do this sort of thing too though not actually putting things in my mouth (I have enough trouble with food already). I like smooth, cold things. I have a brown goldstone heart that I often put against my lips. Most of the time I don't like kissing though, despite this. I want to like it, but it's just gross to me. I also have developed a habit of tapping the side of my index finger against my lips to feel the other fingers tapping against the index finger, and the vibration that makes through the index finger. Like that ninja chop thing they do in a back massage. I think it might be taking the place of nail-biting, which I have done as long as I can remember. Might be a less common or more "weird" stim, but at least it isn't as destructive and as gross as nail-biting. I also rub the back of my thumb and its nail over my lips. My husband tells me I am constantly biting and licking my lips and when I am working on stuff, my tongue is out. I am so glad I can't see myself on video.

I also make popping sounds like a fish mostly for the sound and I "putter" with my lips for the sound and feel when I am going about my business.

I do that with some of my toys and my stuffed animals.

Yup. They have a lot of nerve endings.
Interestingly, to me, my lips are the part of my body most bothered by light touch.


I do the same, often to the beat of whatever song's playing in my head at the moment.

I very frequently touch my mouth and face. I actually have been known to go through entire conversations while covering my mouth or occasionally my whole face, though I tend not to notice these things unless someone brings it up in conversation. This happened once when I first met Alex (a private contractor who the county appointed to do something with me but neither one of us really understood exactly what he was supposed to do other than the fact that he was supposed to spend a certain number of hours at our house per week).

Most of his clients were extremely unstable and dangerous, and his briefing on me only included information from law enforcement agencies that have a pretty distorted view of the things I do. He said that they told him I was a "psycho cyber-terrorist". He's an Iraq veteran who always carried a gun and handcuffs while visiting with his clients, so naturally I felt somewhat uncomfortable when he first turned up at our house, but over time he came to understand that I'm a different person in my daily life than I am when I'm handcuffed to a bench with a skinhead spitting in my face. Mom said that he creeped her out long after I grew comfortable with him, but eventually playing xbox with him became a normal part of my routine and now that he no longer holds my contract I miss having him around

Anyway, that's one of the things he pointed out to me when he was initially sizing me up. He said that he thought I was doing it to try and comfort myself. I do find it somewhat soothing, but I've been trying to avoid touching my mouth because the flu's going around. Now, I still rub my lips a lot with the softer parts of my hand, but whenever I catch myself doing it I move my hand down slightly and start playing with my beard. I'm trying to train myself not to do it, but I just haven't had any luck. I suppose it is better than biting my nails though.

I'm not sure it this is related or not, but I've always liked the feeling of certain types of masks. I typically find normal rubber/plastic halloween masks pretty much intolerable to wear, but I've always loved wearing ski masks, bandannas, shemaghs, motley wraps & similar things made out of nice, soft fabric. My supervisor at my last job had a camouflage head-wrap that he wore from time to time and I took that to mean that I could wear similar things. I have quite a collection of head-wraps, but usually I'd wear my nice red and white shemagh (made of a cotton t-shirt material) or my OD green motley wrap (made of an incredibly soft and smooth synthetic material) to work. I really miss being allowed to do that...

My son has the odd habit of pulling out hairs from his head then holding his hand close to his face to feel the pulled out hairs on his skin.
He's done it for years. I've never really understood why until now.

I rub my hands on my face , nose , hair and forehead

Oh my gosh I do that all the time with my eyebrows and eyelashes too!

I run the tip of my third finger over my lips often as I haven't got a fingerprint on that finger (possibly a genetic mutation as my palm creases are oddly shaped too) and it is such a smooth fingertip.

I do this a lot with my scarfy. I rub it on my face because it feels really soft and soothing. It's like silk cotton. <3

Really? Wow. I'm sorry I called it an 'odd habit' then. It can't be considered odd if at least two people in the world are doing it.

I like to rub the smooth skin on my knuckles, and soft things like my blanket, against my lips.

YES! I spent practically the whole day yesterday rubbing a really soft blanket all over my face and hands. I also like to put my nails to lips and other soft or smooth things.

Yes, that's true; it's getting to be that time of year again. Thanks for the reminder, LocksAndLiqueur!

Aw, that's okay - no harm done! I thought I was the only one who did it, too.

I do this with a lot of things. Pencils, my phone, my hands, girls' hands, girls' hair, the wire for my headphones. It feels so much better with my mouth than my hands.