Introduction
How do you get rid of a hickey is a question many teenagers and even older people ask, they know how their friends will rag them. When a teenager’s friends notice hickeys on their friends’ necks or arms, or anywhere, in fact, they demand of their friends that it’s time to kiss and tell! Then, suddenly the teen wants to know how to get rid of a hickey fast! Sometimes, after Valentine’s Day, you might see some girls and guys with hickeys!
They’re no big deal, but they do turn your private life into something more public. What might have been magic at the time might feel a bit awkward and totally out of place in broad daylight, in a college class, for instance. Then you might well be looking for the fastest way to get rid of a hickey.
How Long Do Hickeys Last?
A hickey can last quite a long time, unfortunately. Even though it is a bruise on the skin, it’s the result of blood vessels that have broken under the skin. The blood vessels under the skin get damaged when there is intense sucking or kissing, and every person has different skin.
If your skin is soft and sensitive, harsher, intense sucking, as well as the state of your health will determine how to get rid of a hickey successfully. Some skin health factors will determine how long a hickey sticks around.
At first sight, the blood that has coagulated under a hickey mark will start by being a dark red color, but as it dries out, it will turn dark purplish or brown. Still, it depends on each person. If you want to know how to get rid of a hickey fast, you need to know they can remain on the skin anywhere from around 5 to 15 days. The body needs time to reabsorb those dead blood cells.
If You Don’t Treat A Hickey, How Long Do Hickeys Last?
There isn’t just a quick and easy solution on how to get rid of a hickey, whether you treat it or not. It’s a bruise, and like all other bruises, they take time to heal. Bruises usually take anywhere from three days to two weeks. Usually, they are more superficial forms of bruising and often don’t take as long to heal as other types of bruises, for example, someone who suffered more trauma from a black eye.
Are Hickeys Bad For You?
Hickeys aren’t generally bad for you, but still, several people want to know how to get rid of a hickey fast. Nevertheless, experts say they have come across rare cases when receiving a hickey proved dangerous.
They can even be life-threatening like many other injuries, but this is rare. Hickeys, or “love bites” as they are also known, are caused by kissing and sucking the skin. The blood vessels under the skin rupture. The harder the suck, the darker and longer the mark will last.
How long they last will depend on the severity of the sucking. Many young people don’t worry so much about how to get rid of a hickey. Unless they have to see their boss or their parents any time soon, some consider a love bite almost like a fun badge of honor.
Some people are more susceptible to hickeys showing up a lot on their skin. They want to know how to get rid of a hickey fast. These people generally have thinner, more sensitive skins.
The time to wonder if they are bad for you is if you suddenly start bruising more or notice other symptoms. Another danger is that oral herpes can be passed on through a hickey. You will want to know how to get rid of a hickey very fast if you find out that you might have contracted oral herpes.
The good news is that it’s rare for hickeys to cause fatal or near-fatal effects. There is one incident that happened with a New Zealand woman. She suffered a stroke, resulting in a hickey, a non-fatal stroke.
The location of her hickey had been just above a major artery, which caused a blood clot in her neck. In 2016, a 17-year-old died after a stroke from a hickey. It is extremely rare though.
We Show You Our 15 Fastest Ways How To Get Rid Of A Hickey
How do you get rid of a hickey is answered below by some fabulous ideas that work:
1. Cold Spoon Or Cold Compress
Ok, now that you’ve noticed the hickey, take a cold spoon, a clean one, and toss it into the freezer, possibly against the ice, for around 10 minutes. Hopefully, it’s a relatively fresh hickey. Take the spoon out of the freezer and firmly press it to the affected hickey. One Dermatologist, Doris Day, says that “the cold will help minimize the blood seeping out of the vessels into the skin.” She recommends this gets done a few times in the day to keep the swelling down.
2. Aloe Vera Pulp
Aloe Vera is one of the most hydrating and natural ingredients to add to the skin, and it’s also extremely healing. You will find aloe vera plants in many people’s backyards because most people know and believe in its healing qualities. This is what you do if you happen to have an aloe vera plant: Cut the plant open, then scrape out some of the pulp and apply it over your damaged hickey area. Leave the pulp on the hickey for about 15 minutes. This healthy pulp and liquid will reduce the sensitivity of the affected area. Just enjoy the soothing benefits to your skin.
3. Peppermint Oil
All you have to do here is apply peppermint oil to the hickey area. The healing power of essential oils stimulates the healing action in the hickey. Don’t worry if your skin feels a bit tingly upon applying it. It is just busy enhancing circulation in the area. Don’t apply the oil all at the time; just once or twice a day. Otherwise, you can irritate the skin.
4. Cocoa Butter Is Your Answer To How To Get Rid Of Hickeys
Cocoa butter may work effectively as a healing agent for the skin, not only for hickeys. It’s because it has such outstanding moisturizing properties. Apply a warm towel over the hickey area, then massage some cocoa butter over the area for just a few minutes. It will do wonders in getting rid of any blood clotting, and it also stimulates circulation.
5. Pineapple
Who would have imagined that pineapple could be the answer to how to get rid of a hickey? But maybe you didn’t know that this very healthful fruit contains bromelain in it. It works wonders on bruises, and all you need to do is cut up some slices of fresh pineapple and gently rub the pieces over the hickey area. You could repeat this process a few times during the day, like four or five times. You can also buy some natural pineapple juice, dip a clean piece of cloth into the juice, and dab it on your hickey. Drinking some pineapple juice also does wonders for your health.
6. Vitamin K Cream
Topically applying vitamin K cream to your skin has been proven to clear up bruising and damage to the skin more quickly. It is because vitamin K is noted for its outstanding blood-clotting properties. Apply vitamin K cream over your hickey, as needed. It will help to reduce the appearance of the bruise.
7. Banana Peel
How do you get rid of a hickey can be solved by the simple banana! Most people have bananas in the house as a top fruit. Not only are they extremely healthy, but they are so easy to eat when on the go. So it’s no wonder that the inside of a banana peel is noted to heal a hickey, as well. The inside of the banana peel is packed with nutrients and vitamins that heal the bruise and fade it. Just rub the inside of the peel of a banana over your hickey for about 30 minutes. Try and repeat this twice a day.
8. Vitamin C Cream
Vitamin C is an important vitamin for health and the skin. Vitamin C is needed by the body to make a protein in our bodies called collagen, so essential for wound healing and keeping the skin, cartilage, and blood vessels healthy. If you do have a vitamin C deficiency, you might notice that you bruise more easily in any case. How to get rid of hickeys will surely benefit from the application of vitamin C cream to bruises and damaged skin is only going to do the world of good and boost healing.
It is even suggested that you try eating plenty of foods that are rich in vitamin C to help boost the process even further. Eat foods like citrus fruits, green and red peppers, kiwifruit, broccoli, and tomatoes.
9. Hot Packs And Massage
Massage is always good for painful and damaged skin. Massaging a hickey will help in breaking up and dispersing any coagulated blood that has formed under the skin’s surface. You can massage by applying a heating pad or a warm towel over the hickey area. When the area is nice and warm, apply two fingers and massage the area gently. Rub the fingers in a circular movement, starting from the inside of the hickey and working outwards. You can repeat this a few more times in the day.
10. Arnica Gels, Ointments, Or Lotions
A hickey is an external bruise, so medications won’t have a significant effect on speeding up the healing process. However, some treatments can aid in pain relief and hasten the healing time. Don’t mix medications of a pharmaceutical variety with natural products, though. Good natural solutions are, particularly, Arnica gel and witch hazel. These have been known to reduce the inflammation as well as the discoloration of the bruise.
11. How To Get Rid Of Hickeys With Makeup
There are effective makeup tools that can smartly cover a hickey. You get green-tinted concealers that work well as they kind of cancel out the red tones of the skin that the hickey has caused. Just apply the foundation as normal. Use one that is a bit lighter than your skin tone. Apply it right onto the hickey and all around it as well. That’s one sure way how to get rid of a hickey in an hour.
12. Rest
A hickey causes action in the skin and sometimes a bit of damage. So you might have realized by now that the fastest way to get rid of a hickey is to allow your skin some rest so the healing process can start. Don’t rub your skin or poke at the hickey. It will prevent any further damage from occurring in that area. Remember, in any case, that when you touch your hickey and the surrounding skin, make sure your hands are clean, as well as your skin.
13. Comfrey
The leaves and even the roots of the amazing comfrey plant have been used even in ancient times to treat the skin, whether it is for burns, muscle sprains, bruises, and inflammation. If you are looking for how to get rid of a hickey in minutes, you will be impressed with what comfrey can do. Even research shows that when you apply comfrey topically, it helps to reduce swelling and improves bruising.
14. Skip The Essential Oils
Even though we mentioned peppermint oil above to treat hickeys, simply because it is so good for stimulating the skin and improving circulation is not always advised. Often, essential oils can irritate the skin; sometimes cause extreme itching. You need to dilute essential oils too before using them, as they can burn and damage the skin. Aloe Vera, as we also mentioned above, is a gentler alternative.
15. Cover Your hickey With A Plaster Or Bandage
If you are desperate, the fastest way to get rid of a hickey is to cover it – with a plaster or bandage – Although many people will take guesses as to what is the cause! But scarves are very fashionable still; a great accessory to hide your hickey. If it’s summer, one of those very light ones will be suitable, or sometimes wearing a choker accessory can hide the hickey away.
How To Hide A Hickey
1. How To Get Rid Of A Hickey In Minutes By Using Your Hair
Maybe you have to rush out – but you know you have a hickey and your friends are going to see it. If you have long hair, it can rescue you! Keep your hair down. Then style it, so it falls around your neck and in front of your shoulders – that’s if the hickey is not too far forward. Make sure it’s your hair that gets the attention, so make sure it looks lovely. Then the attention is on your hair and not your hickey.
2. What Clothes Will Help To Cover A Hickey?
Another way to get rid of a hickey in an hour is to wear a scarf, as we mentioned above. Just make sure you wear the appropriate one for the summer or winter. Some chokers as neck accessories do the job of covering the hickey. A turtle neck sweater is also good during the winter.
3. Grab Your Makeup Bag
How to get rid of a hickey in minutes will depend on your fantastic makeup skills. So grab your makeup bag and pull out double the amount of concealer, foundation, and powder. They can do the trick. If your first round of applying didn’t do the trick, you might have to pack more. Once you’ve set it all with powder, you could add another layer of foundation, more concealer, and even more powder.
Conclusion
Right in the moment of receiving a love bite, the romantic atmosphere, the soft words, the scented candles; it feels glorious and natural – and then a love bite seals that moment of tenderness and romance. Now that the after-effects are showing and the harsh reality of the day hits you, you suddenly want to know how to get rid of a hickey in an hour.
The one on your neck is not exactly everybody’s idea of being glamorous or fashionable. And now you have a meeting with your boss or others who you don’t know well – you are desperate to cover the tell-tale marks of the hickey!
Essentially, a love bite is a bruise. It occurs when the skin gets sucked or kissed too hard. The blood vessels under the skin break and types of blood leak out into the surrounding areas. Fortunately, even though it can last up to a couple of weeks to get rid of, it’s at its worst in the first few days. You have asked how long hickeys last, so we have given you excellent tips on how to reduce the angry red coloring with fantastic tips, clothing, and even makeup ideas.