We’ve all been there at one time or another. Caught up in the moment, you are too engrossed in passion to realize your special someone is doing their best to leave behind a memento of your special time together. Only after the moment passes do you realize you are left with a big red or purple hickey on your neck (or various other parts of your body). A hickey can be a pleasant reminder of your moment of passion, but more likely you will want to avoid embarrassment and teasing by friends, family, co-workers, and everyone else you know. You need to get rid of that hickey fast – or at the very least hide it!
A hickey essentially is tons of tiny, broken blood vessels on the surface of the skin. It can best be compared to a bruise. So unfortunately there isn’t a magical cure that will completely get rid of the hickey in seconds. Instead, as soon as you realize this reminder of your moment of passion is visible, you can take some immediate steps to keep the redness down and help it to fade faster over time. And while you are waiting for the hickey to fade, you can also take some steps to hide the hickey, too.
First, just as you would with any other type of bruise, put some ice to the hickey immediately. If you discover the hickey hours later, you can skip this step. However, if you catch the hickey popping up on your skin quickly after your moment of passion, apply the ice for about ten or fifteen minutes. This will help to keep the redness from becoming quite so bright and visible.
Then rub or massage the hickey to help get rid of it. Some people claim that rubbing the hickey with petroleum jelly, a spoon, a pencil eraser, or various other items will help. The underlying principle to rubbing the hickey is that you will spread out some of the blood left under the skin by the broken blood vessels. So be sure not to rub the hickey too hard, or you will risk making the hickey even bigger and more red. Instead, rub the hickey in small, circular motions with a moderately light touch.
After these steps, the only thing left to do is give your body time to work its magic and take away the rest of the visible signs of the hickey. So in the meantime, you can try to hide the hickey as best you can. Sometimes a hickey can be easily covered with a turtle-neck shirt or sweater. Otherwise, you can try to hide a hickey with concealer make-up or foundation. Often a concealer with a slightly green base works best to counteract the red appearance of the hickey. If you are truly desperate, you can cover the hickey with a bandage and make-up a story about a scratch or cut to the area. The visibility of a hickey will fade within a few days, so in the meantime do your best to hide the hickey as best you can.
