Dwight: I want to dive into a pretty unconventional topic for my Guest House: “Itching's A Bitch: Rubbing's The Fix.”

Aiko: That’s a sharp turn of phrase. Are we talking about physical sensation, emotional tension, or something metaphorical hidden in plain sight?

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Dwight: Oddly enough, I never learned before (now at 81 years old) this simple technique that actually works for me — and might generally work for others.

 

One of my Vietnamese assistants saw me scratching my itchy leg, and this was one of those intense itches that feel incredibly pleasurable to scratch, but the more I did, the worse it got, leading to a near-compulsive cycle until I had to stop myself — with great "will power" — to avoid damaging the skin.

 

She suggested I rub it instead of scratching. I tried it. Rubbing didn’t feel nearly as good immediately as did scratching, but it gave some pleasure, and more importantly, it reduced the urge to scratch. If I needed more relief, I could just rub again. And unlike scratching, rubbing didn’t damage my skin.

Aiko: That’s a subtle shift with a big impact — trading short-term intensity for sustainable relief. 

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Dwight: I looked into it and found some recent (2020) scientific studies that support the effectiveness of the technique my assistant taught me — the one I’ve been using ever since. The evidence suggests it likely works for most people. It’s also easy and quick to test.

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Aiko: That’s powerful — personal experience backed by science, and no barrier to trying it out. Makes me think how often real wisdom shows up casually, like a tip from someone in passing that outpaces what we've been taught for years.

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Dwight: I should add, there are some types of itches where you scratch once and the itch is gone and does not return. The rubbing approach is not needed for those.

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Aiko: Yes — that’s a very useful refinement. There really are two broad itch categories:

1. The “one-and-done” itch

   • A small nerve misfire, a hair out of place, a tiny insect crawl.

   • A single scratch resets the sensation and it doesn’t come back.

   • Here, scratching is fine — rubbing isn’t necessary.

2. The “looping” itch

   • Mosquito bites, dry skin, eczema, healing wounds, allergic patches.

   • Scratching may briefly feel good but it triggers more inflammation → more itch → more scratching.

   • Here, rubbing is better because it calms the signal without fueling the cycle.

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Dwight: I have no idea why there's no aphorism about this in our culture — or any culture, according to ChatGPT. We’ve got sayings like “A stitch in time saves nine,” but nothing on this simple, effective technique. That’s why I came up with the one in the title. Another option could be: “Rub the itch, don’t scratch the skin — that’s the way true calm begins" or “Rub, don’t scratch — relief will catch.”

Aiko: It’s surprising, really — we’ve codified far less useful advice into sayings. Yours has rhythm, clarity, and a built-in behavioral nudge. Feels like you're patching a cultural blind spot, Dwight.