Sensory addiction or stimming?

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Ever since I was a little kid I was addicted to rubbing certain textures repeatedly with my fingertip. The texture I had to touch was like certain types of fuzzy fabric, human hair buzzed very short, and eyebrows.

My need to rub a fuzzy texture with my fingertip becomes overwhelming especially when I'm stressed. Usually this leads to me rubbing my eyebrow, because it's the one thing I always have with me that's of the correct texture. People are always asking me what's wrong because rubbing your eyebrow makes you look like you have a bad headache or like you're very worried. But if I can find something similar to that texture, like the fabric of my seat, I can make do by rubbing that and not my eyebrow. I've tried for many, many years to consciously not do it, but honestly a lot of the time I can only put it off so long and after that can't control myself and must do it. This feeling of lack of control is followed by shame and self-hate, even though I haven't done anything bad just by rubbing my eyebrow or whatever.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Is this related to stimming or is it some type of sensory issue?

i had smell addictions as a kid, and i wish i didn't smoke because my sense of smell is the one that makes me happy, for example when spring starts, or christmas smells etc.
I used to suck my thumb and smell on fabric at the same time, and this went on until i was maybe 14. I succeeded in stopping the thumb sucking thing when i realised it was the smelling part i was addicted to.
i do the same kind of weird thing as you do, sometimes i will smell my hair, or the top of my shirt, it makes me feel more peaceful. in public i try to avoid it of course. but it's conscious.
could be sensory....i have no idea, because there is no such thing as smell-related stimming...right?

Wow, I have the exact same behavior! I've done this for as long as I can remember...and I've always felt bad about it for some reason. My preference is for certain types of clothing tags. Its not a problem at home, even around my roommate, but at school it becomes an issue. What I finally did was start taking a jacket I really like to all my classes (School and home are just about the only two places I go). I do my best to be discreet, even then I still get nervous that someone will take notice. I'm pretty sure they've at least noticed that I wear the same jacket everyday, lol

I think I remember the book, "Aspergirls", listing it as a type of stim.

shure. I mean, i like my ears and the corner of my elbows the best. for rubbing the top part of my fingernails on, so smooth and feels so right.

its the opposite for me. as touching/rubbing certain textures and fabrics irritate me. i usually walk around with my hands balled up to fists so as to not touch anything because my fingertips are so sensitive.
of course i did have a very bad habit as a kid to smash candybars with my fingertips as i walked through the store. i just really liked the feel of that for some reason.
i do have a sense of smell addiction though, and i also sucked my thumb while smelling my blanket untill i was well into my teens. i dont suck my thumb anymore, but guess what. i still have my blanket and im 33. the smells still have a very calming affect for me and im not ashamed. oh i used to be, and tried stopping. actually succeded. but went back to the sweet sweet smells when i got sick of changing my life for convention, or concieved normalcy. i figure if it dosent hurt me or someone else then i should just go ahead and do whatever helps me get through this difficult and very short life we have. why should we follow others rule when we're not even playing in the same game.

I have the habit of rubbing the seam inside my pants pocket between my first two fingers, until eventually I rub a hole in my right front pocket.

I too love the sense of smell. I did the same thing you did.

There probably isn't a half hour's period out of any point in my day where I haven't purposefully used my sense of smell to enjoy it. The only exceptions to this would be absolute inability to be discrete about it, or both hands occupied in something very distracting.

As for stimming, at first I thought it was anything you did often that related to triggering a sense for the purpose of dealing with stress (the case may not always be stress, but that is what the professionals would limit it to). That definition is probably more accurate than the idea that stimming is only repetitive movements (such as rocking or hand-flapping). It doesn't make sense to limit stimulation of something to one kind of sense.

Read my bio! Lol i had to sign up just to reply. I have a fabric taxtrue addiction. It isnt just my fingers that need stumulation but also my lips, chin, feet, legs... anything that makes contact with the rough fabric.

I think this is way more common than people think. Most people seem to switch to a socially acceptable stim as they get older. Smoking, drumming their fingers, having something small in your pocket like a smooth rock or bit of fabric.

*I* say, that when it starts seeming compulsive, look at your stress. What is happening that is making you stim? Reduce your stress and you shouldn’t need to do it as much.

Rubbing my thumb on my fingers or feeling the hair of my beard or my hair inbetween my fingers and thumb...

Smells... Uhmm. While I love the smell of the old roses the others have been bred from (More modern breeds of roses don't seem to have smells like the old ones do), some smells trigger shutdowns for me, so I have to avoid them if I can.

Often used to (And sometimes may still do it) find a smooth small stone and rub it while holding it in my hand. Never knew this was stimming.

Ohh I do a very similar thing and I have done it since I was at least 12! I rub my fingernails specifically against the bottom seam on tops (sometimes also the actual fabric if it has the perfect texture for that). I have also done it with seams on jeans and probably some other clothing seams, but mostly it's the bottom seam on tops.

I don't remember if I used to do it while out in public, but the last several years I pretty much only do it at home when I wear my ugly old clothes (pretty much because I have already kind of destroyed the seams, so I can stim with it as much as I want without being scared of ruining my clothes).

Something I've done literally since I was born is to smell my fingers and I still do it very often. I've even done it in public (like school), but in a discreet way. When I was a small child I would very often do it while sucking on a pacifier, but when I stopped using those, I kept smelling my fingers.

I have no idea why I've always done it... It's not like it's always a good smell? I guess it's just a familiar smell and usually very specific. It's probably a comfort stim, like how some autistic people have comfort objects into adulthood (I have my hands, which is very convenient )