What do you do right before you sneeze

[Lace Butterfly]

Hey everyone, just working on a sneezefic that I may or may not post on here. Was looking for some inspiration on buildups and what some people do right before they sneeze, such as just letting it happen, trying to fight it, announcing it and little quirks I'm sure we all have. 

Btw, I've been a member in here for a few years now, but took some time off to have kids and a family, so I'm looking forward to re-engaging in the community.  

[Light]

Well first let me say welcome back to the posting life.

Its up to your of course but I'm sure many of us would love to see your story when it's finished. 

Anyway, getting to the point, for me the thing I do most before a sneeze is try not to think about it and just let it happen.

As someone with our shared interest and someone who does not sneeze often I tend to think about it to much if I feel a sneeze on the way. Like "Oh. I'm going to sneeze. It has been a while, this will feel nice." Problem is if I think that much about it the sneeze goes away and I'm left disappointed.😑

Don't know if it will help for your story but it's what happens to me before I sneeze.

Something others do I find very cute is when they fan their hand in front of there face like they can fan away the sneeze. 

 

Hope these ideas help.

[Lace Butterfly]

That's great, thanks for the reply. I'm the kind of person who does the fan thing. I do it when I feel the sneeze getting stuck or going away. 

[forestdaze]

I stick my tongue out a little during my pre-sneeze face

[MeForever]

I do something weird. When I feel like I have to sneeze I stick my toungue out and breath really deeply. It usually makes me sneeze faster. And because I don't sneeze often, here's something my friend does. My friend always raises his hands in front of his face in anticipation, so I can't see his pre-sneeze face.

[Ben Drowned]

okay I do some weird things I kinda raise my foot up or tense up in my back, because when I sneeze my foot jerks if I'm sitting or laying down. I also bite down or try to face away or down because I have a literal head but sneeze at times. I've head butted my computer

[-~-~-~-]

some of the pre-sneeze things I do: scrunching up my nose a little or gently pinching the bridge of it, looking up a bit (ideally at a light source), sometimes fanning my hand in front of my nose, and sometimes I'll announce it or tell people to wait if we're talking or doing something

and then there's either spinning to face away from people and/or fumbling for tissues/a handkerchief

[I love Alan Rickman]

I usually just try to fight it, but I know two specific people who I think have more interesting reactions before and after:

My one guy friend will seem to fight it at first (struggling to keep his eyes open and focus on what's going on) before giving up and hastily bringing a tissue or the crook of his elbow to his nose. Then he blushes after.

My one lady friend sometimes says, "I really need to sneeze" and then holds a tissue (or a loosely clenched fist if she doesn't have a tissue) a few inches in front of her nose, tilting her head back a little as she takes a deep breath. Then afterwards, she blows her nose and apologizes.

 

And then I also know someone who stops everything, takes a shaky breath, sneezes loudly to the side, and then acts like nothing happened.

 

I think it's really dependent on the person's personality, but I hope we're helpful! Good luck with your story!

Edited December 15, 2017 by I love Alan Rickman

[Lace Butterfly]

Thanks for all the responses guys  

[Anyone]

I typically stifle almost silently and my sneezes generally go unnoticed, so if I'm having I conversation I try to finish my sentence as quickly as possible so I can sneeze without calling their attention to it. I don't normally have an audible build up, but I scrunch my nose a little and immediately before it happens I tilt my head back slightly. 

[Mf1611]

5 hours ago, Anyone said:

I typically stifle almost silently and my sneezes generally go unnoticed, so if I'm having I conversation I try to finish my sentence as quickly as possible so I can sneeze without calling their attention to it. I don't normally have an audible build up, but I scrunch my nose a little and immediately before it happens I tilt my head back slightly. 

Thats amazing that you can sneeze and not have anyone notice i think alot of us would love to have that ability but others dont mind sneezing

 

for me i just build up with the normal scrunched up face and sneeze i dont really have anything i do before 

[Anyone]

1 hour ago, Mf1611 said:

Thats amazing that you can sneeze and not have anyone notice i think alot of us would love to have that ability but others dont mind sneezing

 

for me i just build up with the normal scrunched up face and sneeze i dont really have anything i do before 

I close my mouth and often the sneeze just gets sort of swallowed up. But I think mostly it's just that no one is ever paying attention to me, and my sneezes don't really command any, so they tend to go unnoticed even when not totally stifled. 

[HarleyQuinnSFF]

Sometimes I’ll pinch my nose higher up the bridge to make an irritation more intense to sneeze. If I’m in public and it’s not stopping I’ll get close to my husband so hopefully no one notices  I pull my sleeves down on my shirt to so I can catch it if I can’t hold it in too. If I’m having a bunch of false starts in a row or a long build up I’ll rub or pat my leg too. 

[-~-~-~-]

1 hour ago, HarleyQuinnSFF said:

If I’m having a bunch of false starts in a row or a long build up I’ll rub or pat my leg too. 

Why??

[bingochamp7]

My nose quivers and my breath gets uneven. In private, I stifle the sneeze quietly. In public, my mental block takes care of the sneeze. However, on the rare occasion that my mental block fails me, I pinch one nostril sporadically and switch to the other one until the tickle goes away, so that anyone watching doesn't suspect that I had to sneeze. (I've actually had to try this trick in front of family before and it worked, so I'm pretty certain it's foolproof.)

Edited December 18, 2017 by bingochamp7

[Clark Kent]

I'll usually end up hitching between 3 - 10 times. If it goes further than 3  and in private i'll start to look around for some kind of bright light - real or artificial- to help bring it on. That doesn't always work but most of the time will help and then repeat until i'm done.

Publicly i'll cover as much of my face up as possible to disguise the build up and try to hold my breath and try to hold it all back. It makes me judder a bit as i'm still hitching but internally but i can sometimes pass it off as hiccups weirdly  

[facet]

.

Edited December 1, 2019 by facet
Removed by user.

[SneezyKateM]

Usually ill scrunch up my nose a bit or wiggle it a bit cause of the itch, and like facet says, I'll definitely get a pre-sneeze face.  I may or may not hitch a few times.

Then of course there are ocassional times when I'll just start sneezing with no warning or pre-sneeze stuff at all.  That isn't a fun surprise.

[Asexy]

If I'm about to sneeze, I always tend to touch my nose a bit and grab the collar of my shirt and breathe in n out until it comes. If I don't sneeze, its a huge disappointment..

[justaquirkygirl]

If I'm alone, I'll look at a light source to help get it out faster. If I'm in public, I'll try to hold it in. My sneezes tend to be really quiet with no audible build up, so if I'm around people I'll usually just pretend nothing is happening while I breathe through my mouth and rub by tongue on the roof of my mouth for a minute. If I can't get the feeling to go away, I'll casually turn away from people, stifle, then turn back like nothing happened. 

[Hankyrick]

I just try and grab my handkerchief prior to sneezing or if im driving, either try and grab my hamdkerchief or sneeze into my elbow

[Jeff1]

If there are tissues near by I try to grab some and hold them at least a few inches from my nose as my sneezes tend to be on the wet side. If not I’ll usually use my sleeve when around others.  Sometimes when I’m alone I just let them go with nothing to cover.

 

[jano]

If I'm alone, I tend to tilt my head back and pant/breathe a little faster, through my mouth instead of my nose, it coaxes the sneeze out real quick for a reason I don't get. And if I'm feeling dramatic I fan my face XD 

[natflrt]

When I'm standing I usually take a step back back, lift up my chin, scrunch my nose and the sneeze then comes out quickly and forcefully. When I'm sitting I found that I do the above but just lean my upper chest back a bit before I sneeze

[Lexie13]

(If I'm in public,) I press down on the bottom half of my nose with either the back or heel of my hand to try and get rid of the tickling. If that doesn't work and I'm definitely going to sneeze, I either sneeze into my wrist from there or, if I'm actively in a conversation with someone and need to sneeze in the middle (the worst), I turn and lean away from them so they can't actually see my pre-sneeze face. 

My pre-sneeze face is probably the reason I most hate sneezing in public—more than the actual act of sneezing itself. I'm super insecure about it!