# Trichotillomania



## MeganC (Nov 23, 2008)

This is one of the weirder OCD/anxiety-related disorders. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it's a nervous compulsion to pull out one's own hair. I've struggled with this for years and wore a wig for a period of time. I'm wondering if anyone else has this condition. Do you think it's a cause or a result of your anxiety? Do you wear a wig or a scarf? Have you told anyone?


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

I suffer from a very mild version of this. I had no idea what it was until I read about it in a magazine one time a couple years ago. For me it seems to be related to school stress, during exams I pull at my eyelashes and eyebrows uncontrollably. I try really, really hard to not pull at the hairs on my scalp, particularily near my forehead where it's starting to thin because I'm so afraid of people noticing. I don't think it's too visible for others yet, for which I'm really thankful. I find it really embarassing and have never bought it up with anyone I know.

I haven't seen this brought up yet on SAS, thanks for starting a topic on it.


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## MeganC (Nov 23, 2008)

Yeah, I pull my eyelashes and eyebrows, too. I know it's easier said than done, but do _anything_ to keep your hands away from your scalp. Put your hair in a ponytail or a bun. Wear a hat, something. Once you really get going, it becomes an extremely hard habit to break, and then your anxiety issues multiply exponentially.

My hair is pretty long now. I've been doing a pretty good job of not pulling but then my hair started falling out naturally. Irony's a b*tch, ain't it? :lol


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## silver_light (Nov 4, 2008)

i have trich too. ive tried everything to stop....its been one of the biggest struggles of my life. i know the pulling eases my anxiety but the shame i feel fuels my anxiety...so terrible cycle.

i had to pretty much shave my head a few months ago and although its growing out now i dont pull when its this short,so its the only solution ive found.i'd love to have nice long hair though.

ive told a couple of people who are close to me and i'm so grateful they were understanding.its a difficult thing to explain to people.

....thank you for posting this,i feel less alone.


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## david24241 (Nov 10, 2008)

I use to pull my eyebrows hair in high stress periods and I had some very high stress periods that I pulled out half of my eyebrow, but most of the time i use to pull it pluck it so it doesn't look bad (I don't know how because I don't look in the mirror, it just feels like certain places in the eyebrow should be out of their place, like an annoying sensation but the places are unique most of the time like when women use to pluck their eyebrows lol).

So I get some girls convinced I'm "doing" eyebrows

Medications will help release the stress try them! Also supplements like fish oil, Ergopharm's 11-OXO (But it's not that cheap).

Next time you notice it happens try to do aerobics, it may help.

Just my 2cents:idea


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## MeganC (Nov 23, 2008)

silver_light said:


> i had to pretty much shave my head a few months ago and although its growing out now i dont pull when its this short,so its the only solution ive found.i'd love to have nice long hair though.
> 
> ive told a couple of people who are close to me and i'm so grateful they were understanding.its a difficult thing to explain to people.
> 
> ....thank you for posting this,i feel less alone.


I've shaved my head a few times and I found the short, stubbly hairs more tempting (does that sound odd?). Hang on. I've had false starts and "relapses", but when my hair grew back in, it was almost as thick as it was before. I won't lie, there will be spots where you pulled the most that are sparse, but no one will ever notice. I pulled mostly from the crown, and that's a hard area to conceal, but even that grew in very nicely. That first hair cut is one of the greatest feelings you'll ever know and it's a _*huge*_ boost to your confidence. Good luck and keep me posted. It's so hard to go through this alone.

david- Those supplements are expensive! I shudder to think about how much I spent on Fish Oil capsules and prenatal vitamins over a five year period:afr I agree that physical activity is a great distraction...probably the best thing for it since it's difficult to concentrate on pulling out your hair when you're engaged in something else.

I'm glad that you guys responded to the thread. This is not a very common problem.


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## david24241 (Nov 10, 2008)

Sure it makes me better to know I'm not alone at this also lol
Did you try any psychiatrist meds?


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## MeganC (Nov 23, 2008)

I've been on many different medications (most recently Prozac and Seroquel), but none of them really seemed to work. As a matter of fact, I stopped pulling my hair around the time that I stopped taking the meds.
What do you take? Just curious.


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## silver_light (Nov 4, 2008)

MeganC said:


> I've shaved my head a few times and I found the short, stubbly hairs more tempting (does that sound odd?). Hang on. I've had false starts and "relapses", but when my hair grew back in, it was almost as thick as it was before. I won't lie, there will be spots where you pulled the most that are sparse, but no one will ever notice. I pulled mostly from the crown, and that's a hard area to conceal, but even that grew in very nicely. That first hair cut is one of the greatest feelings you'll ever know and it's a _*huge*_ boost to your confidence. Good luck and keep me posted. It's so hard to go through this alone.
> 
> no that doesnt sound odd...i think like anything trich can manifest in different ways for different people.for me my hair has to be long enough to twirl...that's the behaviour that comes before the pulling.
> 
> hey,thanks so much for your encouragement i really appreciate it.


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## david24241 (Nov 10, 2008)

I just started to take citalopram (celexa) after more than 5 years without being on meds my anxiety triggered again when using LSD
I'm not like before for sure while taking this med, I still have high SA and anxiety from anxiety problems, but I don't pluck my eyebrows now at least.

Anyway I'm trying to get Nardil hope it will work for me like the other people that when the med kicked in they left the sa forums

Btw, some other areas in the body that I have to scratch when I have high stress are my 2 temples in the sides of my head areas, 2 spots in the sides of my knee, my bellybutton, a spot on my chin (I usually pluck my bread from there too), and a tiny spot in the tip of my tongue and in the back side of my upper lip (inside mouth) - these 2 spots were since a really young age about 4 or 5 I guess.

I know that sounds really weird but, anyone experiencing something similar?


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

That must be weird feeling like you have to pull your hair out. Is there anyway you can focus on something else when you get this nervousness, like a stress ball or something?


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I do this but I do it much less than I used to. I'm particularly obsessed with weird hairs--ones that are wirey, black, or thick. I ended up damaging a bunch of follicles on my head from pulling hairs from the same follicles repeatedly, and the damaged follicles started to produce REALLY weird hairs.

I have less problems with this when my hair is short because I can't feel the weirdness as much. These days, I don't pull out the hair but I can't stop touching it. The compulsion to touch it really bothers me. A couple of times I've shaved my head because I didn't want to have to feel my hair anymore. 

When I feel like I have to pull my hair, I go do something that requires all my attention.

To bring it back to your original questions, Megan, I've only told my family (while screaming and shaving my head, lol) and my boyfriend. I am very embarrassed about it because it feels like a disgusting thing to do. I think it's a result of general anxiety. I started doing it when I was about 9 years old I guess, but I never plucked enough for it to be too noticable. I have tons and tons of very thick hair, so I'm able to hide it.


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

Two things I've recently noticed:

1. I tend to go at my eyelashes the most, and mascara definitely intensifies the desire.

2. My other stress related habit, biting my nails into nothingness, helps. It makes it really hard to actually grab on to my eyelashes or eyebrows. Then again, I also can't peel an orange because of my lack of nails so that kindof balances out.

So I just need to throw out my mascara and hire someone with nails to peel fruit for me and I'll be in the clear. Excellent.


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## david24241 (Nov 10, 2008)

Yeah nails are yummy
But a huge percent of the society are eating their fingernails


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## MeganC (Nov 23, 2008)

silver light- Do you cover your head in public, or go without?

pita- Heh, I told my family in very much the same way. My mom was _pissed_ before I told her what was up. I don't think my dad understood the problem and thought I was trying to make a statement or something.:lol

shyvr- The hard part about it is that sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it, or once you start, you can't stop. I pulled most of my hair at night, so it was a bit harder to find things to do. The stress ball might work, though I've never tried it.


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## silver_light (Nov 4, 2008)

sometimes i would wear a scarf to cover it up,but when i shaved most of it down months ago i went without even though i had a pretty large bald spot at the back.
had some stranger ask me what happened....found that kind of rude but anyway.
that spot has pretty much filled in and i am going to try yet again to grow it out.i really want to overcome this.


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## mardy423 (Aug 27, 2008)

Oh wow, other members with trich!!
I was diag'ed with it about 6 years ago, back when I was in high school, and it has come and gone a lot since then. I usually pull from my eyelashes and my head. Cause my head hair is so think, i usually comb it over my bald spots. Twice before however, my spots where so bad on my head that I shaved my head completely and let it start new again. If any of you fellow trich'sters or anyone in fact would like to chat sometime, my AIM is IronNewbie


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## Jackie (Jan 8, 2004)

i pull my eyebrows out... i dont care much anymore, i dont care what people think about it. to me it doesnt look too bad but then again i look at myself in the mirror everyday. when i get my pic taken tho i notice it much more. ive gotten to the point were i dont really got eyebrows anymore. it sucks when they start growing back cause they look i dunno how to describe it ummm....spotty maybe :con

i blame it on my eyebrow piercing when i got it at age 17...before that i didnt then i got the damn thing in and i kept on playing around with it, next thing you know im losing my eyebrows


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## bezoomny (Feb 10, 2007)

I have something similar, dermatillomania. The same thing except you pick your skin to death. I try not to do it on my face but my legs are just attacked with tiny scars. I'm just convinced that there's acne and dead skin and ingrown hairs everywhere on my legs, even though that's probably not factually true. I wear long pants all the time, but it really bothers me, just thinking about the flaws that are all over my legs and that I can't get to.


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## friend_Z (Jan 3, 2006)

It IS one of the weirder disorders, in my book.

Sometimes I get on these kicks where I pull hair from my scalp and my eyebrows. But my biggest problem comes whenever I grow a beard. I start pulling obsessively at my facial hair and can't stop. Eventually, I pull out so much facial hair - it looks ridiculous to the point where I'm forced to shave it all off and wait a few months for the follicles to fill in again.

I also get obsessed with looking at the roots of the hairs, even touching them to my lips. Now that's weird.

I remember times when the rooms of my apartment were littered with all the hairs I had yanked out of my face. It's all a bit gross, but it's the truth.

It makes my face quite irritated and sore and it makes it that much harder to look at people when I am out in public. It seems to both stem from AND perpetuate my anxieties.


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## Kristen930 (Jun 24, 2006)

The old SAS board had a short post about this, and I'm glad to see one back here. I know I have battled TTM since I was about 11 or 12 years old. I think back then I used to pull in clumps. I remember my mom even putting sunscreen on my scalp once. After that, I just would pull single hairs. I think I stopped or slowed down for a while, then when I was 15ish I really started back at it, and haven't stopped. I prefer scalp and eyebrows. I haven't gotten any help yet -- it's just too weird/embarrassing to talk about with anyone! What helps me though is getting my hair cut decently short. I pull during high stress times, or even just out of boredom. I have pretty thick hair, and I just hope I won't be too bald when I'm in my 80s!


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## Delicate (May 23, 2008)

I don't think I have any sort of disorder, I don't feel like I should pull all my hair out or eyelashes, I haven't done that. But when I get depressed and frustrated I've pulled my hair out a lot.


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## Rubarb (Jan 18, 2010)

It really is heartbreaking reading others stories as I know how embarrassing and frustrating it can be. I had lovely blonde hair (Not to sound big headed) but it was always soft and quite straight. I've been pulling for about 9 months now, which may not seem long to some, but it's getting rather severe. Unfortuantly where I pull from is all around the front line of my hair, so rather obvious to people. I can't seem to move where i'm pulling from to a less obvious place because it doesn't give me that same 'relief' feeling. The tension building just before it's pulled out isn't the same, and also like other people, I target the hairs that are 'not perfect' i.e. coarse, off colour etc. Battling the urges to pull is really hard, it really feels as if it's taking over a lot of my life, which sounds dramatic as it's only hair, but to me it feels like little self-control combined with low self-esteem.
It took me a month or so to realise I had a problem with pulling and when i researched it was amazed to find that there are actually many people that do this as it is so unheard of. 
I tried many ways of trying to stop pulling, for me none have worked so far in the long run, but do help prevent me from pulling when sat at a desk in school or what have you. You may find these useful you may not:

*I told a lot of the people I know* (When it wasn't so severe I tried telling people to hit me every time they saw my hands go near my hair, but yeah, they're not there all the time and they don't always notice)(I know a lot of people find it hard to tell others, but I recommend you tell at least your closest friends and family members, explain what Trichotillomania is, i'm almost certain they won't judge you.)
*Gloves* (You usually can't get a grip (Y), however I sometimes find without realising that I have taken off the glove and started puling. Still strongly recommend trying if you haven't already, even if just to reduce the amount of hair pulled)
*Hats* (But normally my hands just creep up under it, haven't tried swimming caps yet, scarves work well as a hat though)
*Recording when I've pulled, how many I've pulled etc.* (It did reduce the pulling slightly for the first few days, but then it just felt like something i needed to do when i pulled, and I gradually went back to pulling so many It had no effect.
*Plasters on fingers* Wouldn't really recommend this, they get wet when you wash your hands and cost a fair bit in the long run, also they make the skin all ... well how skin goes when a plaster has been on it for a certain amount of time. It is still rather easy to pull.
*Play Doh* This has probably been the most successful so far, although i have only been using it a few weeks. Annoyingly it's not the most practical thing to carry around 24/7 and it dries out quickly. Also at school people always want to play with some which dries out the rest of the pot :S
I tried wristbands and other objects to fiddle with but they were just boring, which is why Play Doh was quite good as you keep reshaping it. 

Let me know if any of these help anyone! Many of them made me more aware i was pulling and i did stop myself on many occasions (If i hadn't done any of these I was have a lot more hair gone than i currently do, so they're worth a try) 

I'm going to try Cognitive Behavioural Therapy soon, but if this also doesn't help, I'm willing to shave my head because although in the first 2-3 years i'll probably end up wearing a wig, in the long term if I break the 'habit' i'm hoping I can live without all this unnecessary stress over appearance and self-control. Will update you all on the CBT. 

Seriously good luck!!!!!!  xxxxx


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## butterflykisses (Nov 28, 2010)

megan--
i too have trich. i have had it for 6 years and wear a wig because i am embarassed about how bad my scalp hair has become. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. THERE ARE LOTS OF GOOD PEOPLE LIKE US. yes i am extremely sad about my disorder. yes i have tried to stop for years. but i keep up my hope because how else will i ever stop? i know its hard, i hide it from everyone except my closest friends. my biggest goal is to graduate from college not wearing a wig, but with my own hair under the cap and in all my parents' pictures. i probably sound like a crazy person how i am talking, but i am not. I have good friends, 2 jobs to pay for college, an internship, an amazing understanding boyfriend, i play sports, and get good grades. I have lived my life with the attitude of "f you trich!" i did things in spite of it, making sure to never let it hold me back. i have also been to a conference where there are 100s of people who have this... they cement the feeling of not being alone. because at first i was scared. now i am a mixture of presently being sad, and being hopeful for the future. i wish you all the best.
--butterflykisses


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## error404 (Oct 18, 2010)

And I thought I was the only one! I have a much less severe form of it; I peel apart my split ends (I have a lot of them) like a maniac! I _make_ split ends where there weren't any before by scraping a chunk of hair between two fingernails...my hair is very uneven because of this and it hasn't grown for two years at least. I take that back, the very back of my hair grows because its the only part I won't bother to reach. Splitting my hair consumes *vast* amounts of time and most disgustingly covers everything in hair wisps, which to my horror, my mother has discovered. This whole trich thing consumes my life and makes it hard to complete simple tasks because I'm too busy peeling, peeling away.

I recently stopped pulling out my eyelashes and eyebrows about 2 or 3 years ago. I started when I was 8. I hated having a "bald face", especially when my friends started to notice. It was hard to stop because the short, stubby, newbie lashes were infinitely more fun to pluck than the full-grown ones. I still struggle with the urge to pluck them, but ever since the day I decided to quit cold turkey after dealing with it for 7 years, I've managed to successfully resist! One problem at a time, I guess...


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## rquaresma (Dec 9, 2010)

trich is one of the hardest social things to experience, no-one understands that most people dealing with this don't even know whats going on...they have no idea why or even when they do this...i dealt with the beginning of a nightmare when i was like 13, and it continued really bad, no eyebrows or eyelashes left, for four years all through high school...man i felt like a freak, i was disgusted when i looked in the mirror and had absolutely no confidence or esteem, even my own parents were calling me a freak, i could never really make friends...then i was enlightened, i don't know how...but one day i had this immense strength to fight the compulsive tornado going through my nerves everyday, i started running everyday and eating very healthy and i got stronger, it has been 5 years since then now and i have had us and downs but i never had the same urge or feeling...i have somehow overcome or grown out of it, now i am battling its after effects...even though i am considerably more confident now, i still feel a lot of social anxiety and don't socialize at all due to it, school is a nightmare, i noticed if you don't smoke weed, you work out often and stay busy with studying, eventually the anxiety goes away, then if you can stay consistent for a while, you can overcome the anxiety...i have done it before, but due to some recent trauma in my life it came back...anyways good luck to yall peace


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## Revenwyn (Apr 11, 2011)

Honestly I think trich is what CAUSED my social anxiety. I was an active, exuberant, extroverted ADHD child, then I was put on Ritalin and BAM! I started pulling my hair out the very day I started Ritalin. Then we tried all manner of medicines to make it stop, and some made it worse. I've not had a pull free day in 17 years. What you see in my avatar is a wig. 

When I started wearing wigs at first I tried to keep up the activities I enjoyed, but a few instances of a) being scalped at a volleyball game, b) losing my wig when a wave crashed over it when I was body surfing, c) losing my wig going down a water slide... all of these in very public teen events... well I started to rethink. I became afraid to do the activities I enjoyed, and those who had seen my bald head refused to have anything to do with me. They ridiculed me, some creeps actually grabbed the wig off my head and pointed and laughed... they were consequently beat up by my best friend (a guy.) 

My best friend was the only person to stick by me until I met my husband. Actually my best friend probably would have married me except his family thought dating was evil (we were homeschooled, eventually they moved three states away and we weren't allowed to write each other.) 

But at any rate I'm pretty sure that the trich was the cause of my social anxiety.


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## Revenwyn (Apr 11, 2011)

Tomorrow I try a new treatment for trich. A lot of people on boards I'm on have said it's helped them... so I'm gonna try it out. It takes about 9 weeks to really kick in for most... but we'll see how it goes.


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## Fantas Eyes (Mar 23, 2011)

I pull out split-ends; I looked this up and that is a form TTM. It's not a problem if I keep my hair up or don't have split-ends.


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## Camryn (Apr 3, 2010)

I have had this off and on since I was 11. Can't stop. Drives me crazy but then again it's very comforting in a weird way too.


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## purplefruit (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm pretty sure I have this too :blank I've never been to a therapist of any kind. so no diagnosis (for this or SA). I've been doing it ever since I was probably pre-teen. But I didn't know the name or that it was even a 'thing'. Usually I do it at night when I can't sleep. Last night I was doing it and put two and two together and realized. But at the same time it feels good and when I start pulling and twisting I don't want to stop. Not sure if that makes sense?

I don't know how it manifests for everyone but I'm probably minor. The feeling comes and goes, and I tend not to try and rip my scalp hair out...just touch and twist it a lot. Hair from other areas I pull a bit more, I feel like it's a 'bonus' when a hair comes out. Lately I have been picking at my left eyelashes a lot.

Ironically I am extremely averse to plucking my own eyebrows :lol and I don't pull there, so... :lol


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## Creeps McKinster (Jun 6, 2011)

friend_Z said:


> I also get obsessed with looking at the roots of the hairs, even touching them to my lips. Now that's weird.


I do that too! It is really weird. I think it's because at the end of some of my follicals there's this big black/clear blob of stuff that feels really wet,but I can only feel it when I touch them to my lips/chin. If you rub it on paper it leaves a black mark. It's bizzarre.


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## WhenImSixty4 (Jun 12, 2011)

I have had this problem for about 10 years, the past 3 or 4 I have been getting better with it. It was really bad when I first started out and it was mainly eye brows, this was like 3rd grade too, just became really obsessed with it. I stopped that though and I was good for about a year then 4th grade I started going after all over my scalp. It got pretty bad, I had bald spots. Middle school was the worse for it and people noticed, I would just lie saying it was from my hair spray. Eventually I started focusing in on certain spots and my hair grew back, by the end of highschool it wasn't that noticeable. I do still do it at times by the under part of my hair, very unnoticeable and I'm working on stopping that too. I keep my hair up and wear hats when I'm alone, since that's when I do it. 

My parents noticed it when I was in elementary school, they tried to help but I was a little kid, I didn't want to go talk to someone (like a therapist) about it and when I said no they didn't make me. I kind of wished they did. Even my normal doctor said it was something I would just grow out of, boy was he wrong. It's very important to stop all together, don't make deals with yourself about oh just a little bit, stop all of it.


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## softshock11 (Jan 9, 2011)

I can tell you that its not impossible to gain control of Trich.
Its hard because stress/boredom/nervousness makes you pull, and the fact that youre pulling and losing hair adds on to the stress. Its a manic cycle we put ourselves in.

Around my ages 13-16 I pulled so much off the top of my head it looked like I had a low cut mullet..lol i learn to laugh about it now even if deep inside its painful.

but hey i barely pull anymore.. Its MIND CONTROL. I did it with out any therapy or anything. Ive caught myself maybe touching my hair and the urge to pull it coming but then I think about how nice it feels and start finding other hairs getting longer and instead of pulling them i resist the urge because more than anything I don't want to deal with bald patches and I love my hair and I don't want to pick at it and make it worse.

Here are practices I used to get over my "abnormal love for picking hair"

So i dont get a grip on my hair i would
~Wear gloves ~ Put oil/gloss serum or some product on my hair (avoid gel or hairspray) ~keep a hat or bandanna on my head

Also I remember I told a close person that if they saw me reaching for a hair to pinch me, or just stop me. Lol but getting pinched was working for me.

~I would wash it and spend time brushing and combing my hair and obsessing more about letting it grow and look forward to the hairstyles I'll be able to do as long as I DONT PULL.

When I got those *tingly* feelings on my head or eyebrows I ran my fingers through the spot to soothe it, or just scratch it. I just kept strong and avoided picking it out. Sometimes I just tugged the hairs that were there, just enough to feel better, and then left it alone.

Its really about willpower. This is coming from a person who has an addictive personality and always picking up bad habits like a magnet! Trich is hard to give up but there's actually a pleasure learning to stop picking.


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## socialbuttrfly (Jun 13, 2011)

I am new here and was getting ready to start a thread on this. I have SA disorder which I believe causes my trichotillomania. I used to pull my scalp hair out as a teen, but now I just pull my hairs on my face and underarms. I get the urge to do it mostly when I am nervous.


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## socialbuttrfly (Jun 13, 2011)

Creeps McKinster said:


> I do that too! It is really weird. I think it's because at the end of some of my follicals there's this big black/clear blob of stuff that feels really wet,but I can only feel it when I touch them to my lips/chin. If you rub it on paper it leaves a black mark. It's bizzarre.


Sigh..I do it too...I love when I get the root, I always touch it to my lips. I have heard of people eating their hair and roots as well, thankfully, Ive never had the urge to do that.


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## socialbuttrfly (Jun 13, 2011)

pita said:


> I do this but I do it much less than I used to. I'm particularly obsessed with weird hairs--ones that are wirey, black, or thick. I ended up damaging a bunch of follicles on my head from pulling hairs from the same follicles repeatedly, and the damaged follicles started to produce REALLY weird hairs.
> 
> I have less problems with this when my hair is short because I can't feel the weirdness as much. These days, I don't pull out the hair but I can't stop touching it. The compulsion to touch it really bothers me. A couple of times I've shaved my head because I didn't want to have to feel my hair anymore.
> 
> ...


I know this is an old post but I wanted to say I am the EXACT SAME WAY bout the weird or wiry hairs...I seek out the coarse or kinky, typically short hairs. I also have very thick hair and can hide it.


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## Revenwyn (Apr 11, 2011)

softshock11 said:


> I can tell you that its not impossible to gain control of Trich.
> Its hard because stress/boredom/nervousness makes you pull, and the fact that youre pulling and losing hair adds on to the stress. Its a manic cycle we put ourselves in.
> 
> Around my ages 13-16 I pulled so much off the top of my head it looked like I had a low cut mullet..lol i learn to laugh about it now even if deep inside its painful.
> ...


I've tried all of the above and nothing has worked for me. Now I'm back to hats and bandanas because I can't afford to buy wigs anymore.


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## modus (Apr 27, 2011)

I've had it for as long as I can remember.

I don't pick at my eyebrows or eyelashes.. those seem to be the most common. But I pick right at my actual hair and it's just so impossible to stop. I have bald spots that I have to cover up with Toppik.

One thing that helped me was ordering a fake butterfly knife and using my hands to do tricks with it. Unfortunately, I used it so much that it broke after a couple weeks. I should get more of those...

So embarrassing to talk about .. :?


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## Johny (Dec 21, 2010)

Maybe I'd had a mild form of this. I'd pull facial hair out during class if I was stressed. I probably looked like I was concentrating with my hand digging into my face but inside I was thinking '**** **** **** **** ****'.


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

bezoomny said:


> I have something similar, dermatillomania. The same thing except you pick your skin to death. I try not to do it on my face but my legs are just attacked with tiny scars. I'm just convinced that there's acne and dead skin and ingrown hairs everywhere on my legs, even though that's probably not factually true. I wear long pants all the time, but it really bothers me, just thinking about the flaws that are all over my legs and that I can't get to.


I do this too! Mostly on my arms, it's pretty bad. I wear short sleeves at work and walk around looking like I have what feels like a million sores, omg. I feel like people must see me as a leper.


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