Does anyone else have trichotillomania?

[BitterlyAlive_]

I've compulsively plucked hair since I was a teen or so, it makes me feel so gross.

 

[Livingvsdying25]

Yesss!!! I do!! I say that with exclamation bc tbh I'm glad you made this post. It's something that I don't find is talked about too often so peer support around it can be a bit difficult to find.

That being said: I've struggled with it since I was a child maybe around 10 or so. (In my 20's now)

I've picked out whole sections of my hair. In the last 3 years, I've shaved my side My hair goes back p. Fast and having 4C hair kinda helps to hide it??
I find it so difficult to style bc it's so uneven.
like the back is so long but the sides and front are not so much.

I feel gross in general when I pick out my hair. I feel gross seeing all the hairs on the floor.

I've learned not to beat myself up about it too much, looked into hair growth products and I out a durag/bonnet/headscarf over my head when I know I'm having a hard time with it. It def helps.

Recognizing for me when it comes up helps as well. Alas, it is a compulsion so im currently typing this while needing to vacuum my room.

 

[Gnip]

As soon as I was forced to unnaturally sit still and quietly for hours on end at age six during first grade, I would nervously and endlessly twirl my hair, from my assigned desk at the very back of the class. Even though there was no reason whatever for the teacher at the front of the room to do so (nobody else could see me), she would mock me relentlessly, taunting me with "Is that all you're going to do? Sit there going 'Diddle/daddle. diddle/daddle, diddle/daddle!' with your hair?"

She was my very first bully, the one who taught the other kids it was okay to bully me.

Ever since, I have been convinced that the cure for societal bullying is to shut down the public school system, like the great Karl Hess told Playboy Magazine's Sam Merrill on pages 64 and 65 in the July 1976 issue.

Getting a then trendy crewcut simply caused me to switch to compulsive tongue clucking in third grade, but fortunately I had my first teacher who was not a bully, somebody who never picked on me. (Unfortunately, after my first and second grade teachers had savaged me relentlessly for nothing, the playground by third grade had turned into a war zone with me as the primary target, I was also being targeted on the school bus by the driver and other student passengers, and a notorious loudmouthed bully of a new principal was also taking aim at me, somebody who has remained a notorious bully everywhere he's been over the decades since.)

Tongue clucking ended after third grade, but the nervous habit of handling my subsequently longer hair returned until it gave way to chronic nail biting and other compulsive nervous habits.


You're very far from alone. And if you were to develop a condition like alopecia where you no longer had any hair, then the odds are you might develop another compulsion to take the place of trichotillomania.


I temporarily stopped biting my nails a few times with the use of Thum nail biting cayenne pepper extract with lacquer. That behavior always returned until late 1996 when Prozac was beginning to work for me. I brought the bottle in to show my psychiatrist, and she seized on that to urgently suggest, "Oh! Since Prozac is used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, try using Thum now, and maybe the habit will go away for good!" She proved right, and even though Prozac stopped working for me around a year and a half later, my nail biting habit went away permanently. (In fact, I now need toenail clippers to cut my fingernails.)

When Prozac stopped working, a ferocious weight gain rebound effect which wasn't yet associated with SSRI antidepressants kicked in, and I became a compulsive nervous overeater, more than doubling my body weight to the present day

Obsessive compulsive disorder is what the presence of trichotillomania can indicate, as well as other repetitive nervous habits. For me, those habits were always more pronounced when I'd try sit still to focus and concentrate on tasks, with the severity of my attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. You can try to replace the compulsion of trichotillomania with a "healthier" habit like exercise (at one point during my middle teens, I was compulsively squeezing medium resistance hand grips, making me MUCH stronger than I looked with no additional muscularity), or you can try targeting the ODC itself. Trichotillomania is a symptom with an underlying cause, and the cause is often liable to be OCD.

 

[Mentalmick]

I pull out my arm hair quite a lot of that's the same thing.

 

[BitterlyAlive_]

@nottrying23 No worries about the enthusiasm, I knew you were excited to see someone with the same issue. :) I'm glad you've found ways to manage the trich, that's lovely. I don't usually pull off hair on my head, but I know that's a very common place for others with trich. I can spend a lot of time "grooming" and taking care of "imperfections" I see in hair on my head like perceived split ends, and I end up pulling some out anyway. It still seems compulsive, purposeless overall. But slightly different. I do pull hair...um, on my legs. Can spend a very long time doing it, have lots of sores and scars from it. Ugh.

I pull out my arm hair quite a lot of that's the same thing.

It can be, yes.

@Gnip I don't understand why people think it's okay to bully someone for things like this. It's not like the person really chooses to do it, lol. Crazy how even adults can stoop so such low levels. Pathetic, really.

Mm, you're absolutely right about how once one habit ceases, another tends to start. You see it with people who quit addictions, like smoking or gambling. It's the same for these sorts of things. I don't think my trich is a sign of OCD, but I think it could be a result of my anxiety. I also struggle with an eating disorder, go figure.

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

Anyone else have to get the root as well and not just the hair? I caused myself severe bold patches as a teen. On the plus side it saves me going to salon, my vanity has taught me direct urges and to pluck body hair not head hair.

 

[BitterlyAlive_]

Anyone else have to get the root as well and not just the hair? I caused myself severe bold patches as a teen. On the plus side it saves me going to salon, my vanity has taught me direct urges and to pluck body hair not head hair.

You mean the follicle itself?

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

You mean the follicle itself?

Yeah, I get real pissed off if that doesn't come out

 

[BitterlyAlive_]

Yeah, I get real pissed off if that doesn't come out

Mm, it does feel different when you get the follicle as well. I don't worry about it but can understand why it would be frustrating.

 

[sadgirl2002]

Oh my god... I didn't even know this was a thing! When I was 16, I always used to pull hairs one by one, from my scalp. I didn't know why I did it... I remember I had to walk around with bobby pins on the top of my head to keep the regrown hairs intact, it was awful.

 

[Annabella]

YEEESSSSSSsss I always do this... I didn't know it even had a name.

 

[Mouse_]

I have something similar, but I go for my skin instead of my hair. squeezing, scratching and tormenting until I get sores.

 

[Spiral]

I am so glad you posted this thread :)
I never met anyone else with trich before.
I also have trich, and cpd (compulsive picking disorder). The amount of time I have wasted just sitting in a trance pulling hair and peeling skin like if I touch my skin and it's not smooth I am going to pick it until its flat, stubble is a nightmare if I shave my legs I will end up pulling out every single leg hair when they start to grow back. I am also covered in scars and sores because of it, it makes me really embarrassed, I don't go to the beach or wear dresses or go swimming because I need to hide the mess I made of my skin. Usually, I don't even notice I'm doing it until its too late too, it always happens when I'm really tired or spaced out

Yeah, I get real pissed off if that doesn't come out

me too, I neeed to get the follicle out and I'm also annoyed and looking to pull more if it doesnt

 

[LittleBabyNothing]

I have something similar, but I go for my skin instead of my hair. squeezing, scratching and tormenting until I get sores.

if i get a wound of any kind i pick it, prevents it's healing and usually worsens it. Just can't leave it alone.

 

[muffin222]

Ugh, yes. I've struggled with trichotillomania since I was 6. I used to twist the hair compulsively until it knotted and then slowly pull and rip it out of my head over the span of several days. Finally, I noticed a tiny bald spot had developed on my scalp, so I stopped pulling the hair out of the root entirely.

Nowadays, I just pull on the strands continuously throughout the day whenever I feel stressed, anxious, and emotionally distraught, which is often I desperately want to stop pulling, but I don't know if it's even possible. It feels like the urge to pull is too great for me to surmount after having done it for so long. It's so embarrassing for me

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Anyone else have to get the root as well and not just the hair? I caused myself severe bold patches as a teen. On the plus side it saves me going to salon, my vanity has taught me direct urges and to pluck body hair not head hair.

I'm almost the opposite. I create and pull at split ends in my hair. it's so addictive and means I'll never have an even fro. I find putting braids in my hair helps but eventually that'll mess up my hairline too and doesn't so much for in-between styling it.

However, if a hair does come out while I'm twirling it I NEED the follicle too. When it's real bad, I also get addicted to the sensation that starts after really working on one section for a while and pulling the follicles from out of there.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I've compulsively plucked hair since I was a teen or so, it makes me feel so gross.

I didn't know it was called this but when I was in third grade I started pulling out hairs on my head. It got to a point where I ended up having a small bald spot that still isn't fully regrown today. I think I was doing it because I was stressed from my grades and also because I was fascinated by the little white things at the base of my hairs. My dad threatened to shave me completely bald which was enough to get me to stop doing it. I haven't aggressively pulled out hair much since then but occasionally I still do from other parts of my body.

 

[ThriveOrDie]

I had really soft silky hair when I was a kid. Then my hair changed texture before I started having chronic health issues. It got dry, wiry and frizzy. Now, I compulsively cut hairs that don't feel smooth. I can spend hours cutting. I only pull them when I don't feel like getting up to get scissors. I do it when I am bored or anxious. My hair looks pretty bad because it's so uneven. I don't know how to stop doing it.

 

[NearlyIrrelevantCake]

I've pulled my eyebrows out for decades. Can't not do it. Something so satisfying with getting several hairs at a time at once.

 

[gottago222]

TMI:: i have it but i rip out my pubes so atleast im being productive. i really like to rip out those hairs because they are so deep and its entertaining to see how they are twice as long when they come out. im also really satisfied when i see the bulb at the end of the hair. they gotta go

 

[ThriveOrDie]

TMI:: i have it but i rip out my pubes so atleast im being productive. i really like to rip out those hairs because they are so deep and its entertaining to see how they are twice as long when they come out. im also really satisfied when i see the bulb at the end of the hair. they gotta go

Ouch!?

 

[gottago222]

Ouch!?

when you rip out hairs in an area many times over the years the hair follicle gets weaker and its not as painful as the very first time. now its not painful at all for me