stop scratching my head

I’ve been doing this probably since around 6th grade or so. Right when I was hitting puberty I suppose. I’m 25 now and am having a difficult time dealing with this. It’s starting to affect my relationships and my sanity. I’ll find myself taking less showers because I know that when my hair is greasy and gross that it is in prime condition for scratching and picking. The skin in certain areas will go raw and start to scab over and this is what I look forward to. When the scab forms its like ecstasy to pick it off. Honestly, where does this come from? Why? Saying that it’s ruining my life is a little overboard, but it’s certainly not helping.

yay people like me, i am 25 and just stated picking my head about 2 weeks ago, its gotten to the point were it bleeds and gets scabby then i pick the scabs, it started because i felt pimples o my head, or i was hallucinating them not sure. Everything irritates my skin, my own hair irritates my skin and makes it feel itchy all over my body.
I never had an issue pulling out my hair on my head, but i would pull it out from other areas on my body. It always starts as an itch then i scrath and pull the hair.
And I’ve been a scab picker for as long as I can remember.
I think this head scratching has started because of stress. I don’t have a job, and I’m racking up a credit card bill with my monthly living expenses and paying back the minimum at this point. I am trying to get medical help and my doctor said I can’t afford my medical expenses and she refered me to the financial aid place here, and they told me because my boyfriend gets too much money from unemployment I can’t get covered. I said we are not common law but she said if you live together for 1 day you are considered common law to us. Total load of crap. Sorry oversharing. GL everyone

When i posted, I hadn’t yet read the other posts below. I just did and it made me feel a lot better. It’s nice to know that i’m not the only person in the world who does this. Sometimes i catch myself doing it at school and think to myself how weird and gross people must think i am, but its nice to see other people do it, too. Hopefully we can all stop together.

I have psoriasis, and my doctor prescribed me a special shampoo to get rid of the excess skin and itch on my head. It worked, except that I had already gotten into the awful habit of scratching my head. Now, whenever i’m anxious or stressed or feeling bad about myself, I itch my head and pick the skin of my scalp. Afterwards and even sometimes while I’m doing it, I think to myself, “wow, this is really disgusting. I need to stop” and I do…for a while. And then i realize i’m watching TV and doing it again. I don’t know how to break this bad, disgusting habit. I get dandruff all over my shirts and it really makes me sad when after a week of not doing it and feeling good, i mess up. Any ideas about how to stop itching my head?

Not helpful if you ever break out. I can’t leave it alone… I’ve go to get whatever is inside of me out.

I don’t like feeling things on my head either. My feeling has always been, that I’d rather deal with a scab than have an active thing on me like a zit.

But for a couple years now, I can’t stop picking them off my head. Which just leads to more.

I managed to stop biting my nails several years ago… I think I can do this.

I can’t remember when i started scratching/picking. I think it was when I was very young. I know when I was about 10 I pulled out most of the hair on the top of my head one hair at a time. I would also look at the root of the hair and put the hair in my mouth. I don’t think I ate it, but i liked to poke my lip with the root of the hair. Weird huh? I stopped pulling my hair out and I think after that I started scratching. I would find a dark surface and then scratch my head and watch the flakes fall onto the surface. I still pick at anything I feel on my scalp and also will spend lots of time in front of the mirror looking at my scalp and scratching to make flakes and then pick at them. Mine has nothing to do with an itchy head, but I am a very anxious person and think it has to do with stress. I try to keep my nails short and my hair clean and that helps stop me a little.

Wow I just googled ‘stop picking my head’ and found this – I didn’t know other people did this. I have been dong this since I was maybe about 12 (now 22). The problem is this isn’t my only bad habit – I go through phases of all sorts of things but my head picking is becoming bad and I worry that I am doing it in public and not realising. I also pull out hairs and as a result there is always hair on my clothes, on my desk at work, on my chair, on the floor…everywhere! I think I have problems keeping still, if im not picking my scalp I am biting my nails or picking the skin around my nails until they bleed or cracking my knuckles. I used to wrap sellotape around my finger tips to try and stop.

I really just thought I was the only head picking freak out there! Thanks for this. I’m almost 37 years old and have been doing the same thing since I was a little girl. I used to have to sleep with socks tied to my hands because I would wake in the morning with a bloody scalp. Now I notice that my 17-year-old is doing it! (Hereditary?) Not embarrassing enough for the hubby to catch me and tell me to stop scratching my head but I have to do a ‘flake check’ whenever going into a store or public. My kids think its fun to see who can find the biggest flake in Mommy’s hair! SAD – I know!! Sometimes wish I could just be a nail biter but then how would I scratch?! AHHH… Ya think it’s just a bad habit like nail biting or some sort of anxiety disorder? I know mine started around a very rough part of my childhood and I do it way more when I’m stressed – which is like ALL THE TIME!

I just can’t tell you how relieved I am that you all are out there. I don’t know when it started but I do know that it is so similar to all of you. My head never itched out of the norm. I never thought, HEY I SHOULD SCRATCH MY HEAD, IT WILL MAKE ME FEEL BETTER! I never once even thought anything about the cycle that I can see so clearly now. It starts with wandering hands. It looks like I’m masaging a headache away or running my hands through my hair due to stress. Then I find it. That spot (or spots!) that isn’t the same as the rest. It’s a bump, or a rough spot, or an infected hair. It doesn’t matter. So I scratch. A little. Then more. Then I say, NO, you will STOP now. Then I scratch more as soon as I’m not constantly thinking about not scratching. Then that spot turns into a scab (I would never be able to admit this part if others hadn’t all ready) which I pick off and EAT. no joke. Every time. and I LIKE IT. And I do it all the time. Its the same with the build up of dandruff stuff under my nails. I run my teeth under my nails to get it. (omg, I can’t believe I’m telling anyone this) I HAVE stopped before. For a while. Long enough for it ALL TO HEAL. Then, I don’t know what, but something happened and I had my hands in my hair and in my mouth again. What and why? I just don’t understand. My BF catches me all the time and it is SO HUMILIATING. He even says it grosses him out. (OMG I JUST SCRATCHED) It makes him want to not kiss me. (that makes me want to cry). I want to stop but when others try to help me (slap my hands, guilt me, tell me its gross) I just get angry and resentful. Please help. What should I do?

I can’t believe I’m not the only one who does this! I pick my head when I’m not completely occupied. I love the feeling of picking scabs and pulling them off. I never pick because my head itches… I just want to find scabs or create scabs to pick at. Anyway, it makes my hair greasy because of all the oils I’m spreading around and sometimes makes it look like I’m not washing my hair. I do it in front of other people too and even waste time at work sitting at my desk doing it. After I pick the scabs off I put them down on a surface somewhere together so I can look them before throwing them away. It has gotten to the point that I can feel divits in my head from where i’ve picked and repicked scabs!! I didn’t really think of it as a problem until last mothers day when I was doing it infront of the family. My brother commented on it and later on my sister concurred and said that perhaps I should see a psycharist. My husband often bats my hands away from my head to keep me from doing it. I can’t think of anything else aside from will power to keep me from doing it. I did stop for a little while when I had acrylic nails on because they were too thick to pick at the delicate scabs. Girls, this may be a solution for you to help with the picking. As far as the scratching goes, I don’t know! I don’t scratch my head… I only pick. I’m just so very happy I finally decided to look into this and see that I’m not alone!!!!!!