beat trichotillomania

I’m 17 and I’ve been pulling for over 8 years! 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 888888888888888….It’s driving me insane! I wish I could stop, I don’t understand. why am I so different? no one understands what it’s like they just tell me to knock it off! Leave your hair alone! They don’t get it they think I’m crazy and maybe I think I’m crazy too.

I’m a new mama.. obviously lol.
I’ve been pulling for about 10 years.. I really want to stop.
I purchased a Lace front wig.. which has help significantly with my confidence. It’s not like a basic wig.. which you can see where your head ends & the wig begins.. it can’t be blown off in a strong wind & you’ll never notice anyones eyes occasionally curiously drifting back up to your hair. It’s securly glued &/or taped down & practically invisible to the naked eye! Not having the ability to even touch my own hair without going through a great effort to release the adhesives on the wig has greatly helped. I also shaved my head underneath it to eliminate any chance of pulling while re-applying. so far so good. my hair has been growing back in.. full & thick! =) But mainly because it’s too short to pull. But a handful of the different urges I experience are gone. I don’t feel the need to weed through the strands looking for specific textures.. or see or touch the root. The strongest urge I still have.. is to experience the feeling my scalp feels as the hair is ripped out, & generally, the sore spots from ingrown hairs (etc) kind of trigger the urges stronger than anything else. Is there anyone who has found any way of helping to supress these specific urges? & for anyone wishing they had the look & feel of their own hair again.. i would strongly suggest purchasing a lace front wig! They go for about the same price as a decent wig that just sits on your haed waiting to be noticed.. yanked off by a jerk or a toddler.. or blown off by the wind. you can swim.. work out.. get caught outside on a windy or rainy day.. go on carnival rides.. everything you would do if this problem didn’t exist at all! I purchased mine from lace-front-wigs.com.. the customer service was amazing & the quality of the product is absolutely outstanding! If you go on a search frenzy for these items like I did.. do not EVER purchase ANYTHING from lacewigsforless.com. I ordered bleached knots.. light brown lace.. color 1B.. silky straight. it came in dark brown lace.. so it was very noticable on my lightly tanned skin. knots were not bleached. the color washed out on the first wash.. & once it was wet, it releaved a deep water-wave perm that had just been flat ironed & thrown in the box. They do not do refunds.. probably because their product is terrible & they have some kind of inbred monkey reviewing their orders! so be warned of this vedor if you look into this option.

It’s been about 9 months since I’ve caused a lot of damage. I got pregnant in July 2008 and managed to stop pulling completely. I don’t know if it was my hormones going crazy or not, but I inadvertently found “my cure”. Then, On New Year’s Eve, I went into pre-term labor and lost our son. I’ve been picking at my eyelashes and eyebrows since, but so far have not caused massive damage. I credit that to my husband who lets me know I’m doing it when I don’t even notice. Hopefully, I don’t relapse completely when he’s at work…or out of the house for some reason.

im 17, i have been pulling since around 16 or 15. idk why i do it sometimes but some other times i think its my stress. I told my parents but they arent really treating it seriously, they just said”stop doing that”, same with some of my friends who know i have it , now i have a few friends at school that think im going bald =/, yeah it sucks, but im trying to stop on my own. i might need some support, i have been wearing hats for about a week now,and they are helping some but since i have school, we cant have hats on . thats part of my problem.
i may need some support for this, i heard from source that the longer i resist, the harder the urges get, and any tips to help to stop would be appreciated. and if you need any support or just need to talk, you can message me.

i’ve managed not to pull at my hair or eyebrows for 2 days now!
already my scalp is not sore and red. i’ve also found that when i’m at home, putting a band-aid over my eyebrow has stopped me pulling at it.

i don’t even realise when i’m picking
ive picked my eyebrows to the extent that i only have half of one of mine left.
it looks ridiculous
it’s slowly growing back – i need something to stop me doing this
ITS DOING MY HEAD IN
looking like a half eyebrowed idiot.

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I can’t take it anymore…I want to stop! And I’m looking for support from people who suffer from this same disorder like me. I hate myself for being so masochistic…if anyone out there is looking for friendly support and help to quit, please contact me.

I have been pulling since I was 5 and Im 27. It works in correlation to stress and also adds anxiety in my life. And man let me tell you, when your in a relationship it drives partners fucking crazy (at least it did my ex). Now I try to keep my hair short so I dont get the urge, but when it gets a few inches higher I go at it again. I have been just diagnosed with slight depression and anxiety and I think they’re going to recommend meds, b/c this all works together. Meds…..yes they help? No they dont? I need some help here gang…..

I’ve been doing it on and off for 7 years. At first I didn’t know why I did it and I think people thought I was crazy. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I kept telling myself, “Stop it! You’re making your hair ugly!” and then I told myself, “I can’t stop! It just feels so good.” I’ve threatened to cut all my hair off and tons of other stuff to try to get myself to quit, but nothing works. Once I quit for about 10 months, but then I picked it up again. I’ve felt bald almost my whole life. I always had to wear hats when I went places because it looked really bad, and its always been really hard to do my hair up all fancy and stuff cuz theres always short hairs poking out and little bald spots showing. It’s stupid. After years and years I think I’ve finally accepted that I’m never going to get rid of it. But knowing how bad I once wanted to..I guess it’s still worth a shot.

I’ve been pulling for about 12 years now, on and off. I find I mostly pull when I’m bored or when I need to focus, like during exams and now at work. I used to be so embaressed when ppl would ask me what I’m doing when they see me pulling and I would ignore it or try to cover it up. Its relieving to see that I’m not the only one. Reading through this thread is helping me to control the urges to pull. Everyday i struggle with this to the point where I just want to shave all my hair out and hope I never pick up the habit again. When I was younger I pulled almost all my eyelashes off to the confusion of my friends, wondering how they disappeared. I covered it up saying that my allergies were bothering me to the point i rubbed them all off. I’ve stopped pulling my eyelashes, however have not stopped with my scalp or eyebrows. I’m trying various means to stop, such as keeping my hands busy (knitting helps). Also for me I find that when I curl my hair I’m less likely to pull as that would completely mess up the curls. It’s mainly when I straighten my hair that I pull. So lately I’ve just been curling my hair. I still find my self pulling once in a while though. Its so hard to completely stop! My tactic now is to come back to this thread whenever i feel the urge and hopefully it will help me to resist. I really really need to stop!

On a side note…I just want to thank everyone sharing in this thread : )