pulling out hair

I, too, used to pull out my hair constantly. Everyone would always tell me to stopdoing it.
My head would get bald in places from doing this.
I had a lot of emotional issues and still do, but somehow I stopped doing this horrible thing to myself. I believe it is a way of relieving stress inside ourselves..awful thing to do to ourselves to relieve stress, isn’t it?? I pray a lot to Our Dear Lord Jesus and He has helped me tremendously through everything. I will pray for you, also. My friend also told me her daughter did this to her eyebrows. Bet there is a lot of people who do this, but won’t tell.

Thank you for writing about this. I’ve always twirled and pulled at my hair as a nervous habit. It wasn’t until this year (I am in the process of completing of 50 hours worth of college courses in one year) I realized that it is a problem. If I get stressed or even just bored, I examine the ends of my hair and pull apart the split ends, rip off damaged ends, and pull out any other odd colored or coarse hairs. I’ll twirl and pull and crunch the ends of my hair all day. I’ll rub the ends of my hair on my face. I do not pick bald spots, however I do have week long headaches from all the tugging. It’s a constant search for an area of hair on my head that I have not tugged on. I, too, have often examined the roots of my hair and stressed over little black hairs on my arms and stomach. There is no better relief than to have pulled those hairs out (it will literally bother me all day until I can get to a pair of tweezers). It is a strange fascination that calms me more than anything.

Luckily, I am an extremely self-disciplined person and have valiantly been working towards stopping this habit. My hair has become noticeably thinner along the ends and obviously unhealthy. I have always had long hair, usually always past the middle of my back. Just today, I admitted to my hairdresser about my habit and we decided to cut about four inches off my hair to get rid of the extensive damage that I have caused. This is going to be an on-going effort–I have asked my boyfriend to point out when I play with or tug my hair and I have been wearing my hair in a clippy to avoid tugging while studying.

This is a serious condition. I am glad that there are sites like this where people can talk about it. I realize that I am not as bad as most, but it is bad enough to have an effect on my life. Good luck to everyone struggling with this.

i am so glad i have found this website, i have been pulling my hair out for 8 years and i am 18 now. now i finally know that there are more people with this condition than i thought so glad i’m not the odd 1 out. i tend to wear a wig these days because when i went to school and even now i get really badly bullied for it off people that know me in the street. i feel that and wish that i can wake up one day and i wont get that horrid temptation. i only ever pulled hair out of my head for some reason but still it it has put a hell of a lot of pressure in my life. i hate going out or leaving my bfs side because i get paranoid that people know or there staring at me. its completely ruined my confidence and my independence

Everyone has said it, but again, thank you for being so open.

Just reading all of this is really helping me to face my problem rather than just being ashamed and trying to forget that I do it.

I pluck in two places, and I also look for the follicle. I pull ALL of my eyelashes out. I hide it very well with black eyeliner-I don’t apply a lot, just a thin line on upper and lower lid and it’s rare that anyone notices, and even more rare for them to mention it.

I started in first grade, and I am 19 now.
My mom never wanted to help me throughout all these years & she would actually restrict me and tell me that I couldn’t go out until they grew back… among other threats.
It’s been hell, and honestly, until the past year I had never even thought to research it.
What actually made me think of doing so was during an appointment for a hair cut…I was having my hair shampooed and the girl mentioned it and asked me very bluntly why I didn’t have any eyelashes..I was stunned and just said ‘I just never have…’ She told me that she knew someone in high school that didn’t have any and that she asked her and the girl told her that she didn’t want them and thought she looked better without them. I didn’t believe that of course, but it made me realize that there must be other people with the problem. I always thought that I was the only person in the world that did it of course…even though it’s awful you and all the other people do also, it is nice to know there may be hope or help out there somewhere.
My own family doctor has never even mentioned it or offered to help…she just looks at me funny everytime she’s close enough to notice and my mother even mentioned it to her during a visit once and she just avoided it completely…she didn’t know anything about it I guess.

yes thank you, it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one who is feeling this way, hate to do this to myself, when my hair is nice and I can get it cut without worrying about what may be said? – it makes me feel better in side. not seen my gp about any of this, would like to sometime when feel better bout it, I have depressive, on citalopram and amitriptyline to help me sleep. my boyfriend know’s about this, but he don’t know how to help me about it so we never chat about it, I’m moving in with a good friend – I’m worrying about this so am pulling more, when I worry I do it without knowing what I’m doing, living with a friend I hope will hlep me get better, would love to go back to work as am on the sick. I’m 22, would like to chat to anyone who may help with this. thanks all. shell

My name is cheryli have had trich since i was 17 and im 32 now.ive worn so many wigs in my life.i started on my eyebrows then eyelashes.i stopped when iw as in grade 9.then one night sitting alone in my room infront of my mirror i starte dto pull my hair from the top of my head.it has this cool looking root.i pulled again oooh it feels neat.i just cant stop.ive been pull free for a month once.but then it just relapses.i really wish i could stop.my bf tells me “quit pickin” all the time.right now i aim for the greys but i also get some blacks too.i liek the ones with teh blood on teh tips of the roots.makes them crunchier.weird i know.i dont think mental health can help me as im not despresed.,i have a great paying job and a geeat bf.please if you could give me some incentive.

I’ve been pulling out my hair since I’ve been around fifteen years old, now I’m fifty one and I still do it, not as bad as when I was younger, but bad enough. When I was young I always had longer hair, but now it’s short because every time it starts to grow I start pulling it out. I know how it feels to go to the hairdresser, imbarrassing!! I talked to a doctor years ago and she just laughed at me, I felt so ashamed and alone with this problem. Now I know it’s just not my problem. Has anyone ever come up with an idea to stop this? Please let me know. I’m glad there’s someone to talk with, my husband doesn’t even know I have a problem, he just thinks I’m crazy!!