Trichotillomania

When I feel mine acting up, I wear waterproof mascara (hard to get it off my fingers) or my glasses. I only rarely go after my hair (I'm an eyelash person), but the few times I did, I tried wearing a hat wherever I could.

@teek I worked with some pateints in treatment who suffered from this. Have you tried things that keep you hands busy? Stress ball? Journaling? Puzzles?

I've been dealing withtrichfor approximately 10 years now. (I also suffer fromdermatillomania, skin picking.)When it comes to trich, I'm predominantly an eyelash person, and I find wearing false eyelashes the best solution to that since they help make me look "normal" and keep me from pulling.Although I do not pull hair from my scalpusually, that is the place I most often pick the skin of, and I find the best thing to do is wearing a hat or pulling the hair back because it makes it more difficult. It is extremely troublesome when this is generally a subconscious act, so it's great that you have people to catch you when you don't realize that you're doing it.I've found another helpful trick is to wear fake nails because they make it a bit more difficult to pull and pick. A manicure/nail polish in general though are useful because pulling and picking often leads to chipping the nails which you don't want to ruin. Keeping the hands busy is another great tip. All of these suggestions are predominantly for when you pull consciously though. I have experiences going to bed with eyelashes and waking up with almost none, so knowing that I sometimes do this in my sleep, particularly when I know that I am stressed, sleeping with a pair of socks or gloves on can help too.

I have trich as well, and for some reason what I need is the "satisfaction" of pulling out the hair. The best alternative I've found is popping the bubbles on bubble wrap. Also I find that squishy balls with tentacles coming off of them are nice (https://www.amazon.com/Pon-Squishy-Ball-Set-12/dp/B004WH60N8). They're great to keep your hands busy and when things get bad I pull the tentacles off.

Hi there, I have trichotillomania too. I pull from my scalp and underarms. What do I want most? The oily skin that comes with the hair! Most people I've talked to with trich love the dark roots, but I'm after the skin. It makes me feel temporarily good if I get hairs with that.

However, I am not currently scalp pulling because I shaved my head. It has helped a lot, since I don't like the texture of these soft, short hairs. It makes me sad, since I have naturally thick, wavy hair, but it's better this way. I've learned that I don't need hair on my head to feel good about my looks.

My mom has had this issue all my life 30+ years now). She has a permanent bald spot and wears a plain white bandana to cover it. I have dermotillomania myself. I think being aware of the issue helps get one started on trying to combat it. My issues are worse when I am under more stress and anxiety. I have tricks I use that help. Maybe you could try wearing a bandana to limit your access to your hair or at least limit easy access so you have to think about it more before you do it.

Well done to you all for being so open and sharing your experiences. I have had trichotillomania for 25 years and really struggle to talk about it :( In more recent years i have developed dermotillomania too, it's mostly when I watch TV. I target my scalp as I have psoriasis and also my shoulders, back, thighs and backs of my arms.

I have been struggling with trich for at least seven years. It's very hard to find people who understand, and my family doesn't get it or gets upset. I'm a very anxious person, so usually I rub my hair against my mouth, or spend time (usually 15 mins, sometimes as long as an hour)infront of the bathroom mirror pulling out roots from beneath my eyebrows. That happens when I'm very stressed, trapped and need a release. I am trying to work on getting it under control, and I've gotten better. I used to have only half of my eyebrows, either rubbing themor pulling them out. They are very thin right now and are growing back. A lot of times I would bleed and have scabs all over trying to dig into the skin to get ingrown hair. I didn't care if it hurt the skin, it felt good. And sometimes would pull the scabs off just for that same release. I've read it's a dopamine/serotonin thing with the follicles.

I am really into writing and sketching, but I'm holding back on those because they feel like work instead of relief. A couple months ago I was working on a portrait, but because I was angry trying to get the face just so, just perfect, it gave me a major setback. I ended up ripping out half of my right eyebrow in distress. Now I avoid doing activities like that, which I really don't want to. But because I hold myself to such high standard, I stress even thinking about starting.

Sorry if this thread is old, but I needed someone or something to reach out to.

Isn't self control an issue? Let's be honest. How many of Us literally argue with Ourselves to pull not to pull? You can yell at the top of your lungs but you will still pull that hair! The questions is why? What is it about "that" release that gives us a temporary sence of euphoria? Over and over again, creating the addiction, creating the disorder. If there was no addiction, there'd be no disorder. So what crates the addiction? PTSD, stress, overstimulation, lack of self control, addictive personality. So now we see the cause and effect...how do we come up with a solution? Where does the discussion go from here?