First time you ever experimented with self-harm?

depends.

6 yrs. old - pulling my hair just because it hurt when i did

does that count?

or

2013 @16 yrs. old- digging my nails in

I started towards the end of this past summer. I was making the transition from high school to college and I felt so pressured, overwhelmed, and angry at myself. I was crying in front of my best friend and something snapped. I just started to scratch and scratch really hard. It was like an automatic reaction to all my emotions. I wanted him to physically grab my hands and yell at me to stop. I wanted him to show me that he cared. He stared at me for a while and said, "Ummm.... ok. You should stop." Ever since then it's been worse. I went from scratching, to using tacks, then an xacto knife, and now a razor.

I started self harming at 8. I used a broken sea she'll from the beach on my arm. Next was a razor on my wrist. Now at the age of 22 I have cut with everything from a knife to a box cutter to glass to razor blades.

I started cutting when I was around 12 or 13, at first I did it for attention, then I would do it to punish myself any time I did something and then regretted it. As time went on, the cuts got harder to hide, and knives were taken away from me, so I got creative. I would sharpen paper clips using rocks or nail files and use them to cut myself, and eventually witched to burning myself instead. I stopped cutting around 15, but still sometimes burn myself with matches, not often though, the last time was several months ago.

I was 15, I had just lost my best friend...I was in extreme emotional pain. I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't be strong anymore. So I broke a pencil sharpener and used the blades inside. If anyone here is reading this and considering cutting, please I'm begging you, there are better ways to cope. Right now, I'm one week clean. I used to cut everyday but luckily I've gotten better. I still feel the urge to cut, because it's an addictiction. Please don't do it. Please don't cut.

I started when I was 11 and I'm now 16. It first started as simple scrapes using scissors that would go away in a few hours. I started because my parents had took everything away from me even my journal. After a few years of doing like that. I started wanting more out of the cuts. So I took apart a razor blade when I was home alone and I cut enough to bleed. Now my left arm is full of scars. I cut almost everyday now.

I was in 5th grade in school and it was a dare. This kid had dared me to cut myself so i did i wasnt going to back down from a dare back then. When i did it i didnt feel anything it wasnt to bad but foolishly someone else had done it too and had also been dared to put ink over the new cut to see if it would hurt and he said it did but i didnt believe him so i did it too and it did hurt but i went to the bathroom to wash the ink off it stung so bad and i realized that i liked the sting it all of a sudden made me feel better for play with the cut and make it hurt i regret it now 110% and if i could go back i wouldbt have done the dare but im now a senior in highschool and ive been getting better with bit doing it every so often i slip up but thats okay and i know it is because no one can be perfect but i know that some day ill beat this and that gives me hope (sorry if this is a stupid reason )

When I was 11 I started cutting. I had received an anonymous note telling me everything terrible about me. It hit all my flaws perfectly. It then said at the end I should kill myself. If I didn't kill myself then I should at least hurt myself. Because I deserved pain. So I started cutting I would do it everyday. If anybody asked I just told them my cat scratched me. Two years I still cut. And I regret that I believed that note. I'm trying to get over it. My record is not cutting for a month and a half. I have a billion scars but it's all good. I am really trying.

i started when i was 12 i felt like trash and i had other problems so i whent to the batroom and opend up a razor and took the blades and i started to cut my left sholder then later on my right then my stomac and my left thigh and i now also burn my arm

I began cutting when I was 13. My parents always seemed to have something to complain about when it came to me and I couldn't take it but that was the only time. I started back up again when I was 15. I was in an emotionally abusive relationship and I had also lost my friend in an accident which I had blamed myself for and to this day I still do this and I'm 20 years old. I had stopped for 6 months but I've been going through so much these past two weeks that it got to me and I ended up cutting again. I just feel so lonely and very depressed sometimes it hurts because I feel as if I don't have anyone and that's the loneliest feeling.