Does playing with hair count as stimming?

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I don't mean just sometimes playing with hair when you are bored. For me, if I have a free hand ever, it's not free, because I'm using it to play with my hair. It doesn't seem to make me feel better or anything, unless it's in a way that is subtle so I don't notice; I think it may help me think, that would be my only guess. It doesn't calm me down or anything like that, not very much anyway, though I do think I play with my hair more if I'm stressed. I just don't feel like it is calming as much as it is just a constant behavior. I think I do kind of like the way it feels on my fingers and my face though (my hair is very wavy, almost curly, and I like pulling it over my face and feeling it pull itself back up).

It's kind of bad, I think I might be causing my hair to fall out. I don't look like I've lost any hair but since I do it often I notice 1 or 2 strands of hair falling out sometimes. It's not like clumps or anything, but it seems like too much. Then again, maybe it is a normal amount, and most people don't notice because it happens when they aren't paying attention to it like I am.

Anyway, is it stimming? And should I try not to do it?

Of course. I twist my hair around, fold it into a little loop, and brush my fingers across the top. The loop either feels pleasantly soft or satisfyingly rough. Until a few months ago, I actually had no idea why I did it. (After I recognized it to be stimming, I paid more attention to how my hair felt against my finger, and I realized it felt good.) It's something I've done my entire life.

My daughter does it all the time. We used to try and stop her until we realised it was stimming.

Oh. My. GOD! I actually did and still do the same thing. I didn't realize that it was stimming, I just thought I was trying to keep myself occupied so I wouldn't just get up and leave immediately the minute I felt the urge to. I got a lot of crap from other kids while in high school. 2 jerkoffs actually mimicked what I did right in front of me as if I wasn't there. It took every fiber of my being to not haul off and punch his sorry face in.

I would honestly tell anybody who gave me crap about my stimming why I am the way that I am. Then I'd say that if it's a problem for you, then that's just too damn bad. Don't look, do your damn job and stop staring or I will go to your place of work and stare at you while you work for until you realize that maybe you shouldn't have acted like the ableist tool that, for the life of me, is considered to be socially acceptable in the 21st century! Oh and did I mention that while you're working, I'll make sure everybody knows what an ableist you are and see to it that you get looked down upon in disdain because I (and others like me) get that from society on a regular basis.

I'm sorry for the rant, the last paragraph was just venting and hypothetical.

Oh. My. GOD! I actually did and still do the same thing. I didn't realize that it was stimming, I just thought I was trying to keep myself occupied so I wouldn't just get up and leave immediately the minute I felt the urge to. I got a lot of crap from other kids while in high school. 2 jerkoffs actually mimicked what I did right in front of me as if I wasn't there. It took every fiber of my being to not haul off and punch his sorry face in.

I would honestly tell anybody who gave me crap about my stimming why I am the way that I am. Then I'd say that if it's a problem for you, then that's just too damn bad. Don't look, do your damn job and stop staring or I will go to your place of work and stare at you while you work for until you realize that maybe you shouldn't have acted like the ableist tool that, for the life of me, is considered to be socially acceptable in the 21st century! Oh and did I mention that while you're working, I'll make sure everybody knows what an ableist you are and see to it that you get looked down upon in disdain because I (and others like me) get that from society on a regular basis. Don't think I can do it?

I'm sorry for the rant, the last paragraph was just venting and hypothetical.

You are not causing your hair to fall out, that is a perfectly normal amount of hair to lose.

I used to actually chew on my hair when I was a little kid. It wasn't stimming so much as it was a nervous habit (for me, anyway) and it wasn't good for my hair at all, so people tried to make me stop, and I did, eventually. Just playing with your hair sounds okay, though, so there can't be any harm in continuing. However, if it's where you're actually tugging at your hair to pull it out due to anxiety (which I also do if I don't have a Tangle or my stones or plushies with me), then that could point to trichitillomania.

Last edited by LtlPinkCoupe on 29 Sep 2014, 10:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

i used to chew my hair when i was i grade school. got a bad grade in "is neat and clean", so stopped. definitely was a stim.

I don't know about the stimming matter, but I'm sure you're fine with the amount you're getting on your fingers. I have very thick hair, still do at seventy, always have had, and every time I brush it I have to clean a lot more than a couple of strands off my brush afterward, even when I was very young. It never gets noticeably thinner, though a lot of women do get thinner hair when they get to my age and older.

"Stimming" itself doesn't really matter, really. I mean, it's not a diagnostic pointer.

Rubbing soft or certain textures is generally the stereotypical form of, and it's usually kids with autism that do it.

That really brings back memories. I was so harassed in school with 'leave your hair alone' and 'quit twirling your hair' that I finally stopped and replaced it with spinning pencils and chewing on the collars of my shirts (I know, kinda weird). In the end I win though; while my hair is very short I now have a thick beard and mustache that I can twirl to my heart's content.

You know what, I think if someone's on the spectrum then yeah it can be considered stimming. If it's causing problems maybe find a replacement. I got a lanyard clipped to my belt loop as a replacement stim to help me be less distracting the year I went to regular school. I turn and twist and tug on that thing just like people do with their hair.

L. Holmes, I see no indication whether you're male or female, just that you're 19. If you're genetically susceptible to male pattern baldness, maybe I shouldn't have been so reassuring about your not losing your hair, but anyway, playing with your hair will not affect it. If you're a male, and have that gene (you get it through your mother--does she have any bald brothers?), then when the follicles are ready to quit, they'll quit, whether or not you've ever played with your hair.

I'd say yes. Pretty hard for me to do though as my hair is quite short.

Asians have messy hair, so this happens frequently.

I also pull my hair and no one else in my family ever plays with their hair, except maybe my sister, but she played with my girlfriend's hair a lot. The hair wasn't even hers!

Me too! Except I chewed the pens too. I was known for spontaneous ink explosions and borrowing peoples' pens and pencils and chewing the heck out of them.

EDIT: Actually, come to think of it I chewed on EVERYTHING. I still do. I can make a sombrero out of a coke bottle lid, and habitually slip the little collar of plastic off the bottle and chew it until it's stretched out and manky looking... I just looked to my left and there's one sitting on my desk

EDIT EDIT: And I definitely still twirl my hair... There are many reasons I grow my hair long

This thread made me lose it, funniest thing I've read in a while:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt140360.html

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