Trichotillomania

Post Reply New Topic

Is anyone struggling/making progress with trich? I pretty much exacerbated everything I already struggle with (depression, anxiety, avoidance) by pulling out half of the hair on my scalp. Now I feel like a freak mentally and physically.

It's growing back, but I still pull a bit every day and I have to hide it under a hat. It's long enough to cut my hair into a pixie cut, but I don't think that would look good or make me more confident. Only one more year of self-control before I'll be happy with it, provided I don't pull much more. It also grows back really wiry and stands out from the rest of my hair, so there's that.

I have the same issue. Struggling with trich since I was 8. I tried everything (except for meds yet), from wearing gloves all the time to wearing hats, to tie the hair in a ponytail, but nothing seems to work in the long run. They say bite your nails instead but I got sensory problems with my nails, I can barely stand the feeling of the nail clipper, let alone gnawing on them regularly, and to be honest, it's not the same satisfactory sensation.
There's not much to do for the regrowth standing out apart from wearing a baseball cap or some elaborate hairstyle camouflage.

My techniques are : Change the spot, use the back of your head more, pull your leg hair instead, stop yourself the moment you realize you're doing it and write down your feelings, smoke a cigarette(if you're a smoker) when you feel like pulling, scratch your head or stroke hair instead of pulling. be strong. You're not a freak. We are not.

What I can say is that when the depression and anxiety are at low peaks I can control myself more and I don't pull for weeks. I had managed to go back to normal with very rarely pulling but now I fell back into it, because my depression got worse.

I didn't realize I had a problem with trichotillomania until one day I looked into the mirror and noticed a bald spot at the top of my head. I would only pull one strand at a time from the top of my head but over time it added up turning into a bald spot. Now I have a stupid looking short tuft of hair at the top of my head that I have to constantly slick down. I started wearing long fake nails to make it harder to pick at strands.

I had trichotillomania as an older teen. It's a frightening thing, because when I'd start pulling out hair from my head, I would not be aware of it - at all. It's like you enter a zombie state and your body acts of it's own volition, no thoughts involved. Instinctive self-harm. An eating disorder was in full force at that time and when my hair did start coming out whenever I brushed it anyway, the insane thing was it actually helped me to 'wake up' better and stay aware of when I could feel myself 'slipping' or zoning out, which always presided the hair-pulling. Never had any professional treatment for it. I suppose a part of me wanted to keep what hair I had left, which worked in my favour as it was a source of pride; up to last summer it was waist length even in a plait.