i pluck my hair out. am i the only one?

[melochodie]

sometimes when i sit down, i just have this urge to comb through my hair and feel for those damaged hair, you know, those that swiggly and wavy and have odd feel to the hands, and i pluck them out, and there are a lot of them, it's like i can't stand the fact that they're connected to my head, so i pluck all those damaged ones.
sometimes some are not really damaged, some just have a huge curl towards the end but i pluck them out anyway. once i plucked out about 50 strands in a sitting. i just can't help it. i keep doing it even though i know it might create a bald spot. so i try to pluck different areas of the scalp. but one's head is only this big, you know.
does anyone have this problem too? how did u overcome it? please share it with me. i still want my hair with no bald spots.

[Wannabe Beauty]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichotillomania

Welcome to the club.

Kidding. xD
But I pull out my scalp hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, *red face* pubic hair and now it just falls out on it's own.
Try distract yourself by drawing, distract your hands by sewing or something, keep yourself busy.
Wear gloves if you have to, and remind yourself how horrible it is having bald patches.
You can overcome it, it's just a habit.
Hope your alright, if you want to talk just PM me. xxx~

[InMotion]

As Wannabe Beauty said; try to distract yourself. I used to do this - Trichotillomania that is - until a friend made fun of me for having a bald spot. :/ But that really opened my eyes, and made me consciously stop. I do occassionally slip, but it's nothing major. Good luck overcoming this awful problem! <3

[NanoBiff]

I do this all the time! Exactly same as you 'WannabeBeauty' Thought it was just me... Anyone know the reasons for it? Is it psychological or just medical?

[leivina]

I'm not obsessive about it anymore, but I know what you mean; it's SO satisfying to pluck out those squiggly hairs. The hairs on the back of my head are courser than the ones in front, and when I was little I would always pluck out a few for fun. Well, when I was in first grade, we had taken some sort of standardized test and there was nothing to do when we were finished. I sat at my desk plucking out one hair after another because I was bored, and when it was time to go home I looked down at my desk and realized there was a big pile of hairs sitting in front of me. I am so confused as to how the teacher didn't notice, or if she did, why she didn't stop me from doing it. Anyway, I created a sizable bald patch right on my part, and walked around like that (totally self conscious, especially since I am short and ALL of my peers could see the top of my head) for a few days until my mother noticed it and suggested I put my hair in a ponytail to hide it. I obsessively wore my hair in a ponytail until high school and never overdid it again. I told my mother I had no idea what had happened to the hair. A few years later she found out that if you get some kind of rash on your head, it creates a bald spot, and she figured that's what must have happened.

So yeah, I don't know a way to overcome it without humiliating yourself into not doing it again, but now if I really feel the urge to pluck out some hair, I keep it to areas where it's socially acceptable to be bald! Gimme a pair of tweezers and an unshaven leg and I'm entertained for an hour...

[Fake]

I started pulling my eyelashes a little while ago, and of all people my mum said I looked ugly.
I find that you don't look so silly if you try and pull the hairs no-one sees. The ones at the bottom of your scalp (under the rest of your hair) are a good idea as they're not that important anyway and if you keep your hair down, no-one'll notice. You could also try your arms, hands, legs, torso. As Leivina said, areas that are acceptable to be bald.
It's a tricky disorder, 'cause it's one that makes you feel like you look like an idiot, even when most of the time no-one notices.

[theelephantgirl]

There used to be a girl in my school who did this, as far as i know its an actual condition called trichotillomania. You might not do the same thing, but i read something about it saying it affects about 10% of the population in one way or another, so you're not the only one, don't worry! Hope this helps :]

Heres the wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichotillomania

[melochodie]

hey all, thanks for all ya replies... at least i feel less psychotic now that i know people don't just think it's crazy to pluck out your own hair, especially if there are people out there whose hair fall out though they don't want them to.
but i still feel like a compulsive urge to do it, ugh, especially after i wash my hair and it's all wet, and all the spirally damaged hair will be exceptionally obvious and i will just go pluck, pluck, pluck.
i wish there was some one-off solution, but i know there isn't. i just really hope i will be able to keep it all under control when i head for college real soon...

[barely_there]

I don't pick at my hair, but I'm ALWAYS tearing at my lips. I don't think I can go more than 15 minutes without yanking the skin of my lips. I don't even realize I'm doing it anymore, and suddenly I'll look down to see my fingernails filled with blood underneath. I've done it for about 5 years, and I've never been able to stop.

Best,

-L

[Chew]

Every so often I get into a habit of unconsciously biting the corner of my inner lip, I don't know why I do it but I end up with a big throbbing lump & it stings to death! x

MoonChew. x