Trichotillomania: Why These Women Rip Out Their Own Hair

This has really traumatized me i keep on pulling my hair and eating it i tried to stop but i couldnt

i have trichotillomania since i was kid

I had to wear wigs to hide all the bold spots, until I decided to shave cause I only had a tiny bit of hair left. I take vyvanse for my adhd and I keep pulling my hair every time I take it. I went a couple yrs without pulling. But I pulled again today. When I start pulling it’s impossible to stop. I stay at it for hours. I spent 10 hours straight today being unable to stop. My hair feels thinner now and I feel terrible about it. 😞

It seems like the title "strange affection" was in very poor choice. These women & men feel horrible enough. I have it and Im bald in huge places on top of my head & it is impossible to hide anymore.

I fucking hate trich

This is totally related in my life
I've been gone through this
And trust me
It hurts more than anything
Even now

From what I understand about trichotillomania, the most effective way to avoid it is to shave your head. If you start shaving your head without caring about what people say, then this habit will go away very soon. In this condition, you always end up shaving your head. I have 5 years of experience with this. At first, my hair would regrow in a month, then it took two months, and now it takes three months with constant oiling. That's why I immediately shave my head so that the follicles don't get damaged and bald spots don't appear.

Everyone who shaves or depilates armpits, legs, pubis, they are all sick with trichotilomania!!!
Depilation for fashion is trichotilomania 100%
Condemn this business!!! Like smoking and alcohol!!

Depilation for fashion is trichotilomania 100%
Condemn this business!!! Like smoking and alcohol!!

I might have it I’m so fucking mad all the time I just wanna rip my own goddamn hair out I’m so fucking sick of this god please help me

it's been hard to fight my compulsions but the best way I have to avoid pulling is just to curl it around my finger or stroke it

imagine how many people with TDS pulled out their hair these days

I have trichotillomania mostly towards my eyelashes but also to my eyebrows and scalp too.😢 in primary school I would have chunks of baldness all through my eyelashes and people started to make fun of me for it or ask "why do you have no eyelashes?" and it really hurt. I did everything I could from changing my diet so my hair would grow back faster, putting hair growth lotion/serum on, playing with things for my hands, or even putting fake eyelashes on or eye liner over the baldness. I really hated it and my mum kept getting mad and would say "if you dont stop I will take your entertainment away (books,devices,toys,TV,etc.) Horrible experience. I still suffer from it and I am now in high school and recently its started to come back.......😢

I am a 47 year old African black woman, battling with pulling out my hairs at times to chew and swallow at times during or after meals.
It's irritating in my throat and crop, I try to stop but the urge defeats me every time.

Waiting for the spirit of TRUTH to come at my aid and rid me of this urge and any physical damage it might have caused me.🇳🇦🌈

thank you for sharing. I have had trichotillomania since I was 5, when my Aunt suicided. I was 8 years old. I have had this affliction since I was 8 years old, - I had mental, sexual and verbal abuse. I pulled all my eyebrows when I was 8....I wish it was different. I am so ashamed and wish I could control this Thank you for sharing this. I am right here with you.

I guess I have that

Girls/Guys, this is an anxiety related issue. The more you take care of your anxiety, the less you feel the urge to pull. Therapy, exercise, good sleep, good eating habits, they all help.

After 20 years of illness, several treatments with a psychologist and medicine, I went to the hospital and had the treatment, they clogged me with medication and it did not help. Then I was treated by the neuroscientist Dr. Rodrigo Batalha, who has healed 500 people from all over the world and now I have been free for 2 years. Look for him and break free. There is a cure yes and it wasn't with drugs!!!

I am suffering a lot. Being an indian and 15 years old going to school is an embrassing thing. Hiding bald patched with oil on hair is difficult. Wearing flat hairstyle look like i dont have hair. I have cried all night but still pluching my hair. This is so frustrating. These parents are not even supportive and scolding . They never allow me to not put oil on hair. Seeing all my friends having shiny long hair , my heart hurts. 😔😔. Though i hairwashed my hair will not remain neat if air blows . My self confidence flew away. Not able to talk to anyone. Whenever i decide to leave this habit . This goes out of control. I will be crying all night without knowing to my parents. This hairs are not growing fast too. This is soooo frustrating 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭🥺🥺😢😢😥😥😢i cant with this.i cant wear desired hair style nor go to any function with this hair😔😔😔

Help me I have this

Get yourself a lighter ..take those "special hairs" and light those roots on fire..

Men are affected more. I have trich, and these women are aloud to feel pathetic. I cry from pulling and swallowing hair everyday, worrying a trichophagia could kill me, or I would get laughed, making me more depressed. My mum has it too, and she tells me to just stop. While women like this get entire documentaries, the smaller percentage of people of trich, men, never get any attention. Go to google, and try to find a man with trich, you will find little to no results

I understand the extreme comfort hair plucking brings because I plucked my moustache and beard into awful bald patches., but the compulsion was so powerful.

if anyone wants to make a SAFE communal chat, with this topic (preferably only people suffering with trich) reply 2 this comment ❗️

انا ايضا اعاني من هوس نتف الشعر ويبدو اني سأتراجع بعد هذا المقطع😭

hi i am iqra jamil from pakistan i have tricotillomania since chilhood but i have no recover from it can your channel help me and your doctors

Yes I have trich. Had it since 9 now 50years old. Never had a full head. Bullied bad. I hate it so much..just can't stop.😢

Now I know I'm not alone. Thank you, ABC, for this report! I am 66, and only figured out a few months ago how this condition began for me. My parents separated when I was 8, and Mama moved us to another state. I was confused; I thought parents were together from birth, and divorce? What's that?? I didn't fit in with my new class, so I no longer had friends. School was my refuge before, but now I didn't want to go. I missed Daddy horribly, and I thought God was angry with me. I hid in the closet to read because I didn't even fit in with my siblings.

At one time, I stopped pulling so much. The happier I was, the less I pulled. In happier times, I had opportunity to teach (especially children!) singing gospel songs. I've had Long Covid now for two years, and it has made my hair very weak. I have extremely diminished energy, and I've lost interest in singing. I learned to pray for myself while I pray for others, so I will wait.

I understand though I suffer from trichotillomania myself and no one really understands it when I have both but I you been explained to like some of my teachers things I have a compulsion of pulling my own hair and no helping my mom she will say oh why are you doing this why are you pulling out your hair why do you like doing that I don't like it it's caused by stress

It's an uncomfortableness with maturity it seems like. ??

It doesn't ever go away. There will be times where I can't go 10 minuets without pulling, but I also had a random period of time where I just didn't pull at all for an entire year. Then the moment I started doing a little again, it came back full force

im 12 and i have this. i remember it started when i was in class and i just felt the urge to pull my hair out. it started when i was around 8. ive been trying to recover but let me tell you its super hard. its a shame because i personally think i have great hair. i think sometimes how much hair i would have if i didnt pull. i was born with lots of hair and it really is so sad that i pull out my hair. if anyone has recovery tips, pls share them!! i love you all!! stay safe 💗

Will it grow back

“Did you shave your eyebrows off?”
“Doesent that hurt?”
“Oh your eyebrows are just really thin”
“Honey what are you doing to your face”
“Why don’t you just stop???”
“Pick something like your legs”
“Are your parents stressing you out or something?”
*parents buying fidget toys and random medicine and lotion that they think will “help” (they don’t. They just make us feel even more helpless/ weird)
“Why don’t you just stop?”
“Why do you pick your face?”
“Stop picking your eyebrows!!”
“Your gonna look bald/homeless if you keep picking them”
“Wow I’m so happy your eyebrows are growing back for once!”
“Are you picking your eyebrows again….”


All of these comments. They are things my family and mostly adults say to me because I mostly pick my eyebrows. No, I did not “Shave” them off. No it doesn’t hurt, sure it leaves scabs sometimes, but if they did, I would probably have more scabs. Calling it out in public or out of nowhere doesent make me feel any more comfortable or secure or happy with myself, in fact it makes me feel like a freak when you say it like that.
No I cannot just “stop” believe me I would stop if I could, but the best I can do are short periods of time. Also I would love picking my legs only, and I do pick my legs, but I think I pick my face more often because it’s easier to reach and ironically I think picking my leg hair hurts more than my eyebrow hair for the most part idk. And I hate it when they try to connect MY hair picking problems to my stress level. And usually it’s adults who I don’t really know who say it. It makes me feel like their trying to convince me that if all or most of my personal problems went away, so would my hair licking problems. Btw, that isn’t true, i am never safe no matter my mental state. And when your parents buy you lotion and fidget toys that they think help, I appreciate it, and no offense, but I don’t think that lotion that makes my hair grow faster or thicker will make me stop plucking them because the problem comes from my brain, not the eyebrows themselves. And fidget toys are cool and all, but me picking my eyebrows are me fidgeting in the first place, and it’s not like I’ll have a fidget toy everywhere I’ll go. For the last time stop asking me “to stop picking,” or “why do you pick at your face?” First of all, I AM TRYING. I WANT TO STOP MORE THEN YOU WANT ME TO. I CANT. WHEN I SAY “I CANT” it is NOT me making an excuse, it’s me saying I LITERALLY CAN NOT. And they ask the same question over and over again. And what do they expect me to say when they ask me “why do you pick your hair???” Am I supposed to say oh it’s this mental disorder thing called trico—- the first thing they will think is mental disorder and they won’t even remember the name or what it means and they will think it’s worst than it is because it’s practically a disorder. And when people compliment me on my progress, mostly people like my parents or other adults I know, I just feel worse, like they were constantly judging me when I was picking my eyebrows, which they were, and then I know I’ll most likely start plucking again. And then I get more self conscious. No I can not stop. No it’s not from stress. No I did not “shave them off” like if I did it would look like this jeez. No it is not physically painful only mentally and no I don’t usually recognize or realize when I am actively doing it because it’s not intentional and it’s so common. It’s not something that someone can just say “stop” to, otherwise no one would have this disorder. I’m sorry for this long paragraph but I finally want to say something about my experiences and what people just aren’t understanding. All they see is the physical side or the mental side, and some think that it doesent even exist and we intentionally do it for some irrational reason. It’s hurtful and inconsiderate how people only see one side to a face: the outside. Not even considering someone’s feelings, or that it’s not intentional.

Is there a treatment for this?

I'm like the last girl! Except i don't hate the hair on my body i just like the experience of pulling it out

I stopped for 8 months because I got acrylic nails done long. Then my nail beds were hurting and I knew I would lose my real nail beds if I kept going. I stopped getting nails in September or so and all my progress in my hair is undone. The two things that help me the most are fidgeting and listening to ASMR relaxing videos. I pray for a miracle all the time.

The way the title says “why these women pull out their OWN hair” is disgusting. As a girl with Trichotillomania, this is unacceptable.

I started at 2 th grade its a Young age iknow.
I really could not Stop and after 1 year i stopped and then i begin again💔😗its hard

Its been 7 years and i cant stop

I was doing so good then a friend asked why I had a bald spot




Litterally reversed all my progress

I suffer from this also, never knew it was a thing. Mine is not to this level but it’s there, I have a hard time keeping my hands out my hair

It's been 2 months since i started pulling my hair i can already feel the top of my hair being lil bald (idk what it's called) my parents are also worried about me i just got to know tht this is Actually something and other people also hve it well im trying to get rid of it by wearing a cap all the time wish me luck

I have a mix of the two but my dermatillomania is stronger so I don’t pull my hair often.

I have trichotillomania

43 years & going. There were a couple years in between that I’d mostly stopped, and I realized it was because when I was in my own house with other ppl, I was constantly busy, so I didn’t think about it. But it didn’t last. One year the top of my head was, gone…..though I took measures to help it grow back, I continued. Just the scalp hair though; that’s all I attack. The back sides of my head, where the hair was growing in more coarse. Spots are damaged and will never grow back. It’s true anxiety; I started when I was 10. I have no hope it’ll stop. Pulling my hair back, which I do every day, isn’t always good because the tighter you pull back, more damage is actually taking place.
I’m a lost cause. Medicated, NO therapy helped….I’ve tried I believe; everything. To no avail. 😢

i remember suffering from this back around 2015/16 glad I don't have to suffer from this anymore

I've noticed over the past two years that whenever I'm under a lot of stress, I start fidgeting with my hair to the point where I'm pulling so much of it out that I've been noticing thin spots in my hair. I didn't know the cause of it until recently, but now I'm wondering if this could be the cause.

I just don’t know what to say 😢I have this too and I want to stop but don’t know how .I have being pulling my hair over 8 years now .
I’m a black girl and I’m in Sierra Leone my friends keep laughing me and asking me when am ever going to grow my hair and I feel hurt by those words my Dad have done everything possible but yet still i am the Same .

Can I know any ways to grow the hair back in the bald patches?
Cause i have got this bald patches as i have pulled out many hairs leaving them as bald patches in some 5 spots
And i fear the hair will never grow back
Hair seems to grow but i feel so impatiently insecure
I hope they grow back
Can I get some tips on this...