Hi,
I pull around the back of the neck and eyebrows and have been doing so for about 15 years. It was worse when i was 15-20 (i’m 30 now), and had bald patches on my neck although I wasn’t pulling my eyebrows out then.

I went through periods of not doing it so much or sometimes not at all and the bald patches went but about 3 years ago I started pulling my eyebrows out and I cant stop myself! Its painful sometimes as I don’t just directly pull them but use my finger nail as well, to run across or backwards and forwards – strange but till the hair “feels right” – over the hairs.

This makes them worse and sometimes I get a cut from it if I have been doing it for a long time. And also afterwards the hairs are going in all directions! And I find myself washing my face with hot water to straighten/flatten them again, sometimes if feel like its becoming like a ritual.

Its mainly the outside of the eyebrows that I do it and a lot of the time I don’t know I’m doing it! Sometimes I like to do it, or it feels good, I really can’t explain but I guess a lot of people reading this will understand.

I have been doing it quite a lot recently because I am under a bit of stress with my job so I think stress does affect it. I get angry at myself afterwards for doing it but 5 minutes later ill be doing it again!

My neck hair has grown back now but is thinner because I do still play with it and pull a little but my eyebrows are a mess and I am going to make more of an effort with them. I might try Vaseline!

I watched a video on YT yesterday of a girl in the UK with Trich and it was so upsetting to see her tell her story and how hard it was for her to talk about it, but also made me feel good to hear someone else speak about it as I have never spoken to anyone about my Trich so this blog is definitely a good thing!!

But in the meantime, I have received so many wonderful comments and emails. I am sorry that I haven’t had the time to reply to them, but I am planning to post some of them up here in the near future so that we can all benefit from them.

I wanted to thank everyone for the support. This is why I write this blog – it’s just a small outlet where we can all support each other. You have no idea how happy it makes me that people actually find and read what’s written here, and people are always coming up with new insights.

I’m also a little sad to say that I’ve been pulling more lately. I keep having to pick up balls of hair off the floor, which isn’t nice. It’s almost like I’m so busy I don’t have time to think about stopping pulling! Sometimes being busy stops me from pulling, but in this case it’s making it worse.

Anyway, look up for some new posts in the future, highlighting some of the wonderful comments I’ve received.

I’d never felt so alone in my life until about 2 years later when i was finally diagnosed with trich, and by this time i was more or less completely bald and suffering from terrible bullying and anxiety attacks. I basically tried everything to stop myself, but it was almost impossible. Im 19 now and ive been pull free for about 2 years now, and ive never felt stronger. Since i know exactly what its like to deal with this on your own, i completely understand how all of you feel and if you ever need anyone to chat to please just get in touch. I didnt use any medications or anything because i was never offered them, the thing that worked best for me was just good old fashioned will power, and of course i still get so many urges and down days about it but then i just tell myself that im a young women living her life alongside having trich, not a young women letting trich run her life.

Ive been right to the very bottom then right to the very top only to pushed back down again, but you honestly can beat this! I wish all of you the warmest wishes and support, just stay strong and remember, no matter how bad you feel, your not alone, and you are beautiful

Most recently, I have been connecting with more and more trichsters all the time through Twitter. If you want to connect with me on twitter, then please say hello at http://twitter.com/ontrich!

Even though the people I talk to come from a whole variety of backgrounds, I just feel that on some deep level we have a mutual understanding. There is no judgement there, it’s ok to tell eachother things about our trich that would be considered deep secrets should we be telling others – even our close friends in real life (for some of us, including me).

This is why I think it’s so important to reach out to the trichster community. If you pull out hair then the range of emotions you can feel is huge. I admit that I don’t always feel exactly the same as other trichsters that I’ve spoken to – we are all different – but I do understand and have similar feelings.

That really is why I love connecting with trichsters so much. It’s why writing this blog is so worthwhile for me, and why I am enjoying my new ontrich twitter account!

How do you feel when you talk to other trichsters?

I know that pulling hair is sort of like a relaxing thing, calming and comforting. It isn’t always for me, but then that’s probably when it becomes a trance and I am not really thinking about it. I don’t know. But what I do know is that not doing it certainly doesn’t feel comfortable.

So I’ve been finding it hard to concentrate on things lately, just feeling anxious. I’m pushing through it though, and still carrying on pull free for as long as possible.

Hope you are all doing well too!

I pulled one single hair in the whole time, so for me I am still proud of going pull free. Congratulations to anyone else who succeeded for one week, and well done to anyone who managed to go pull free for any length of time.

For now, I’m extending my challenge. One thing I struggle with the most is touching my hair all the time – I just can’t stop. If only I could go ‘touch free’ as well as pull free, but I think it’d be pretty much impossible!

A few of you have said you’re joining me – how is it going?

I have not been too frustrated. Of course it’s frustrating, but luckily I haven’t had high urges yet. One point I almost wanted to give up then I just thought – but I can stop myself from pulling right now, so I will stop myself.

Hope you are all good

*Download the file by clicking here.*

In the file I thanked people for helping. If I missed you out or you’d like to add something, just let me know in the comments.

Pull-Free Update

Today is day 3 in going pull-free. I’ve still had quite a few urges, more than I expected. But I guess it makes sense since my pulling was quite bad before I decided to go pull-free. So it’s been frustrating, but not too bad and I’m still pull-free. I hope that you are all doing well too!

I haven’t been feeling too frustrated in this first day of going pull free. The main problem is catching myself fiddling with my hair and almost pulling it without realising I’m doing it! This is usually the most tiring aspect of going pull free – trying to catch yourself out and stop yourself before you pull.

Apart from that I did have a dream about pulling my hair. Luckily it was just a dream and not real! So far so good.

I hope whoever else is going pull free is also doing well

QUICK NOTE: If you recently read a blog post by me about ’1 week pull-free’ that is an old post that was accidentaly re-posted again. I haven’t gone any time pull free for quite a while now.

I’ve set myself this challenge in the past, and succeeded. I know I can do it. You might ask why I just don’t go pull-free all the time if I’ve done it before. Well, as many trichsters will know, it just isn’t as simple as that. Not for me anyway.

For me, trich is very up and down. Meaning that for weeks I will barely pull, then some days my head just hurts and bothers me and I’ll keep pulling. The last two weeks or so I’ve been pulling and not caring.

I am so lucky to have thick hair that it doesn’t always show, but I do think it is showing on my crown. Not to mention that when I feel the area that I pull most from it just feels horrible and not right at all. I have lots of spiky little hairs growing through, but the ones that were slightly longer I keep pulling out – they are the dark, thick kinky hairs that I like to pull. So it’s unfortunately a cycle where new hairs never get the chance to grow.

So one week for me might be enough to break this recent cycle of not caring at all.

If I can go one week, I will of course try to extend it. But I am always proud if I can go for any time at all, even if I do start pulling again. It’s an achievement and it’s something positive against trichotillomania – so I hope all of you guys also feel proud too

Do You Want to Join Me?

A few people on Twitter have already said they will try to join me. How great! I have never had support like that when going pull-free, so hopefully by a few of us doing it together we’ll find it a little easier. But, no matter how long or short your pull-free period is, I hope you will always be proud

If you’ve gone pull-free before, or want to start today, please post below. I’ll also soon be posting your tips for not pulling that I collected here and through Twitter. Feel free to suggest any more