Here’s Lady Gaga’s new song:

As you can hear, she says “I am my hair”. As trich sufferers, this is definitely something we need to get over thinking. Now obviously Lady Gaga means something different with these lyrics, and she isn’t attacking people who might me bald or pull out their hair, but at the same time I want to post an opposing view from India Arie:

The lyrics (which I think I may have posted before, but they are worth posting again):

[Talking:]
Is that India.Arie? What happened to her hair? Ha ha ha ha ha
Dat dad a dat da [4x] Dad a ooh

[Verse 1]
Little girl with the press and curl
Age eight I got a Jheri curl
Thirteen I got a relaxer
I was a source of so much laughter
At fifteen when it all broke off
Eighteen and went all natural
February two thousand and two
I went and did
What I had to do
Because it was time to change my life
To become the women that I am inside
Ninety-seven dreadlock all gone
I looked in the mirror
For the first time and saw that HEY….

[Chorus]
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations no no
I am not my hair
I ma not this skin
I am a soul that lives within

[Talking:]
What’d she do to her hair? I don’t know it look crazy
I like it. I might do that.
Umm I wouldn’t go that far. I know .. ha ha ha ha

[Verse 2]
Good hair means curls and waves
Bad hair means you look like a slave
At the turn of the century
Its time for us to redefine who we be
You can shave it off
Like a South African beauty
Or get in on lock
Like Bob Marley
You can rock it straight
Like Oprah Winfrey
If its not what’s on your head
Its what’s underneath and say HEY….

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)
Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person?
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)
Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend? Oooh
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)
Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity?
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)
I am expressing my creativity..
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)

[Verse 3]
Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy
Took away her crown and glory
She promised God if she was to survive
She would enjoy everyday of her life ooh
On national television
Her diamond eyes are sparkling
Bald headed like a full moon shining
Singing out to the whole wide world like HEY…

[Chorus 2x]

[Ad lib]
If I wanna shave it close
Or if I wanna rock locks
That don’t take a bit away
From the soul that I got
Dat da da dat da [4x]
If I wanna wear it braided
All down my back
I don’t see what wrong with that
Dat da da dat da [4x]

[Talking:]
Is that India.Arie?
Ooh look she cut her hair!
I like that, its kinda PHAT
I don’t know if I could do it.
But it looks sharp, it looks nice on her
She got a nice shaped head
She got an apple head
I know right?
It’s perfect.

What do you think of both of these songs about hair?

Running this blog has taught me so much. I haven’t been as organised as I’d like to – but I’ve written so many different posts on trich, with so many more to come. I’ve pasted below the first real post I wrote for this site – hoping to let people realise that trichotillomania is a condition and not just something only they do.

Do you pull out your hair?

Do you pull your hair from any part of your body? Do you find it hard to stop? Is it even pleasurable for you to do so?

I do, and it is pleasurable and reassuring. Such actions can be highly embarrassing, but are all associated with a condition known as trichotillomania and you are not alone.

What is Trichotillomania

You may never have heard of this word or of this condition, and to be honest it is a pretty scary word. But it doesn’t need to be. A good start is knowing how to pronounce it. Basically the trich part is pronounced ‘trick’ and the rest is as you would expect (or [trik-uh-til-uh-mey-nee-uh] as the dictionary puts it).

Trichotillomania is often shorted to ‘trich‘, and those suffering with the condition are often referred to as ‘trichsters‘. This is a friendly way of putting it, showing that the condition isn’t as scary as it seemed as first, and there are many, many trichsters out there.

Definition

The dictionary above described trichotillomania as ‘a compulsion to pull out one’s hair’. This doesn’t convey the half of it. Some people would describe trich as ‘hell’ as ‘crazy’ as ’stupid’ or ‘ugly’. It can be so hard to understand why it happens, which is why it is easy to get lost thinking in these ways.

But just because trich can be stupid, or trich can be ugly, doesn’t mean that you are. Often people won’t even notice that you have it, or if they do they won’t care. Trichotillomania is a condition, one that hundreds, thousands, millions of people share with you.

This is only a starting point for information about trich. There will be more information to follow, and a good place to go are also forums. See the links section. This blog is here to help, and to raise awareness. It is also here to help me, by learning about my own trich. If you have trich or know about trich, please get in touch!

How Do I Say It?

The word trichotillomania sticks out in my mind because it’s so long. I first heard it when I was about 15 (after I’d been pulling for 5 years) but I had no idea how to sell it. I pronounced (in my head only, I never said it out loud) the trich part more like tritch rather than how it’s meant to be pronounced – trick! It has taken me a while, but I now know how to pronounce it properly.Am I Mad?!

Pronunciation is one thing, but the word ‘mania’ at the end of the word is what most people have a problem with. Mania sounds like crazy, mad, abnormal. And so many of us already think we are mad! We don’t need a word to reinforce this thought! I’m here to tell everyone that we are not mad and this is why mania doesn’t sit well we me, or a number of other trichsters (trichster being the word of choice over trichotillomaniac!).

I don’t mind thinking of the word ‘trichotillomania’ but I hate saying it! I just won’t really say it aloud, to anyone, ever.

How does this one word make you feel? Why does it conjure up such strong emotions?

This is a great way for me to connect with other trichsters who I might not find through this blog. But if you read my blog and have twitter please follow me on there and send me a message.

Connecting with other trichsters is what makes blogging here so meaningful

PS. You can also see my personal account at http://twitter.com/mspennylane – I don’t tweet much about trichotillomania there.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I heard of this link through Trich World, as it features some of their members.

Trichotillomania Blog Posts

See Mandy Moves for a range of trichotillomania blog posts in aid of Trichotillomania Awareness Week.

See woodscrew‘s journal for a personal post on not pulling.

Trich-y Business has many posts on trichotillomania, but has recently posted some interestinng trich related quotations.

There is a post about learning to deal with trichotillomania at The Long Hair Diaries.

Trichotillomania In the News

Oct 2 and Oct 7 - A salon owner and trich sufferer team up to help others with trichotillomania.

Oct 1-8 – Trichotillomania Awareness Week has officially passed now, but learn more about it and think about next year by checking out this link.

If you have done anything to support the week, or have learned anything about trichotillomania and related conditions, I would love to know. Thanks for reading my post!

This week is a way to publicize a condition that few really know much about. Do you know what trichotillomania is? It is a disorder that causes people to pull their own hair compulsively from all areas of the body. It can be emotionally very hard to cope with, and a condition which causes its sufferers great pain and shame. This in turn leads to silence about the condition, but the national trichotillomania awareness week is an attempt to end this silence.

There are many ways in which you can do your part this week. If you do not know about the condition already, then simply learning a little about what trichotillomania sufferers face will help you to understand people and the struggles they go through that little bit better.

If you have trichotillomania the national trichotillomania awareness week is here to let sufferers know they are not alone, they are not strange. In fact, millions of people pull out their hair. But millions of people often try to hide the conditions even from their closest friends and family.

For more information please visit the Trichotillomania Learning Center website, or read the squidoo article on the event. Thank you for reading my post and please check back soon for more information on the condition, and links to other trichotillomania blogs.

That is why it is so important to get the word out. There are some great Squidoo lenses on the subject, and I am going to create some more so that more and more people can learn about the condition:

How to Help Others With Trichotillomania

Stop pulling your hair out! Learning to deal with trichotillomania

Or you can join the Trichotillomania Squidoo group here and add your own pages. Please do your bit to get the word out if you know about the condition!