I didn’t even notice it pass by, but OnTrich has had its on year anniversary! I never knew how this would turn out when I first started writing. I had hoped other people would come forward with their stories. At first it was slow, but then I started to realise just how many trichsters are out and about online, and how they all have similar, yet different, stories to tell.
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!
POSTED BY: mspennylane
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!
My name's Penny, and I started OnTrich (a trichotillomania blog) to try and raise awareness about hair pulling, and also as a way to help me deal with my own pulling. I'm a 23 year old girl from the UK and I've been pulling for 13 years. Get in touch if you want to chat or need any help - I love meeting people here.
Congratulations on your anniversary! I am in my 32nd year of trichotillomania and I think it is wonderful and essential to unite people who have this condition together, as having trichotillomania can make one so reclusive and lonely.
Bunny Taylor´s last blog ..Pennies From Hell
i dont even know where to begin. im 21 years old and i just randonly started pulling my hair when i was in high school. i remember the day. it was the day when two of my classmates got into a fist fight. the tension was undesirably high. now im living out in california, hve a two year old son and i am balding. literally. whenever i pull out my hair i feel worthless. like i have no control over my mind. im so happy to see there are more people out there like me. im not alone. thank you for raising my awareness on the subject. im going to try concentrating and telling myself i CAN stop. i need control again.
You really can stop. But at the same time don’t blame yourself when you pull. I have stopped for a week, two weeks sometimes. But I always end up pulling again. I still think it’s good though, and I am proud to know I can at least stop for some period of time. Talking about it online and writing about it really helps too. I hope it has helped you a little.
~Penny
Hello – I’m 30 years old and I started pulling my eye lashes out when I was around 7 or 8 and it continued for a couple of years. The summer before I started my freshman year of HS I quit. Just quit. It was intense, I looked for that little black lash to come through and would pull it the second it was long enough.
Looking back now (15 years later) and being in therapy and also being on a life long journey of antidepressants/anxiety pills I realized that there were years of sexual abuse in my family along with physical/emotional abuse.
I haven’t plucked my eye lashes since the summer I started freshman year, but I went years without any lashes. My mom took me to several doctors and I never had the courage to say, “I’M PULLING THEM OUT BECAUSE IT HURTS AND FEELS GOOD!”.
So props for having this blog! We are not “alone”.
I’m starting EMDR therapy, please look into it if anyone suffers from PTSD.
Thanks! good day
No problem using a fake name
I use a fake name too. You have gone through such a tough time, but it’s so amazing to hear you could just stop pulling your lashes like that. You are an inspiration!
~Penny