Living With Trich

Here I will share my thoughts and experiences regarding Trichotillomania. My goal is to help fellow hair pullers feel less isolated, and hopefully provide some helpful tips/insights. I started around age 10 and thought I was the only one until age 18, so don't feel embarrassed if you're just now discovering these things. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to send me a message.

[squeakadeeks]

about to quit my job and pursue my true passion in life….picking at my skin

[livingwithtrich]

A technique that's been helping me a lot lately:

Often the urge to pull comes from the need to "groom" by removing the hairs that are somehow "different" from others (thicker, shorter/longer, different location, etc.). I find that when I do this "grooming" without looking, I'll end up inadvertently pulling WAY more hairs than just those out-of-place ones that originally trigger me, because I can't see what I'm doing and it's so easy to go overboard once you get started.

Instead, each day I now intentionally look for these hairs that I *know* will trigger me, and remove *only* those ones. This way I know in advance that I'm already "groomed" and there's nothing that "has to come out now", which is often my impulsive internal dialogue that instigates a pulling episode.

This has prevented so many episodes that my eyelashes are slowly coming back!

[faeneko-blog]

Trichotillomania: a disorder which involves the urge to pull out hair

Dermatillomania: a disorder which involves the urge to pick off skin

[livingwithtrich]

Blog name change

I'm changing the name of this blog from iwillstopsomeday to livingwithtrich

Why? Because I am, have been, and likely will be living with this disorder for a long time and while I will always work to get better, "stopping" isn't necessarily my end goal so much as living well, coping healthily, helping others to do the same. The purpose and content of this blog will remain the same.

[livingwithtrich]

Honestly the current "brow obsession" has made living with trich so much better due to A) the sheer quantity of eyebrow filling/shaping/coloring products that are now readily available and B) the relative normalization of having drawn on/filled/tattooed brows. I feel so much more confident saying "yep they're drawn on" because now people are like "oh cool, they look nice" instead of "why"

[livingwithtrich]

*pulls out a hair*

ok this is the last one

*pulls out a hair*

ok THIS is the last one

*pulls out a hair*

ok but for real th-

[trichysubject]

anyway i made this instead of writing a cover letter

[livingwithtrich]

im pretty sure getting a cold sore when you have dermatillomania is a one way ticket to eternal suffering

[tsunderees]

uhhh sorry for the wordiness i guess but i want to get awareness up on a chronic behavior that isn’t very well known!! and i haven’t seen anything for bfrb week on my dash at all so

i’m by no means an expert on BFRBs but feel free to send me any questions or stories! (or correct me if i got something wrong)

[trichs-n-picks]

hi ive just finished my exams and im left with a load of bald spots on my head and gaps in my eyelashes, i was just wondering if theres anything i can do to like help my hair grow out again cos im feelin really self conscious about it

I’ve definitely been there and know how much it sucks to come out of a stressful time with even MORE stress because of pulling. This is just my experience, but what can help is 1) finding a good cover-up method and 2) trying a new strategy to keep your hands away from that area (sometimes you can knock out both these goals with 1 strategy!). For head hair, I shade in my bald spots with a root crayon by Rita Hazan, and I’m also finding clip-in hair extensions to be good for making an area harder to pull from. I don’t pull from my lashes but I’ve heard that putting Vaseline or jojoba oil on your lashes helps them heal while deterring you from pulling them. The good thing about lashes is that it only takes 3-4 weeks for them to grow back ! Try keeping away from them using mascara, fake lashes (I like the magnetic ones), or lash extensions, and DEFINITELY take action to try and keep your stress to a manageable level! Best of luck!

-Kimi

[livingwithtrich]

I like to use dark eyeliner on my waterline and lashline where I have gaps in my eyelashes, if you have dark lashes it makes the sparse areas less noticeable! It should definitely be done evenly and smoothly, but it's a huge confidence booster even if you have very few lashes.

[blushandbourbon]

Sometimes you fall off the wagon for months. Sometimes you tell yourself you’re gonna start fresh on Monday and by Wednesday you’ve already fallen back off. Sometimes you have to restart a 100 times and it’s frustrating. But it will be okay. You can do this. One day at a time

[livingwithtrich]

me: i gotta stop pickin at my skin

my left hand, the instant it is not preoccupied, roaming my entire epidermis in search of imperfections to scratch off: unfortunate

[livingwithtrich]

New fidget toy! It spins around the middle ring and the red rings spin as well. Awesome addition to my trich survival kit. Happy holidays trichsters!

[livingwithtrich]

Remember when fidget spinners weren't a joke??? Good times

[thebootydiaries]

me n my eyebrows…………we been thru a lot

[livingwithtrich]

Lots of people without trich reblogging this and I'm like.... do you have any idea??

[animaniacs-remade-deactivated20]

Hey, so, i’m all for this sudden trend of neurotypicals using fidgets and stim toys (mainly fidget cubes and spinners bit still), like its helping normalise them, thats great, but PLEASE be respectful with how you use them.

What i mean is, like, dont treat them like “toys” or fun little novelties. For example, at my school those little hand spinners blew up, and id bought one too. It was really helping me focus in class and relax, but all of the nts who had them were, like, playing with them in class. and by playing, i dont mean fidgeting, i mean “lets pass this around all my friends and mess about with it instead of working” which lead to them being banned. 

Now they’re confiscated on sight at school, and teachers are beginning to do similar things to other stim and fidget toys (ive seen two stress balls and a fidget cube be confiscated just bc their nt owners were showing them off to all their friends and disrupting the class by messing about with them)

If nts keep this up, then nds will have an even harder time stimming in academic spaces, due to stim toys largely being banned

So please, if you’re a neurotypical, or even if you’re not tbh, dont treat stims like toys and end up getting them banned.

[livingwithtrich]

I haven't pulled in over a month! I think observing my patterns and learning when my trich is triggered has the most to do with my progress. Realizing that I cannot sit and watch a movie, go to class, do homework, attend a meeting, etc. without getting fidgety hands has allowed me to be better prepared with fidget toys at all times. Now I can avoid pulling by having my hands distracted before the urge even has the chance to hit me. I also really can't overstate how crucial small magnetic balls have been for me as a fidget toy. Pulling them apart, using your nails to separate them, and clicking them together are all rewarding sensory touch experiences that for me personally mirror BFRB habits enough to substitute them. See if you can find some online if you're looking for something new to try, they can be spendy but the impact on my trich has been worth every penny. Within another month or so I should have nearly full eyebrows again.

[livingwithtrich]

Don't pull, fidget instead.