Why Do People Pull Out Their Own Hair?

Between 2 and 4 percent of the population suffer from trichotillomania or hair pulling syndrome. What triggers this?


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Trichotillomania: Hair-pulling Disorder

“Hair pulling from the scalp often leaves patchy bald spots, which causes significant distress and can interfere with social or work functioning. People with trichotillomania may go to great lengths to disguise the loss of hair.”

Trichotillomania, Hair-Pulling Disorder, Caused Me To Leave School

“Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder that causes sufferers to compulsively pull out their own hair and can often lead to both noticeable hair loss and social anxiety, affects between two to five percent of Americans.”

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[trisha]

I'm literally watching this while pulling my hair in my head, I just can't stop it.

[kokopuppy]

I've had this disorder for 7 years. Thanks dnews for doing such a great job covering this topic. And to everyone else who is suffering hang in there! :)

[jillianm]

I have trichotillamania as well as bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. I wish I could say those are my only mental illnesses. But I don't pull from my head I pull from my pubic region. It spend about 3 hours a day doing it. It's really hard to deal with because there's no treatment that has worked for me. :( I urge everyone not to judge people with trichotillamania because we really can't help it. Try to be as understanding as you can xoxo

[squidneythesquid]

I swear I get high from hair pulling while I do it, and when I wake up from the trance, I get stressed.

[NotACardboardBox]

So that's why I sometimes pull out my hair? My parents keep telling me to stop, and I've gotten better at not doing it, but I can't seem to stop.

[ottawabelle]

After 3 years of pulling my hair out, people staring. Wearing hats to cover up my bald spots. Crying. Cutting all my hair off. I am finally over it. And you thought it was easy? It's anything but that. It's hard. So so hard. And for all those people who say, "why do you pull your hair out?" Or, "just stop pulling your hair out!" It's not that easy. If it was that easy then why would I not just stop? We all wonder why it's not easy. We just want people to understand. So if you are struggling with pulling your hair out, just know it will always be ok. So don't look at that bald spot. Don't think that you're a freak. Think that your beautiful no matter what.

[ElioMiles]

I started pulling my hair when I was about eight, so for about 6 years now. I also suffer from depression and OCD. And yes, I swallow the hair. One thing that was said did make me feel a bit attacked. This is when you said 'chewing hair is more than gross...' it just seems a bit insensitive. And CBT doesn't work for everyone, I tried it but my therapist told me that I was too anxious for it. The isolation is real as well. I am bleaching my hair and dying it a vibrant colour (purple, blue...) soon, to distract from my bald patches. I am also joining online-school as I have become a school-refuser over the vast amounts of bullying I've been getting because of my trichotillomania. Thank you for reading this.

[lechform]

Omg what happened with Trace, he looks very different.

[yashivaleria]

I pull my hair and I don't now how to stop it please help 😔

[gen]

I used to do this and I ended up having a bald spot

[Ari-oiwo]

I started pulling out my eyelashes when I was six from stress. Then my eyebrows when I was 9. I lost all of my eyebrows by the time I was 10 in 4th grade because of bulling and drama which caused me anxiety. Now 13 I have barley any eyebrows and barley any upper eyelashes... All because of anxiety, shame, embarrassment, stress, and depression. It changes people. And it hurts you emotionally and physically. There's nothing worse than looking in a mirror and wanting yourself to disappear. Not to mention what people say about it.

[sidimightbe]

My dad would pull his hair out, if he had any! He smokes crack instead 😊

[bubbleddreams]

I have Trichotillomania but I also have Dermotillomania. I'm assuming they are pretty much caused by the same things but I would love to know if I'm wrong.

[moschoulafotinaki]

i am a hair puller too and that made me hate my hair, i ve ofte thought about shaving it

[janeelovely]

I have had this condition for many years, thank you for bringing more awareness to this.

[magefly]

I'm so glad people are finally talking about this. I've been suffering from trich since I was seven and eleven years later it's still as bad as ever. For at least six years I thought I was completely alone and that nobody would ever be able to understand. I could find no information, no research, no common ground that would tell me that I wasn't just some weirdo. I was about 13 years old (maybe older) when I first found a forum dedicated to people who were just like me. The feeling was overwhelming and I am not ashamed to say it made me cry. The pulling started with my eyebrows and eyelashes (so it's no surprise I now have none of either) and progressed to the hair on my head (which I have since managed to overcome) and hair that grows on my arms and legs. Over the years I've tried everything to combat it. When I was younger I tried the CBT therapy that they talked about in this video (It was absolutely useless and made me worse for a short period of time) and a year or so ago I tried hypnotherapy. Those combined with countless other tactics have not helped me at all, I guess I'm just unlucky in that sense. I'm still trying however and am not prepared to give up that easily. I am surrounded by good friends and family that have grown used to my disorder and are fully supportive of me, the scars left from the bullying I experienced from being different have long since healed and I am prepared to take this on as much as I can. I'm so happy that Trich is coming more and more into the public eye because now even though there is no cure, there can at least be more support for people going through it. Sorry for the long comment, I just really needed to get that out.

[amandastevens]

"By the start of puberty" . Oh god. I just realized that I started to pull around the time I got my first period.

[PunjabiGAINZ]

im not the typical guy in the comments saying watch my videos...

[thjoker]

Trace got an awesome Tan and some graying of the beard.

[EmilyfHouse]

I've had trich for 11 years. It's nice to see it being recognized.