r/trichotillomania

I’ve been pulling my eyelashes out for over a decade, it was getting to the point earlier this year that I had fully bare patches on my eyelids and I was worrying about growing them back at all.

My triggers personally were physical - itchy eyelids, blepharitis/eyelid gunk, and the sensation of the odd eyelash growing back. This was obviously a bad negative feedback loop, both physically and mentally, as I found the inability to resist the urge to pull quite distressing.

I’d tried all sorts over the years - NAC, moisturising my eyelids, tracking pulling, none of which had a noticeable impact.

A few months ago I came across Optase eyelid wipes (I got them from Boots in the UK, I’m sure similar products are available elsewhere). These work wonders! They remove the eyelid gunk quite easily and are pleasantly cooling, and for hard to remove gunk (I still find myself compelled to remove all of it) I can use it as a barrier between my thumbnail and my eyelid. Previously I would find myself raking my nails over my eyelids in an attempt to clean them, which was very irritating to my poor eyelids.

In a few months of using these wipes I have found that I have barely pulled at all, and have nearly full coverage of eyelashes - not at full density, but without any gaps, which is a major step for me.

Optase ‘advise’ using one wipe per eyelid. I usually tear one wipe in half, and find this half enough for both eyelids.

I don’t have any pictures of this so you’ll have to take my word for it. I hope this can help anyone else as it has really changed my life.

I can't stop my hands from pulling my hair.

Hey there. I'm 19F. I've been experiencing hair pulling disorder since I was 13 years old. I'm starting uni now and still can't stop myself from doing it. It actually gotten a lot worst now because it comes with a great shame and disappointment knowing that I'm growing up and still can't outgrow this habit.

Lately, I can notice my confidence lowering. It's taking a toll on my self-esteem and my over all outlook on life. I don't wanna do anything anymore because my bald spot as gotten so big that when I let down my hair, you can see the bald spots and it's stressing me out. It really doesn't help that I can see it everytime I look in the mirror.

With all this stress, I just wanna ask if there's anyone here who can give me some advice on what to do. I already opened up with some of my family member and they just jokingly said to completely shave my head off so that I don't have any hair to pull. I don't like that idea because I'm scared of the judgement people might throw on me. Everytime I open it up to my family, they just joke around and won't give me any useful advice.

Thanks for reading my post. I'd really love to know your thoughts and I'd love to hear from people who experience the same.

Wanted to share something pretty remarkable with you guys.

I’m a 38-year-old male, 6’1”, 220 lbs. I’ve been dealing with mild to (at times) severe trichotillomania for 25 years. It’s mostly been my scalp, but it has flared up on my beard and eyebrows too. I’ve tried basically everything over the years — therapy, habit reversal, supplements, SSRIs, you name it — and nothing ever stuck.

A couple days ago I decided to start Retatrutide purely for body recomp. I have a trip to Italy next month and wanted to tighten up a bit. I started at 1 mg last Sunday. Stopping trich picking wasn’t even on my radar when I ordered it.

Here’s the crazy part: Within hours of my first dose, the urge to pick completely vanished. I haven’t pulled a single hair in 5–6 days. The compulsive behavior that’s been with me for most of my adult life just… stopped. Cold turkey.

I know it’s super early and I’m only on day 5–6, but this is the first time in 25 years I’ve had a break like this. I figured I’d post in case anyone else struggling with trich is curious about GLP-1 / triple-agonist peptides. I’ll keep updating if the effect holds.

Has anyone else with trich (or BFRBs in general) tried Retatrutide, Tirzepatide, or Semaglutide and noticed something similar? Would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks for reading.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

EDIT: Sorry for the lack of reply!! Lots going on. Just to answer some qs: I'm starting on a lower dose because I can have strong reactions to meds, had a bad reaction to the last supplement I tried. Dr said 1200 is a common dose but it's not a huge issue if 1200 doesn't work out. I usually take it with food, helps with the taste kind of. Apparently there's lots of different methods to take nac, I might try something else after I finish this bottle since I take so many other meds already >_>'

DEFINITELY talk to a doctor about it first! And it definitely isn't a miracle cure, there's so many possible reasons we pull. Still finding myself urging too. I'd sleep through a hurricane maybe that's why it hasn't affected my sleep.

Finally got around to mentioning to my newish psychiatrist that I've been pulling for 25 years. He suggested that in addition to asking my talk therapist about building habit breaking skills, I also give NAC a try (N-acetyl cysteine if you're nasty.) It's a supplement that as a secondary bonus may help with trich and ocd.

I can look at myself in the mirror, I can touch trouble spots, I can see my scars and bald spots and have no reaction. Even if I feel my hand start to pull it's so much easier to stop. Even if I forget and miss a dose it feels like I now have practice at NOT pulling. I'm so excited!

Still scratching for keratin plugs tho :/ baby steps!

my bestfriend of 8 years has been pulling her hair ever since i know her. we met at 11 and back then she would always play with the hair in the neckline and her hair there was so sparce. then she switched to play with the hair of the top of her head at 13. after 2 years she had a short mullet and she started to play with neckline hair again so much that the right side of the mullet got a few inches shorter than the left. and for the last 3 years she is playing with the right front of her hair and that region is not completely bald but they got so short(a few cantimeters). she thinks that she doesnt have trichotillomania because she says that she doesnt mean to pull hair out, she just likes to play with it aggressively and the hairs get pulled out accidentally. she says that the feeling of pulling a hair out makes her feel gross but she loves aggressively pulling hairs which causes sparce hair spots. i want to help her but im not sure what to do.

It’s ruining my life and I’ve tried everything you can think of. Tinidazole did not clear it up either. It’s not a full blown case. The gyno said it’s faint and he found one dead under the microscope. But I can still tell I’m not right. My vagina still feels nasty.. I do not know what to do. This has been a secret I’ve kept for a long time now. I want to have sex again.

Kinda ashamed to post here, but it's gotten to a point I don't feel good about myself anymore. If the tag is wrong just change it, I won't be offended.

DISCLAIMER
I want to start by saying that anyone who will jump in to give me "go to a psychiatrist/psychologist" or "google is free" will be blocked. Same for any emergency numbers, I've done all that, they said I was faking, lying or accused me of some other crap I don't care to remember.
I have been in therapy for years, I still am for god knows what reason, and they don't care.
All they "did" was give a diagnosis and call it a day. And all the google stuff never worked either ("keep hands occupied" type of stuff.)

Now that that's out of the way...

I've had it for as long as I can rememeber, I used to bite my nails too though luckily after years of failures I've found a way myself to completley recover from it (painting my nails works, I have really long nails now!) so I'm not a hopeless case contrary to what psychs tell me every appointment... I was able to reduce the pulling somehow before, but I still always pulled. I'd occasionally get small bald patches, but usually nothing big, I could easily hide it if I'd move my hair around a bit...

However, today I've seen myself in the mirror and I noticed I have a very large bald spot, up to the point that I don't have any hair in the middle of my head at all. I look like saturn. I know this sounds funny, but really that just makes me feel like an ugly freak. I already know my so called "family" will bully the fuck out of me once the sun goes up, probably even more than they usually do, too... so I don't need any nasty comments. Even then I still I can't really stop it, and comments usually make it worse.

I don't know why I do it, I don't know what's wrong with me either. My mother has even caught me pulling while I was asleep before too, on multiple occasions.

I'm tired of having it. I've tried everything. Their dumb meds. The distractions "strategies". The "therapies". Nothing works, and it just makes me feel worse, and I still always pull...

However, seeing some of the posts, how people have overcome it, does make it feel a bit less "forever" than it did before I came here... So I was thinking, maybe, some of you guys, who found ways to stop could share, please?

I don't have the courage to open these posts though, I'll admit it. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to visit this post again should anyone comment, I feel like I'll just delete it... I've already been on this screen for about an hour, contemplating whether this is even appropriate to post or not. This is my only reddit account and I don't really want to get banned...
Well, I suppose the attempt still matters. I'm not doing "nothing" after all...

been in a bad cycle lately. scalp feels weird - i pull. i pull - scalp feels more weird. it's like my hands have a mind of their own and my scalp is just collateral damage.

tried switching things up because my usual routine wasn't cutting it anymore. was using some random drugstore stuff that was probably stripping everything and making the whole situation worse. my scalp was just constantly irritated and i couldn't stop touching it.

friend sent me a link to this hair loss shampoo and conditioner set and said it helped her with scalp sensitivity. i was like sure whatever i'll try anything at this point.

first couple days i honestly didn't notice much. but like day 4 or 5 my scalp just felt... calmer? no tightness, no itchiness. my hair felt smoother too which is huge because when my ends are dry and rough i obsessively pull at them. smooth texture - less triggering for me personally.

not saying this is magic or whatever. it's just shampoo. but anything that reduces the sensory stuff that makes me want to pull is a win in my book. the urges are still there of course but it's like... one less reason to give in? if that makes sense.

anyway. the point of this post was really just to vent about how exhausting this all is. like why does my own body feel like my enemy sometimes. why can't i just wash my hair like a normal person without it turning into this whole thing.

if anyone else has found random stuff that helps with the sensory side of things please share cause i'm tired.

This is kind of embarrassing, so yeah. Lately I have been wondering if I have trich after reading a book about a girl with it. Basically, I have been pulling out my pubic hairs. For about a year now, whenever I am like on the toilet, I obsessively try to pull out the hairs without thinking. Sometimes I will get tweezers and yank it out. I will pick out the hairs that are just barely regrowing, and not stop even though sometimes it bleeds a little. Its painful and I know I need to stop. I always tell myself that I will stop, but then I find myself doing it again. Could this be trich, or am I just very weird and messed up?