a healthier life

Why Am I Always Pulling My Hair Out?

The question ‘why am I always pulling my hair out?’ is actually pretty common. If you pull your hair from your head, your eyelashes, your eyebrows or anywhere else on your body then you are probably asking whether this is normal and whether other people do it too.

The truth is that YES you are a lot more normal than you recognise! There are so many people who are constantly asking the question ‘why am I always pulling my hair out?’, just like you, and the answer is that it is because of a disorder called ‘trichotillomania’.

What Is Trichotillomania?

I suffer from this disorder myself, and had never heard to word trichotillomania for years. It sounds scary, but all it really means is that you pull out your hair compulsively. This means that it is almost like a habit, but you will also do it at times without realising, making it very hard to stop.

What Causes Trichotillomania?

Trichotillomania can be quite mysterious, and nobody knows for sure what the true reason is for pulling out hair. I had always liked to play with my hair when I was younger, and when I reached the age of 10 it simply developed into pulling it out.

There are many other causes of hair pulling. This can include: childhood trauma, diet, OCD, ADHD, even genetics!

Those that pull out their hair will often never realise why it is that they do so. Don’t worry about finding out just yet – it’s more important that you take the time that you need just to come to terms with what it is.

Getting Support

In my journey I found that I needed to give myself time before I even looked for support. Eventually I started to participate in online forums, and eventually documented my chronicles in a blog. However, I am still not ready to tell people in real life about my troubles.

Always just do what feels right in a way that helps you accept pulling out hair as a part of who you are.

What Should You Always Remember? There are SO many others, just like you – you aren’t alone! They all ask themselves ‘why am I always pulling my hair out?!’. Slowly more and more of us are being more open and being able to support eachother on the internet.