My 10 year struggle with Trichotillomania by Jessica, 17, New York

HelpMe2Stop.org — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:57:15 +0000

Well to start, i’m 17 years old and I live in New York. For the last ten years I’ve been on a Trichotillomania roller coaster. It all started when i was seven. Sometimes i caught myself picking at my eyelashes, and then eventually i started picking at my hair. It wasn’t a serious problem . . . . well at least until my parents got divorced and I got really stressed. My mom took me to all these doctors and it helped for a little while, but not for long. Everyone told me to “just stop” but nobody realised how hard that is, id be pulling my hair and not even realising it until i look at the ground and see a clump of my own hair. My parents didn’t even understand my problem, so i promised myself that i wasn’t ever going to tell ANYONE. I was so ashamed that i refused to go to a hair salon to get my hair cut or anything, and thats when i learned how to cut my own hair. The Trich problem continued and before I knew it, I was 50% bald. I was always wearing headbands and bandannas, but it never covered the problem completely. Making friends was hard since all these crazy rumors circulated, its pretty crazy the things that people come up with. When i was 11 i made these little homemake extensions out of Barbie doll hair to cover up my problem. Surprisingly, it worked pretty good. I would tie the section of doll hair into a ponytail and then tie that into a ponytail of my own hair (that was only about an inch or two long) and then ta-da! It was the best i came up with. My problem continued through the years, and i improved my doll hair trick a little. I also learned a few tricks to keep me busy, such as making bracelets and putting crazy glue on my fingers and then picking it off. I know it sounds crazy but it actually worked wonders, it kind of felt as if i was picking hair, but i was actually picking glue and it kept me busy. After my 10th grade year, I realized I needed change, I couldn’t live like this forever. I looked online for wigs and hair pieces! but nothing really caught my eye.
After searching for weeks i came across this woman Charlene who owned some salons that specialized in Trich. I was soo excited. I didn’t know what to expect but I was hoping for the best. I ended up buying a hairpiece from her that covered my entire head, making it impossible to pull my own hair. I had this piece installed for about a year and a half, and eventually i took it off and bought real extensions and put them in myself, And now about 80% of my hair is real and nobody will ever notice my problem. I now only pull when i’m extremely stressed and my newfound confidence motivates me to limit my pulling as much as physically possible. I know that this disease is hard if not impossible to control and i thought that i would ALWAYS have this problem, but in the last year or so i realised that you can take control of it, and you don’t have to let it take control of you. I now realised that I have a talent in putting in hairpieces and extensions, so i’m planning on going to school for cosmetology so that I could eventually help Trich sufferers just like me! I advise anyone with Trichotillomania not be ashamed about this disorder, its nothing that you can just stop overnight and it makes it so much better knowing that you’re not alone and that theres millions more struggling in the same ways that you do.

My Secret Life- stories about living with Trich » Inspired a new career- Jessica 17

My 10 year struggle with Trichotillomania by Jessica, 17, New York