Just kinda wondering if any other comrades have this specific thing.
I started hair pulling when I was like 8 or 9 and ended up giving myself a bald spot on my crown for a couple months. My parents noticed and scolded me, no other intervention.
Thankfully, I was able to restrain myself enough to prevent it showing on my scalp. To this day I continue on abnormally dark or coarse hairs, and now that I'm finally getting some grays it is so hard to resist spending and hour or two in the mirror getting them all.
I know this probably sounds weird or gross to most people, I've never been diagnosed with any sort of mental disorder so talking about it is a little weird to me.
I know it has overlap with OCD, and I've had other slight OCD symptoms.
I have a friend who has this, not fun. It sounds like you probably meet criteria, but how much of a disorder depends on how much it disorders your life. You can get help to alleviate the stress of it if it takes up a lot of time and energy.
I've been through periods where it was an issue but definitely not currently. I gave myself scars on my legs from hyper-fixating on a spot earlier in life, but that was a decade ago now.
I still get an insane rush sometimes when I get that one (already short cause I pulled it a month ago) coarse hair.
It definitely comes back during stressful times, which I guess is why I'm posting about it, I don't think it's been this bad in at least 3 or 4 years.
Like I said I've never sought treatment and just talking about it makes me feel like such a weirdo but I know it's not and everyone here is cool. Probably why I feel comfortable posting this, thanks for letting me be weird folks!
Yeah, it's literally just a non-typical neurological arrangement of your brain that causes this. It's not so much weird as it is unique. And it's only a problem if it negatively impacts your life, I myself love popping zits.
I do skin picking which think is very similar in that it can be a source of shame if it results in visible wounds and it happens mostly due to stress.
There isn’t really an easy cure. It’s good to be aware when you’re doing it a lot, and to try and find out what the source of the stress is. If you’re otherwise bad at noticing when you’re stressed, pulling can be a useful sign and might help you to become aware of any stressful circumstances in your life. Stress can not be avoided all the time, so whenever you do find yourself in a period of stress it can be helpful to find something else to relieve your stress with, like a fidget toy or taking a walk or doing some other mind of exercises.
Someone close to me had a pretty strong case of this, also since late childhood/pre-adolescence. It wasn't always uniform but they usually ended up wearing hats. The longest it ever subsided for was long enough for about 2 inches of hair all over their scalp, which felt like an accomplishment.
I bite my nails and also have OCD. Fwiw I do it less on SSRIs so that might work for you if it bothers you a lot
