Trichotillomania - The Unspoken Hair-pulling Problem

This blog is an introduction to Trichotillomania. 

I've firstly conducted some research in to Trichotillomania, or Trich, to help create an understanding of it for those that do not even know it exists!

It also includes some inspirational and insightful interviews with three strong women with trichotillomania.

Also included is an interview with the amazing Lucinda Ellery who has dedicated her life to tackling the traumatic disorder!

Before we begin I’d like you take your hands, put them to your head and feel your hair. I bet you take pride in it. You dye it, style it, cut it, care for it and have probably learnt to love it.

So now, please try to imagine all the men and women who when they put their hands to their hair they’ll feel bald patches. They’ll be ashamed of it. They ‘ll try to cover it, hide it and have had to learn to deal with it.

Also bare this shocking fact in mind: Trich affects more people than Manic Depression and Psychosis yet everyone would of heard of the latter but not the above. In fact even some doctors wouldn’t know how to deal with it!

It’s for these reasons that I’m on a mission to raise awareness of Trichotillomania! So every sufferer gets the help and understanding they deserve.

So what exactly is Trichotillomania?

It’s an addiction to pulling your own hair out.

Trichotillomania, or Trich, more often than not starts in adolescents.

Although it has been linked with loss of a loved one and research suggests it’s genetic sometimes the reason for Trich is unknown, it just takes over.

The affect

People who pull often blame themselves and they feel ashamed and guilty. They have the constant challenge of trying to cover the affected areas. It can take a massively damaging affect on their self-esteems. And, due to all of the above, some sufferers can become depressed.

That’s not to say that Trich sufferers are self-pitying and helpless. In fact, during my study of Trich, I’ve met some inspirational women that are fighting through it amazingly and sharing their journey with and helping others too along the way.

Sandy Rosenblatt

Sandy at a conference in New Jersey taken by Sophie Erhmann

Firstly I caught up with Sandy Rosenblatt, a great woman who is actively tackling the issue of Trich.

Sandy, like many others in the UK and America, is attending conferences and starting campaigns to raise awareness of the disorder.

Sandy was part of a panel at a conference in New Jersey that took place on April 19 – 21^st. The current trends of treatment were discussed alongside new research in to disorder.

Sandy explains why work like this is so important, “There are so many people that do not even know it is a disorder. Others make Trich a small issue and so many live in shame with it."

She explains how you can make a difference, “The more people that spread the word by either blogging, Facebook or Twitter the better. When I was growing up there was no access to this information. Perhaps if there was more info available I would not have felt so alone.”

Louise Marie

Louise Marie today

Secondly I caught up with the lovely Louise Thompson. Louise is very open about Trich on social networking sites and blogs. It’s this openness that helps others come forward and stop hiding their problem too; they realise they’re not alone.

She gives us an insight in to how feels before and after a pulling-session, “When I have to stop myself I get really antsy. After I’ve pulled I feel relieved. I start having a panic attack then I do it and feel better again.”

Louise names the times when the pulling is at its worst, these include when concentrating, bored and stressed. All three of these are very common causes.

Like many others she never sought help from her doctor, “I didn’t really like my old doctor. He was a bit dismissive of things I was slightly scared I’d go there and he’d tell me it wasn’t a problem and there was nothing he could do about it and that would make me feel worse.”

When asked how the trichotillomania affects her life strong-minded Louise informed of only a few ways, “I’ve always been quite good at hiding the patches. My friends know about it and sometimes I get quite upset. I don’t let my friends style my hair and I feel uncomfortable around taller people in case they look at my crown.”

She didn’t tell her mum until she was 20, suffering in silence for 11 years. It’s very common for people to avoid telling their parents as they worry they won’t understand. A sad fact is many people do not, as Louise states her hairdresser used to tell her to “just stop”. Unfortunately it is not that easy.

However Louise’s family and friends were very supportive, although she says her mum sometimes gets sad as she feels there’s nothing she can do.

Louise is currently still living with Trich although she informs it’s not as bad as it has been.

Alex Pratt 

Alex Pratt embraces her baldness 

Now 31 Alex started pulling her hair when she was 15. She told me how when she was younger her long red hair that rested below her bum was “a focal point, almost my identity”.

She would always have her hands in her hair and alongside this suffered from OCD tendencies that she picked up from her mother.

Alex’s Trich was at its worst when she moved away from home at 17, “I was thrust in to adulthood, in the middle of nowhere I had no friends my age and I went bald in six months. I think I had all in me, just looking for the right opportunity to manifest itself and all the stress and everything I was going through it became my outlet.”

Referring to this period of her life as ‘traumatic’ Alex explains how at the time Trichotillomania wasn’t in the mainstream so little was known about it nor were there many people to talk to.

Alex has been relatively open about it however she spent a whole ten years of her life wearing wigs. She tells us how she’s not ashamed but it’s still something that she has to deal with every day, she accepts that it is a part of her life and is constantly growing and becoming stronger. 

Alex began getting involved with online support groups, helping others out and being a figure to them. She stopped wearing wigs, stopped wearing heads scarfs and shaved her head, “Every little set back makes me stronger and stronger. I was pull free for 8 months once. It is something I’ll deal with forever. I think every step back makes me that much stronger.”

Alex shared her wonderful outlook on life with us to finish our chat, “Everybody has something wrong with him or her or something they are ashamed of. If you have Trich it might be a little more noticeable but everyone has something similar. There are so many stigmas with woman and beauty and that but I look at it in a deeper way, hair does not define you. You could have cancer and lose it all and if they don’t love you without your hair then they’re not people you need in your life.”

It is this attitude that Alex has adopted that has helped her through the process of becoming pull-free, which she is today. 

Lucinda Ellery

The final person I spoke to was the beautiful, glamorous and kind-hearted Lucinda. 

We discussed the ways of which she helps so many ladies stop pulling, “We approach it with a method that I designed 28 years ago. I came up with the idea if I hid the area and put it all away she would be cured. At the time I thought she was." 

This method is done by surrounding the area with a very powerful lightweight breathable mesh and replace the missing hair.

However Lucinda knows there is more to helping girls fully recover than just temporarily covering the area. 

They need to truly address the issue, “Alongside that I really work with women to change the way they think which changes the way they respond to their out world that makes them feel different and makes them look different. I think the hair is almost a natural consequence of that".  

She continues by saying, "It’s about Trich management as there’s no known cure of yet” she adds, “then again nor is there for alcoholism and there’s millions of alcoholics that don’t drink!”

Lucinda also hosts functions every 75 weeks where new clients have the chance to meet old clients that are pull-free, “This brings in faith and hope and I think those are things you need to deal with something as dramatically damaging as Trichotillomania.”

She disagrees that it’s a mental disorder, more of an addiction and urges people to understand that, “you’re not guzzling down on bottles of vodka, you’re pulling some hair and it’s your hair and it’s your business.”

Lucinda lovingly describes the girls she works with as “Deeply sensitive, gorgeous and highly sensitive”.

She is currently working on a short-film about the recovery process offered by Lucinda Ellery.

So where do I come in to all of this? 

For my final year project at Bournemouth University I intend to make a 7-minute documentary (I possibly will extend this!) that will address Trichotillomania and Dermatillomania (skin-picking).

Alongside this I will be keeping a blog with short features, radio and video pieces also surrounding these underreported issues.

I’d love for anybody suffering with either of the above to get in touch and contribute in any way you can!

I look forward to the challenge. Thanks for reading.

Feel free to follow the project @ Media_Roxy and me at Roxy_Watson