6 Beginner Strategies to Cope with Hair Pulling
1) Create a plan
It’s crucial to understand patterns in your behavior and notice in what situations you usually resort to hair pulling and what are the feelings connected to that behavior? Is it when you’re in school studying, during a work meeting, or some social gathering? Do you feel stressed, overwhelmed, scared, or maybe even excited? When you understand what triggers your hair pulling behavior, you can interrupt that process and instead listen to positive reminders in your head. Once this process is interrupted, engage yourself with another activity that you find peaceful and one that calms and relaxes you such as listening to calming music, squeezing a stress ball, meditation etc. When you can understand your triggers, interrupt the process, and redirect your behavior, you will be able to reduce your hair pulling behavior and feel much more in control of your actions.
2) Make a list of alternate actions
Once you have made a plan and understood what triggers you, now you should come up with some activities that you can do while you are redirecting your behavior. Having an already written down list on display will make this whole process much easier, as redirecting your energy from hair pulling to another activity is very exhausting and requires a lot of willpower on its own. It’s important to keep in mind that this new activity should be relaxing and easy to do, and most importantly not stressful in any way. Some ideas could include calling a friend/family member, drawing, painting, or scribbling on paper (activities that use your hands), listening to music, cleaning, playing video games, squeezing a stress ball, exercising, dancing, deep breathing or meditation. Different people have different interests, and some of these activities may work for you, while other ones may not. Explore and find the best ones for you that will effectively distract you from hair pulling while at the same time relax you.
3) Distance yourself from triggers
Even though it’s not always possible to fully distance yourself from all the hair pulling triggers in your life, it may be possible to distance yourself from at least some of them. For example, if your landlord is the main trigger for your trichotillomania, maybe it’s time to change your apartment; or if your boss is the trigger, you may want to look for another job. However, it’s not always that easy and there are multiple factors and situations that we cannot simply escape from or change. In these situations, the best thing to do is to work on your self-acceptance, keep redirecting your behavior to more relaxing activities, create new habits, as well as to find a social support group.
4) Create physical barriers to your hair
Sometimes it’s useful to wear physical barriers which will hinder easy access to your hair, such as, hats, caps, bandanas, beanies, or even gloves. If you pull your eyebrows or eyelashes, you might find it helpful to put makeup on, like an eyebrow pencil or mascara. When your eyebrows and eyelashes are covered with makeup, you may not want to pull because the sensory feeling is now different, you can’t get a good grip on them, or you don’t want to ruin your makeup. Another option is to grow your nails or get acrylics which will automatically make it harder for you to reach or get a grip on the root of your hair, which could eventually minimize trichotillomania as it is now more difficult to hair pull and not that pleasurable anymore.
5) Look for support
It’s important to have a support group when we are going through tough moments in our life. Whether that’s a close friend, spouse, family member, teacher, neighbor, or even a therapist, it’s important to share your experience and feelings with someone who is there for you and trying to be a support system for you. If talking about your trichotillomania evokes uncomfortable, shameful, or untrusting feelings within you, you can simply talk about the emotions that it causes without mentioning hair pulling. Talking about emotions alone will bring you more peace and support. If you do feel comfortable to share with others, you can talk about your triggers, ask them to help you come up with alternative distracting actions to engage in, and maybe even ask them to tell you when you are hair pulling. If you don’t have a support group, you can find one online and engage with people who are going through the same issues as you.
6) It could cause harm
Trichotillomania is often caused by a combination of influences from your psychology, genetics, and your environment. Psychologically, it could potentially create a base for even more difficult problems in the future, negatively impact your sense of self-confidence, create feelings of shame, guilt, or even lead to a withdrawal from various social interactions which could ultimately lead to depression. Therefore, it is always advisable to reach out to a therapist if you experience the symptoms of trichotillomania. Physically, it could potentially do damage to hair roots, lower hair density or even create changes in hair texture. In conclusion, it could potentially become physically, psychologically, and aesthetically detrimental, but also very addictive. Trichotillomania often goes together with other psychological disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which further complicates the harm caused by pulling.
7) Talk to a therapist
A therapist will help you not only find new and useful ways of dealing with trichotillomania, but they will also help you understand the reasons why you resort to that behavior. A professional will help you understand your own emotions and thought processes and how they are connected to your behaviors. They will also help you understand your life experiences and the conclusions you draw from them, which naturally impact all these factors. Most importantly, therapists will help you find new alternative perspectives and conclusions to these life situations which will open a whole new door of insights in your life. Profound inner work with a trained therapist will help you understand yourself, your trauma, and the reasons why you think and behave the way you do. This new perspective of yourself can open ways to new and more useful perspectives about the world and can possibly even eliminate or at least minimize your trichotillomania.
