About eyelashes
There is a question about eyelashes in the comments and I wanted to talk about that here.
Within a week I could see the little stubby eyelashes poking through the eyelid. (I had to look really closely in the mirror. There were several gaps in my eyelashes at this time so it was easy to see.). Within 2-3 weeks they were half the length of the rest of my lashes. Within a month my eyelashes looked SO different.
It is so hard when we can't do things like swimming because of eyelashes or hair. I get so skittish when my hair is wet because my bad spots show so easily. Usually if I'm going swimming I do the eyeliner trick on my bad spots to fill them in and just avoid touching my head so that it doesn't smudge. It's a pain.
Unforunately, I've pulled them out again the past four days. ARGH! I need to keep myself busier at night...since that's when I want to touch my eyelashes. How to keep myself busier with a two year old? Ack, I just don't know. I'll let you know when I think of something.
Posted by Cody on August 15, 2005 10:21 PM
me, I've been attacking the hairs on my legs with tweezers. how about trying there instead of on your head? it feels just as good. well, for me anyway. i've never been an eyelash puller, myself. but i attack my eyebrows on a near daily basis. nothing makes me happoer than seeing little clumps of eyebrows falling. You know what weird thing I do? I leave my eyebrow hairs in books that I read. Down in the spine. So that someday, someone will open up a book and see my little hairs and know "someone was here". and maybe someday in the future they can test the DNA (I know they can do that already, I am thinking back 20 years ago when I started doing this) and find out that it was me and someone will know "Pilgrim was here." and not forget about me.
i have also been attacking the hairs on my legs with tweezers cause thats one place i dont want hair anyways. but i would like my eyebrows and eyelashes to grow in fully like they used to be. i was so much more confident back then. its a never-ending cycle for me..if im lucky ill go a few weeks and i can see a significant difference but then with one stressful day im back to where i started weeks ago. i wish i could stop permanately. i know what you mean about swimming though, i use eyeliner as well but am CONSTANTLY worried about it rubbing off and have to go check in the mirror as soon as anything touches my eyebrows. its like im imprisoning myself. i prevent myself from going certain places and doing certain things because im afraid people will see my lack of eyebrows. i also have to get up much earlier to pencil in my eyebrows and eyelashes, which is a pain. its reassuring to know that im not the only one suffering from this, as i have yet to meet someone in person who i know has it.
I just stumbled upon this page through google... I've been pulling my darn eyelashes out since I was a child of 6 or 7 years old. I'm now 27 and really trying to figure out how to STOP without having to take meds. I hate this. I WANT eyelashes, but as one of you said, at night I almost can't help myself. If I have spare time, I'm plucking. And then I feel a gap with my fingertip and feel guilty and try really hard to leave them alone... distractions and what not. But then once they're all growing back and starting to look healthy and normal, I go and pluck one... and then another one. And yeah, that one seems out of place....and then it starts again. Any thoughts to help me?
Hi
Having suffered with this hair pulling problem for 28 years it was only early this year (in a magazine article) that I discovered that I wasn't alone. I had no idea that so many others suffered. I imangined that by pulling and eating the ends I was providing myself with some magical powers - I know it sounds mad but it was the only way I could rationalise why I did this.
Since discovering there are loads of us I have in the main been pull free. I think what I am struggling with is the habit of putting my hands on my hair now. Another sysmpton of this horrible habit is biting your nails - I to used to bite mine but don't now. One thing that did help me a lot was ensuring my hair was washed daily and kept nice it really did help me. Pluse like those who pluck hair from their legs I regularly shave mine and wax my other bits and this helps and the feeling is as good as pulling your hair. As they say with never give up trying to give up.
I really wish you all so much luck for the future and I hope soon you will all pull free.
Hello,
I have been struggling with this problem for a few years now. Each time I pull out a lash, I tell myself that I will stop. But it never seems to happen. I try to hold onto a squish ball, or make something out of string, but I always seem to pull.
During School, and when I'm bored at home, my hands always seem to be on my eyes. I don't even usually realize a lash is missing until I find it in my hands. I then rub the end of the lash (the white bulb part) on my face. This is part of the sensation that I get. I feel like a freak!
PLEASE HELP ME!
I have been pulling my eyelashes and eyebrows like it's my job for about 8 or 9 years. I am 26 years old now. Every day I enjoy pulling more and more. I love doing it so much that the remorseful and shameful feelings that were so severe after a pulling spree are almost completely gone these days. It's disgusting, I know. I haven't been able to wear mascara for about 4 years now and I spend a lot of time applying eyeliner and eyebrow pencil. Have you ever thought that this affliction tends to affect people (girls mostly) who would be considered by society to be "pretty?" I, like the girl who posted above, have not met another Trichster in person. I am curious to know what your overall image of yourself is. Personally, I feel like I could be a "pretty" girl but I am constantly making myself "ugly" by pulling out my hair. It makes no sense.
I can't understand why I would do these things to myself and why I love it so much (I'm pulling even as I type this). I have been on Prozac for a few years now and it hasn't helped me at all. I went to a Christian therapist to talk about Trich and, of course, she knew nothing about it and didn't bother finding any information upon my next visit. My family tries to help and I have done research on Trich for years now. I know it doesn't stop until you really and truly want to stop. Pray for God to take the desire to pull away. I haven't because I do not want to stop bad enough and would only be wasting His time.
hey. i have a little problem with pulling my eyelashes out. like one of my eyelashes will feel weird and like i want to pull that one out, or something and next thing you know i have pulled out several and then i realize there is a little bald spot where my eyelashes are...so here i have a question...will eyelashes always grow back? cause I WANT looong pretty ones but mine are average looking, and sometimes i just find myself from being stressed out pulling out my eyelashes, i wish i never ever did it once, but now that i have done it, i just cant stop, i have been doing it for about a year and a half now, and i am concerned with the fact will my eyelashes grow back. can someone help me out on this??
Oh yes, its maddening isn't it? I've been at this for the better part of fifty years. Anyone tried hypnotherapy? Something must be possible, its surely embarrassing for a middle aged man! No amount of keeping busy seems to help, all of a sudden there you are with wrecked eyebrows again. Good luck all.
Hi, i suffer from this problem and it does wreck your life! when you do it the brain releases a chemical high so you think its good (mmm we know its wrong though!) i have tried hypnotherapy and it wouldnt work for me as im to strong minded in other ways! i was thinking at one stage to even go live in the bush away from mirrors and stress! for 6 mths, but it never happened, still its not a bad a idea? :)
one thing i have found (even i still suffer with this conplant) is not to stand to close to the mirror! so you cant see any detail in yourself, the other is to take a mind set to train your mind to think "i dont give a f... what they look like and screw everybody else" i have found this can work some times, i do know myself the problems stress/worry/bordem/been to fussy about my appreance, i do my best to try work through each problem. The only time in my life where i was nearlly cured was working 7 days a week 12 hrs a day, had no time for anything so hair grew close to normal, but idle hands are the devils work, these days i spend as much time with other friends (away from a miror) and hobbies, life is better but not normal, still i do feel i can beat this with wisdom and age on my side. Just hope when i decide the time is right? the hair still wants to grow? :)
hey wow theres acually people out there like me .. i have pulled my eyelashes out since i was like 7 or 8 what the heck makes you start and how can you make them grow please help me!! its a habit you know its like a bad addiction i hate it i want long pretty eyelashes : / if anyone has any advise help me
Angus,
I have had this problem since 4th grade. It is so frustrating! After each lash is pulled out, you really get mad at yourself. At times I had NO lashes pretty much at all. I am starting to get better! I sat myself down one day, and said to myself that if I keep doing this, I will soon permantly have No eyelashes. It was hard. But it REALLY does work!
comment back!
I pull and pull and pull! it feels good! one irritates me so I pull it. Then i end up pulling out clumps pulling as hard as i can to see the roots and stick them some where. The mirror is fine. It hurts then it feels good when the give in and come out. I feel horrible go look at myself and cry then try to fill in the spots at 3 in the morning so i can be prepared to cover it up. i scratch and massage the gaps with my fingers, it feels good and weird, but i think it helps them grow back. i have hope. my mom thinks im allergic to some mascaras, and is so proud when the grow back. i was too! they were beautiful! now they are gone. I hope they come back soon. i was using some type of sally hanson maximum growth masacara and if it wasnt my imagination, it helped them really grow in. Yeah! pray for a cure. i do everyday. meds are not for me.
i've been pulling since i was 13,and ive been doin it all morning..people just say well stop pulling then if you don't want gaps but it's easier said than done. I don't want to look like this and have to cover it up.i think it makes me so less confident about myself. I went to the doctors about it, they were like it's probably an eye infection but i took antibiotics and it's still happening..and has been for 5 years.they were all growing back, 3 weeks i hadn't pulled then one evening, bamm they're all gone! i feel like all people will see when they look at me is oh my god,no eyelashes!they aren't,they've got better things to do but i feel so self concious because of it.and ive never met anyone who does this either
I keep thinking of getting false eyelashes but will they work..if there's no lashes to stick them on,what do you do?i find that my eyes irriate me of a night but i only ever seem to pull out the middle lashes...i have both ends just a huge gap in the middle.when i was younger the patches were small but now its half my eyelid.i hate it but i can't seem to stop...if there's no cure..i need something in the meantime to help?anyone used fake lashes before?any recommendations?
What a gift this site is! It was only a few years ago that I found out that there was a name (and lots of sufferers) for what I do. I thought I was the only 2nd grader in the world with her own (hidden) pair of tweezers. I hate to say how old I am now. I didn't have ANY lashes from 2nd - 10th grade. Talk about a social outcast. Everyone believe me when I tell you that they WILL grow back when you are ready. I spent my twenties making large bald spots on my head - and yes, I did the eyeliner pencil coverup and avoided hairdressers, wind, and etc. Leg hair pulling too and still. Now I have scars above my C-section scar, from picking and pulling. Now I avoid pap smears and being naked, and I am terrified that if anyone sees this, they will think I am either insane or that it is track marks from drug needles.
We all know that the evening and nighttime is our pulling time. I have a theory that this is because all the days' stress has built up, and we feel that we will explode if we don't do something about it. Maybe we are not satisified with whatever we did or didn't do that day. Maybe it's because of what someone else did or didn't do and how we handled that. Whatever, we end our day both relieving and punishing ourselves with pulling. I am trying something new: Using the pulling time to face how I feel about the days doings and trying to get to the bottom of it. My best friend, willpower I didn't even know I had, and vanity helped me stop pulling in places the public can see.
Now, I have to find a way to stop this other, equally mortifying impulse.
ok. Right now i'm 17 years old and i have had this problem since i was in the third grade. It wasn't that bad back then. I remember it got real bad around the 7th grade. Thats the first time i had a bald spot. And thats the first time someone asked me wut had happened to my lashes. I came up with some lame excuse that my younger sisters had put tape on my eye and yanked them out. w.ethe problem escalladed as i went into 8th grade. in 8th grade is when i first took out all my lashes from both my eyes. my mom saw them and grounded me until they grew back. and they did. 9th grade year i really dont remember pulling so much. 10th grade year was the best i had all my lashes and no blad spots. perfect. but as we all know life is a series of peaks and valleys. and i was headed staright for a valley. I started to have pulling sprees more frequently. now 11th grade current situation ... left eye about an inch gap in the middle of my eye ... right eye has more lashes about 15 in the middle .. more covered up than the left. I just had a pulling spree about 10 mins ago. I have tried everything to stop. I have noticed that when i dont do it my eye starts to itch and twitch. i feel them poking through my sensitive skin and as soon as i feel that i get the tweezers and pull it out. And wut a feeling.... as soon as that lash is out i feel such a sensation. The bigger the root the better. I pass my finger through my eyelid and try to feel and small lashes and wait until my eye is irratated and pull pull pull... im scared ... i want lashes but cant seem to have them .... not most guys i kno have this problem... i dont want to go to the doctor or take meds... im not crazy am i ??? i have no will power... i cant even control myslef...im afraid soon my lashes will no longer grow out.... and whn that day comes ... im screwed... if there are any known remedies for this life ruining condition... please email me !!!
I can feel your panic thru the screen. The lashes WILL grow back. Here's what I did when I was going thru it: I put Vaseline on my eyes at night. It seemed to help the urge and itch. Plus, whenever I put my hands on my eyes, it was goopy and reminded me of my goal. This is only a night time solution because you don't want to go around all greasy-eyed during the day. If you are pulling during tv, get your hands busy with a string to tie knots in, or a deck of cards to shuffle, etc., to keep both hands busy.
If you pull with your fingers, try putting some tape on your thumb tips for a reminder, plus it makes pulling almost impossible. If you pull with tweezers, make a deal with yourself that you won't get the tweezers out of the drawer for 5 minutes, or two hours, or until next Monday, whatever you think you can handle. Then get away from 'it' by walking out the door and doing something else that takes your mind off. I don't know how to stop completely - I only know what helped me stop pulling out my lashes. And, no we are not crazy, we don't do it for 'attention' (who WANTS to hear, "What happened to your eyelashes?" I think its stress that doesn't know where else to put itself.
Very reasurring to know about others experiences. I remember my aunt telling me once that eyelash pulling was a sign of mental illness, but I know that that is PURE BULL, and that it's mostly cause by stress (for me anyways).
YOU CAN GET OVER IT.Your lashes grow back and you can finally wear mascara again. No more filling in bald spots with eyeliner.
Although I dont understand, because I've only started to pull 2 yrs ago in grade 9, at around age 15. I think it's because of all the stress I get at school, because on summer break all my lashes grown back and I hardly get the urge to pluck.
Right now one of my eyes is almost completely full grown, while the other is half bald. But I know that if I really want to have beautiful lashes, I have to resist the urge, as hard as it may be.
Good luck everyone!
It was only recently that I found out that I had this problem, I have been doing it for 21 years now and have only managed to stop pulling my eyelashes for about 6 months, but as usual I started pulling again. I have started pulling from my head now, which stops the eyelash pulling but creates lovely bald spots on my head (super sexy - I think not). I think that with the right support from people, we can overcome this curse (as I like to call it). I have got my fiance to nudge me whenever he catches me playing with my hair/eyelashes and it seems to work. SUGGESTION: try rubbing Vitamin E oil on your lashes/lids before bedtime, this helps stimulate the follicles natural growth.
It was only recently that I found out that I had this problem, I have been doing it for 21 years now and have only managed to stop pulling my eyelashes for about 6 months, but as usual I started pulling again. I have started pulling from my head now, which stops the eyelash pulling but creates lovely bald spots on my head (super sexy - I think not). I think that with the right support from people, we can overcome this curse (as I like to call it). I have got my fiance to nudge me whenever he catches me playing with my hair/eyelashes and it seems to work. SUGGESTION: try rubbing Vitamin E oil on your lashes/lids before bedtime, this helps stimulate the follicles natural growth.
I am 31 years old and I have been pulling since I was 13. Trich is something I have always tried to hide and been very ashamed of. I am so sick of it. I keep wondering when I will stop. I am a mother and I have a 6 year old and I do not want her to develop it. I feel so disgustingly ugly without my eyelashes and eyebrows. I always have to put on eyeliner and eyepencil as like a "Camoflage" I cant go swimming, just wash my face with people around etc, I always have to look in the mirror and check. I feel like everyone can tell that I am EYELASHLESS. I am so unconfident / selfconscious when I dont have them. When they growback in, I feel so happy - I want to think that I will never pull again but eventually I pull them out again & feel disgusting again. I do not tell my friends or boyfriend. I dont want him to know. I dont know how to explain it. I avoid so many situations in fear of being discovered... I did not take my daughter to the beach once all summer or go with my friends in fear of my makeup washing off when swimming. Why cant I stop? Why has this been happening for so long? I just want to be pull free. I have NO lashes & brows far more than I ever have them. I keep trying therapy, hypnosis, medication - NO LUCK. I use a topical hair growth serum from my dermatologist. I just want to stop pulling. How can it ever stop? It is out of control.
I am a high school student and not sure whether I belong here or not. I have been doing research on Trichotillomania for sometime as my assignment and saw this website. I thought I might help some of you by giving this website info, where I have found some important things about Trich.
"Trichotillomania Learning Center · About TTM & Treatment: Introduction"
I have more websites, but I just don't whether to put it in or not, because I know that all you have done more research than I did.
it's nice to hear that im not the only one with this problem but at the same time i'm sadden to know that other people have this problem. wow everyone is saying how they pull their eyelashes out, well me i do it all from the hair on my head to my eyelashes to my eyebrows. i hate it i feel like a freak. i have to pencil in my eyebrows and i'm no artist so everyone is always saying why i pencil them in. and i always get the same question "why dont you ever wear your hair down?" if they only knew. the hardest part about me picking is noone knows, not even my boyfriend of six years. he tells me that i better wear my hair down on our wedding day. the longest i've gone without hair pulling is two months and one day i said i'm just gonna pull one and that was it before i knew there it was! a bald spot. i always say why me, why do i do this. my confidence has gone way down. i have long beautiful hair but it is always held up by a ponytail. my big brown eyes are covered by glasses cause i wont dare wear contacts and my eyebrows are penciled in. i look like a clown. i hope that one day we can all over come this so good luck to all and i'll be praying for us.
I have been pulling since I was about 8 and 8 years later I still am! I am so sick of this, I just want to stop, I want to be able to wear mascara, I want to be able to go swimming, I don't want to feel ashamed anymore! Does anyone know of ANYTHING that might work. I am open to absoulutely anything! I'm glad to know I'm not alone, or a freak. Trust me I feel all of your pain! I know how hard it is. You just can't stop, and for many of us this problem has been going on for years, and years. You just can't stop. I'm also scared that if I dont stop now my lashes will stop growing permanently! Please someone help me, I don't know what to do!?!
I have found a weird way of stopping myself when I go to pull my from eyes and head. When you find your hand going up or touching your hair,
* tap five times on your forehead, then
* five times on the apples of your cheek (any cheek),
* then with both hands tap the side of your palm with the other hand under your little finger (as if you were doing a karate chop)(five times),
and then the urge to pull has gone. I know this sounds so odd, but if like me you only pull on your own, it won't feel silly. Try it, and see.
Dear Kayla,
I have been pulling my eyelashes for a year now.I hate it.I tried your "weird way" of resisting an urge and it worked!Really,it did.I just wanted you to know that it's not weird.I will do it more often now!Thank you!
Whoops.I meant to say,Dear Jo.Sorry.
I Have Been Pulling Out My Eyelashes For 20 Years. I Started Out On My Head And Then Stopped And Moved Onto Just My Eyelashes. I Guess I Do It When I Get Stressed Out.istopped Trying To Quit Years Ago.
Im glad that its working for you Amy, let me know how you get on with this method.
If anyone else is using my 'weird way' of trying to stop, please write. Im just glad that I can be of some help.
Hey all - I am 41 yrs old and have been pulling since I was seven. I stopped pulling at age sixteen and have been a "controlled" puller eversince. We all share many similarities with our condition - stress, time we started, remedies, etc. These characteristics are amazing. Not to mention the fact that we all have felt like "the only one in the world" who does this. Let's all keep in touch and keep supporting eachother. I will pray for all of you - prayer does help - just don't expect eyelashes the next day after a long apology to God the night before! (like I did at age eight). For you younger troops - hang in there. Your hair, eyelashes and brows WILL grow back, but as you get older, everything takes a bit longer. Keeping busy helps me a lot. We all have willpower - but many of us have not tapped into it in our teen years. Keep trying not to pull. Be proud of yourself when you haven't and be determined to try again when you have (don't beat yourself up so much!).
Take care everyone and please feel free to respond.
Melissa in New Hampshire
wow. yes i have done this for years. i have found that i have been able to stop when i allow my lashes to grow back to a decent length.. then i see how much better i look and feel and i really don't touch them. of course, i have always relapsed, but i have found lots of ways to get them to grow in the meantime... just to be able to pull them out again =( there is an eyedrop for glaucoma called travatan that spurns eyelash growth very quickly, and i have been using that recently to help them grow (it really works!). i spoke to an opthlalmologist and i used to be an opthalmic tech, so i know there are no negative side effects of using this drop on a fairly regular basis, although i haven't used it for more than a couple of months at at time. once i see the improvements, i cut my first two fingernails on each hand down to practically nonexistent length (hard for a lot of girls but not for me.) i hope that i will able to keep this up long enough so that i will see the results and not pull again. i did this near the end of high school, and i was so happy i didn't pull for nearly 3 years. maybe, just maybe, i can do it again for good...?
I'm middle-aged. That means that I have been around for a looooong time. In all that time, I've not run into anyone with my problem! There doesn't seem to be any help out there for adults. I have found pediatric studies - but nothing for the grups. Maybe it is because there isn't any "pill" for trich? Or maybe because we are so hidden that no one realizes how many of us are suffering in secret? I dunno. ..
Hey Ette - I'm "middle-aged" too (almost 42), but don't feel that way most of the time! I made a recent post to Cody's current post. You should go and check it out. I found this website: www.essentialdayspa.com and all these women are talking about eyelash and eyebrow growth accelorators. I got some the other day at CVS. It's by Ardell and only cost $4.00. I am a controlled puller, so I have many eyelashes, yet they are sparse and thin. This stuff is supposed to stimulate growth, therefore, your existing eyelashes look thicker. You should all give it a try - even if you don't have any lashes! Also, like you, since I found this site, I have not pulled AT ALL. I feel like I owe it to the younger troops out there to try real hard and be an example of hope. Keep your eye on the prize everyone - we ALL want pretty lashes. Also, to Jo from the UK - I tried your "tapping" exercise and I think that motion actually takes the physical urge out of my hands, which makes me feel better about myself and keeps me goal-oriented. Everyone - hang in there. We've come this far...
Melissa from New Hampshire
Thanks Melissa i'm going to check that website out. Ive been doing it about 8 years. My eyes are my nicest feature, but im just ruining them, i want t look pretty and not have to spend about £40 a week buying fake eyelashes. I could have bought so much with that money :S
I'll try that site, i feel if i can just get them back to normal, then i will stop.
Thanks
xxxx
Hi Sarah - I just want you to know that I don't think the women chatting on that website have trich (if they do, they're not saying). Anyhow, most of them have eyelashes - some have outrageously lush lashes and some are like me - sparse and thin. But the bottom line here is that they are all getting eyelash and eyebrow growth from these products. So for those of you out there who don't have any lashes at all - give it try! It can't hurt and it's only four bucks!Be sure to read all their stories. I've been using the Ardell for 3 days now. Nothing new that I can see yet, but I'm not pulling AT ALL either. Another product that they talk about on that site is Dreamlash. They say you can get it at Walmart for $10, but I didn't find it, so I bought it from a website (don't remember what the site it, but they talk about it at essentialdayspa.com). Lastly, there is one more product the women are RAVING about - it's called Lucia Essence and is only available in Japan. The cost is $28 a vial. Again, you can read all the posts and find out how you can get Lucia. There is one women on the site who seems to know A LOT about all these products. Her username is carekate. Read her messages about how she prepares a "cocktail" of various products and applies them. Oh, btw, you have to register to get into the site, but it's free! But, remember: we ALL know how long it takes to start growing lashes again after pulling, so you must be patient; don't expect overnite results. This sure beats what I was looking into a couple weeks ago: something called Lavish Lashes. A salon here in New Hampshire does this and the cost is $300.00!!!! Screw that. But I was hoping that if I had that done, it would help to prevent me from pulling. So,instead I'm going to try these products and will keep you all posted. Everyone have a FABULOUS day!!
Melissa in New Hampshire
Hi Sarah - I just want you to know that I don't think the women chatting on that website have trich (if they do, they're not saying). Anyhow, most of them have eyelashes - some have outrageously lush lashes and some are like me - sparse and thin. But the bottom line here is that they are
Thank you for continuing to take the time to help others. My worry is why I"m not seeing all the lashes grow in at the same time...though I know it's cause I've been pulling them...and for so long...
: (
wouldn't that be ironic...that when I actually want to stop..and try with ALL that I have in me....that they wouldn't grow?
I can't think of that...I will just take it lash for lash...
That reminds me of a line from one of my favorite songs...from one of my favorite groups...The Scientist by Coldplay...
"No one ever said it would be this hard...
Oh take me back to the start.."
wow...those lines really make me sad...wow.