Maggies Hair Pulling Blog

What an awful day! Felt agitated sitting at my desk and also had a slight hangover after drinking a bottle of wine on the sofa last night!! I’m always fine with my hair in the morning, it is only in the afternoon that my hands start creeping!! I know that hair pulling urges are worse if I’m tired or agitated and so I really should try hard to distract myself. However when you are tired you just feel like sitting there :( Now I am home it is ok, I have some things to get on with and am focused! When I get in from work I usually try and keep busy, although dull, housework is the best thing I can do for my hair!! :) As well as pulling hairs out I sometimes scratch my head or pick it, I get angry and frustrated because I pull my hair and then I scratch myself to tell myself off!!! Having a punch bag would also help relieve frustration but I can't really keep one of them in the office!! I don't scratch that often but I do realise that I do it sometimes.

Just got back from Manchester after going there for the weekend to have my volumiser tightened and trimmed! It takes about 3.5 hours to get there and so is quite a mission! I did well though and managed not to touch my hair while driving there or back. The whole weekend has been pretty good and so i'm going to try really hard during the week not to touch either. I quite enjoy getting my hair done, before I had the volumiser fitted I hadn't been to a hairdresser for about 15 years. I always just trimmed it myself as I was too scared to show anyone how thin it was, I also hated the idea of anyone touching me! If trich was widely discussed and known about then I might not have minded, however it's a secretive problem that most people don't know exists. I get my hair done at a place called Hair Solved , it's a small friendly place where they make you feel quite normal and comfortable, there is also a chocolate shop next door which is amazing! :) Hair Solved: http://ww

Today was quite a bad day, my desk at work is hidden round a corner and it's easy to fiddle with my hair. If I'm focused on my work it's OK but if I start clock watching and wishing I was somewhere else my hands often creep towards my head. I guess hair pulling passes the time and distracts me from being bored! I tend not to do it in front of people and so it's quite dangerous being hidden around a corner! I pulled quite a few this afternoon, I always hate it afterwards but at the time I just can't resist :( I always pull hairs out one by one and when I'm doing it I'm always searching for the 'right one'! If a hair comes out without it's root then it's a failure. I hate hairs being in my head if they feel different or are rough in texture, these ones are the good ones that have to come out!! I dread the day I go grey because I can't handle the thought of 'odd' hairs being there, I like them all to be smooth and the same. I will tr

The trouble with the volumiser (or the mop!) is that you can't take it off and after it has been tightened it is hard to clean your head properly. You have to wash your head through the net which is a bit like trying to wash your feet while you still have your socks on! :) When the volumiser is tightened (every 6 weeks) it feels like you have just had your hair braided, I tend to have a few glasses of wine after an appointment to help ease the head ache it causes. I am used to it now but at first it was really uncomfortable and I felt like ripping the whole thing off! It's a bit like getting used to wearing a hat 24/7 or maybe like trying to get used to wearing glasses. As your hair grows the volumiser gets loser, after just a couple of weeks it begins to wiggle about a bit and is much easier to clean! It feels so nice when you can get your fingers underneath to shampoo your scalp properly! I also have to use a really rich conditioner on the volumiser as there is no natural oil

I have just had a weekend away in Brighton and my hair pulling was minimal, I may have pulled 1 or 2 hairs by accident but I never consciously got an urge and had to do it! It was a busy weekend which mainly involved shopping, eating and drinking :) I love Brighton, there is always something new to discover or someone odd to look at! Before the weekend I was doing a bit more research into the supplement NAC that I am taking and apparently if you take it along with vitamin C and B1 it can 'prevent and relieve symptoms of veisalgia (hangover following ethanol (alcohol) consumption).' What a brilliant extra plus side to it!! :) No hangover and no hair pulling!

To help stop the pulling urges I am trying the latest suggestion for helping with trich which is an amino acid called N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC). A trial was held where 56% of people saw an improvement after 9 weeks. The BBC wrote an article about it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8132387.stm I have been taking 1200mg a day for the past 5 weeks and so fingers crossed I will see an improvement soon. If the urges are not as strong then hopefully I will be able to control myself more. I'm not betting on it but anything is worth a try! :)

Today I mainly had a hangover. Wine and cocktails in a local bar were to blame. Pina coladas taste so nice that I forget they have shots of alcohol in them!! As a result of the hangover I spent the day rotting on the sofa! :) At the moment I can quite happily go out for an evening and not worry about people noticing my thin hair because I wear a volumiser. A volumiser is a bit like a wig but you can't take it off. It is made of real human hair and even has a fake parting. Your own hair gets pulled through a net and then secured with little metal clips like extensions. You don't need much of your own hair to wear one which is good! If there are any really bald patches then the net is stuck in place with double sided tape. Volumisers are fitted in salons and then you have to go back every 6 weeks to get it tightened. I have been wearing a volumiser for two and a half years now and have tried two different salons. Although it looks good the cost has been horrendous!! I have swappe

Right now I still pull hairs out everyday. I try not to, and sometimes it may only be one or two hairs but I still get the urge everyday. I try to put barriers up to stop me from doing it, for example I have gloves in the car. If I wear gloves I can't pull, it's just remembering to wear them! I hardly ever pull in the mornings, it seems to start after about 1pm and it depends what I'm doing as to whether an urge will come or not. Urges seem to be worse if I'm tired, bored, watching TV, on the phone, anxious, reading, waiting for something, angry etc. If I'm busy and in a placid state of mind I tend not to pull. Routine also makes it worse, if I'm on holiday then my hair usually gets a break from my plucking claws ! So ideally I just keep myself busy and go on holiday everyday! :) Gardening and physical work is also good for stopping the urges, it's just a shame I work in an office and sit at a desk for 8 hours............ As well as having urges to pull, th

Over the last 3 years I have been searching for a cure! I know that I want to stop plucking but I just can't do it on my own. I can sometimes stop for a few days if I concentrate really hard, but I can't stop the urge to want to pull and when I am feeling slightly weak the urge always wins!! Well it has for the last 20 years anyway! Treatments I have tried so far........ Hypnotism Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Prozac & HTP -5 Neuro Linguistic Programming Self Help Books Volumiser NAC supplement - trying now