10years of split end picking

iz.1000iz.1000
in Trichotillomania Support
Hi all, I only recently learned that my compulsive split end picking may well be trich. Since I started around 13y/o I have not stopped (now 23). Working from home during lockdown has really exacerbated the issue and I can easily spend hours searching for and picking split ends. Even tying my hair up only lasts an hour or so before it comes down for a re-examination.
Would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar issue and if they've been able to stop?
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Comments

  • Michelle HarperMichelle Harper

    Hi iz, welcome to the forum :) .

    I used to pick at my split ends too. It didn't really cause any "damage" but I lost SO much time to it. Once I'd started I just couldn't stop!

    It's really tough, but you need to choose to do something else when you get that urge to examine your hair. It takes time to re-program your brain but it is possible. Try setting a timer for 5 minutes or setting yourself a task to complete before you look at your hair. Put the laundry away, sort out a cupboard, phone a friend - anything, and then re-examine that urge. Hopefully it will have lessened. Keep taking those moments one at a time and just do your best in each moment. If you've already started to pick don't give yourself a green light to carry on. Better to stop after 10 minutes than 60!

    And know as well that you're definitely not alone in finding everything so much more difficult during lockdown. Don't expect too much of yourself but don't give up on yourself either.

  • Heather KeenerHeather Keener

    Super good suggestion, Michelle. Delay and distract. Just like a toddler, you have to distract them with something that is pretty enticing to get them to forget that they want that candy. You can do it iz. So glad you are here.

  • bee03bee03
    New to this site and just having a read through. This post caught my attention as this is how my hair pulling started. I started picking split ends out at around 15 and I’m still hair pulling now aged 31 :( I pull my split ends less now and have instead started to just pull from the top layer running my finger down the strand and then pulling as I get near the end. The top layer of my hair is awful as a result. I now have children including one little girl so that’s what led me to finding out it is trichotillomania and now about to start my journey to hopefully stopping because I don’t want her to see and copy.

    How are you finding things iz?
    I also found lockdown made my hair pulling worse.
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