I so know your pain...I'm almost 40 and have been pulling all of my lashes/brows since I was six. I have not been able to crack this yet, but every day I am determined to stop this.

One thing that has helped over the years is that I don't care as much about it. Yes, I hate it...I hate how I waste my time on this, I hate how it makes me look and feel...and I hate the shame I feel (due to the way I was raised over this)...BUT...with age I suppose one gets a bit numb to it all. It is sort of like...take me as I am...here I am...this is me.

I use the excuse of alopecia if anyone ever asks me about it (I know some people get mad at me on this site for saying that...but I don't want to get into telling someone about trichotillomania for personal and professional reasons)...plus, I don't want to burden someone with my problems...if I say alopecia, no one flinches...it is no big deal.

All I can say is to never give up and try not to let this define who you are. I have ups and downs with how I feel...earlier this week I was desperate and felt awful, but today I'm back to realizing that yes I hate this, but it is only a small part of who I am. I accentuate the other things about me that are good.

I am here if you ever need support..I walk daily in your shoes and know the pain you encounter.

Thanks for your advice-I have never talked to anyone about this. It is such a frustrating thing to deal with-I hate not being able to control myself. I see people on here saying 35 days, 40 days, without pulling, etc., and it frustrates me, as I cannot go even one day. About a year ago I actually got an infection in one of my eyes (probably from too much touching) - and I SWORE I would stop. Told myself how ridiculous it was that I was doing this. Still didn't help. I am trying to be more conscious of when I start to pull.

I've never been able to stop even for a day...it is so unbelievably frustrating. I just don't get it...it has never made any sense to me, but I continue doing this as if my life depended on it. I can't move forward to the things I need to do when the urge comes over (which is pretty much 24x7)...

I do believe that becoming more conscious of when we do it is the first step...but I just don't even have the patience for that...LOL...

I'm back to being frustrated now (earlier in the day I was doing better)...it has been an afternoon of non-stop pulling...there has to be something behind this that we all are suffering with the same thing.

Well, try to have a good night...and if possible, try to forget about this for a few hours to give yourself a break.

healingslowly-does it seem to get worse in the afternoons for you? I think it does for me-I wonder why that is? I can go all morning not thinking about it, and in the afternoons I am constantly touching my eyes. Weird. Hopefully we both have a good day-crossing my fingers for both of us!

I pull my lashes and brows. I totally feel your pain. It's crazy how much of a difference eyeliner can make! I agree with what healingslowly said; at some point you learn to "accept" it as a part of who you are. I know with me, I've kinda gotten to that point. There are still times where I get really down on myself, but if it really was that easy to just stop, we would.

Our society puts so much importance on looks. I feel awkward when one of those stupid mascara commercials come on...Because I don't have eyebrows, I can't go swimming, I have to make sure I don't get too sweaty, and if I have an itch, I have to make sure not to smudge my makeup. It's very stressful.

I wish there was a pill that we could take that would get rid of the urges. :(

Kelly -interesting point...YES...the pulling seems to increase in the afternoon (night time is the worst).

(((hugs))) to all of us as we travel on the journey of trichotillomania...I do believe we will be cured someday and look forward to that day with all that I have.

ps i agree...those mascara commercials have to go...and if i see brooke shields one more time and her latisse commercials, i'm going to go insane.

Amen! I opened up a magazine today and saw Brooke Shields' face staring at me :-P I'd consider trying Latisse if I knew I wouldn't pull the lashes out right away as soon as they started growing!

The only thing I've found is that by keeping my hands busy and not touching my eyes AT ALL (which is very hard in itself!) I don't have the chance to pull. Cross-stitch helps a lot...it takes both hands to work on it, so I don't have any fingers free to make their way toward my eyes.

It's like Pringles...bet you can't pull just one! :-P

I cross-stitch too! Which helps at home but not at work. I saw somewhere on here that tape on thumbs might help-typing with tape on right now, haha. Might work for me-keeps me aware of it.
I have tried keeping my nails polished, thinking maybe I would stop as to not chip the polish, but that doesn't work for me. My next step was going to be getting a prof. manicure-maybe if I pay $30 for it I will be less likely to wreck it :). Haven't yet had the heart to completely cut my fingernails down-I love my nails :(.

i understand all to well about wat it is going on. the only thing that's ever worked for me (which was about 4 days ago) was fake fingernails. if you can get past the anxiety of knowing that you cant do it with the fingernails and to fight the urge to take the fingernails off. i tried this and im now 5 days pull free i was even able to take my fingernails off last night and i still havn't pulled. i hope this helps you

I only pull eyebrows and I hate it. They're not all gone but thinning out drastically and keep getting shorter each year that it continues. I've tried (at home) putting vasoline on my eyebrows so that when my hand goes there I feel it and consciously realize what I'm doing so I can stop. It also softens the hair, and for me, when the hair is rigid it's more tempting to touch it. I've also tried rolling up a bandana and putting it across my eyebrows and tying it in the back. The pressure on the forehead seems to be somewhat relieving.

it's obvious you dont wear glasses with your response, but I wear thick black glasses, and they make me feel so much better when i talk to people, having to look in their eyes. the glasses are like a sheild, it covers up a lot, and it's hard for people to notice. so maybe you can get glasses that are non-perscripted??
and when i take off my glasses i wear fake eyelashes. there are so many people in my life right now that have no idea i have trich.

I hope this helps!

i also wear waterproof eyeliner, it's maybelline, it's incredible, i can go swimming, i wake up and it's still in, i can do a lot more wearing waterproof eyeliner, and i worry less if my eyeliner has worn off or not.

i also wear an eye sleeping mask at night. cuz i know we all wanna pull when we're lying in bed at night when we can't sleep.. the eye mask will remind yourself.

:)

Hi Kelly, I would buy false eyelashes and they helped me stop pulling my eyelashes completely. Once I saw how pretty my top lashes were coming in, I was able to slowly stop pulling the bottom lashes, and then all of them all together. They are a little tricky to wear without any lashes to adhere to. My eyes water whether I'm yawning, laughing, sneezing, and of course crying. The lashes would come off pretty easily but I always kept a tube of glue in my purse. Don't be so hard on yourself about not looking people in the eyes-- people never noticed if I was wearing eyeliner and eyeshadow. God Bless!

Thanks for all the advice! I actually do wear glasses, but I have such a thick prescription I always wear my contacts. It's hard to make any glasses look cute when the lenses are 3 inches thick haha. I have never tried false eyelashes, but I might start doing that. I only pull my top lashes, never the bottom, so that might REALLY work.