I pull out my hair and pull out my eyebrows. Trich is different for evry single person that has it. The age that is starts/stops is different.
The severity and location of pulling can change, and its really uncertain about if it ever really goes away. There have been cases where it will come and go over the whole lifetime. You could go 2 years pull free and all of a sudden pull for the rest of your life. I'm not trying to make you feel like your stuck with this your whole life. Just want you to be aware that if you ever do stop, just remember that it could come back, so don;t think that your cured of it. I know this sounds harsh, but their is no actual cure to get rid of it for good. But some people have stopped. Some people take meds and its enough. I'm in thereapy and on meds and well.. it's not enough for me, But some people it is.. I've been pulling for 8 years now, and the only time i'm not pulling is when i'm not sober. I can sit there all alone and not have one urge to pull, and its while im on the computer or in the mirror or sitting watching tv that i get the most urges. Not encouraging you to 'not be sober' just being completly honest. i havent had a pull free day in so long, in liek years. I mean I wont have the urge if Im out, or if i'm with people, but im usually alone. It takes determintaion and will power. You have to notice when your doing it and be able to control the urge and say no. SOmetimes even yelling out the word NO!!! really loud (if your alone) can snap your mind back into not pulling. The only place I dont pull from is my lashes and i have really long beautiful lashes. And i get so paranoid that everytime i even touch my eyes i'm so scared i might accidently pull one out and "like it" like my scalp hair. And people that dont even have trich like to pull those random gray hairs so I wouldnt be too worried unless you find yourself, pulling more than just the gray ones or, the need to do it all the time.. Try dieing your hair or the roots if it become a problem, then there wont be any grays.

I agree with csteen, dye your hair. It will help you to stop.

I agree with csteen, the more you look at your grey hair the more you want to pull it out. I also felt itching on my grey hair I don't know if that was in my head or if it really itches or not. Anyway , that is a great idea to dye your hair. I have been reading a book that I baught at a national conference this past Feb. and it talks about the more you pull your hair, it will eventually grow grey because of the follicles or something that it damages your hair. Anyway, I also agree that this does not go away completely because I have been pulling for 28 years and when I started at 10 there were years where the pullking was very bad. they there were years when I went as long as 3 or 4 years without pulling. Then when something traumatic happened or situation in my life it came back. I had not been pull free for such a long time until I attended a TLC- conference in Texas and that changed my life completely it has been almost 5 months on the 24th. that I have been pull free. I learned so many good techniques and of course with the help of my therapist and undestanding of my husband. because now he understands my illness( happened this year). I think that is the main cure for me that I have his support. Before I was a mess because he didn't want to be seen with me, would give me awful looks, I just wanted to die and disappear form this world. Of course society didn't help. I would always make up stuff like, oh, due to my hormones my hair falls off. I had been wearing hair /head pieces that I hated but had no choice. Anyway, enough of the bad stuff. I have a full short hair but I feel FREE...at last from that horrible hair piece. My kids are my inspiration and I know I will be O.K. no matter what. I'm now prepared in case I have a set back with my pulling again.
hang in there because we are all different what works for one , may not work for others, or vise versa.

JROD.

Color the grays! It's a HUGE trigger. I had bald spots the size of silver dollars from where I'd pull the grays... and then they'd grow back... and I'd pull them again. Dying the hair slowed my pulling.

Trich doesn't get better with age. My dad is 85 and has a terrible case of it.

jrod, you sound exactly like me. I have gone a few years without pulling at all and then something extremely traumatic happened to me in 2007 and I started up again. I managed to pull out 75% of my hair. It was the darkest moment in my life. Still is.

thank you everyone for all the comments. Not to sound really snobbish or anything, but I have REALLY great hair , it's definitely my best feature. That is why I've never dyed it because I was afraid of damaging my hair and hair dressers told me I shouldn't.

And that is also why i'm terrified that my trich will "spread" to my scalp. It's probably the only feature that makes me feel good about myself and I don't know what I would do if i ruined my scalp hair. I guess I can get a spot treatment type of hair dye and just dye the gray hairs so I won't feel the need to pull them. My mom colors her own hair so maybe I'll get her to help me on this one.

It is very reassuring to know that some people have gone as long as 2 years pull free, even if you eventually pulled again. The most I have been pull free is maybe a few days.

And another question, I've read a couple people posting about TLC conferences? What exactly are those? What is involved? Does it help? When are they?

Its the Trichotillomania Learning Center.
The website is www.trich.org
I've never been to any of their conferences or retreats, because they do cost money and they are very far from me.

K1986,
I can understand your concerns about dying your hair and how you might not want to damage it. But maybe it's worth it in just a few small sections so that you don't develop a new area to pull from. I don't think you want to have your TTM spread to another place, especially your head. It's a very devastating condition as you know, and this is how it starts for many people.
If you don't want to dye it, can you try cutting only the white hairs? Pulling them is so dangerous. :{

I pull from my eyebrows mainly but I HATE the gray or white hairs I have developed on my head. I'm only 22 but I have a small patch of white on the right side of my head but more toward the front where it is noticable. I started pulling those about 2 years ago. It had gotten to the point where I was developing a bald spot. I managed to regrow some of them but I definitely have more white hairs now than I did 2 years ago. I still pull some. I don't like the textural difference. They seem to be thicker. I tried dying my hair in the past and this seemed to help...until they grow out and then of course, you have to dye it again. I hope you find a solution that works for you. I understand your concerns about not wanting to damage your hair but if it can keep you from pulling then I think it would certainly be worth a try. The damage you could do by pulling would likely be greater than the damage from dying you hair.