Well shiznat, I'm not the only one here. I've had it since I was 13 (tends to kick in around puberty I've heard) and still do to this day, though I've never told anyone about it. Only a couple times have I pulled huge bald spots into my head, then I just made up an excuse ("I couldn't stop scatching a really bad mosquito bite").

I don't know if you can ever totally get over it, but I have periods a few days on and a few days off where I can and can't control it. It seems so weired because there's no anxiety about stopping, it just creates an irresistable urge to start pulling as soon as I touch my hair. I can also substitute it by digging my nails into my scalp and scatching off skin, but I choose the other one most of the time since it's less damaging (as I learned when I was younger).

I've leared a few things over the years that might help some people here with it.

- Constantly change the area you do it in so you don't make a really obvious bald spot.

- keeps your nails cut really short at all times. Doesn't stop it, but makes it a lot less comfortable and thus makes the practice a lot less enjoyable.

- Play video games or something else to keep your hands busy.

- When I find myself doing it the first place my brain goes to is "Fuck it! It's not going to hurt just to do it a little..... I'll just do it at this spot a bit..... Just one more pull then I'll stop; ok one more, ok one more, ok one more...."
Every reason to justify it to yourself. Recently though I've become really vigilant about reafirming certain points to myself, even if I keep doing it while saying them, mainly "It's NOT OK to do it just once. Once is a failure. Once will aggrivate the mental condition. Once is the same as a million times, it's just as bad."
I frequently don't even notice I'm doing it, but as soon as I do I start reafirming these points.

- If I gel my hair, I can get the (pseudo) satisfaction from just playing with it without pulling.

- I've also found it helps to put 4 fingers into my hair and just run them through pulling through the tangles, but gently enough so I'm not pulling anything out. The regular practice would be with nails, so this is a good substitute.


Also I was wondering if anybody has the same reasons for doing it that I do. It started when I was 13 and noticed there were textural inconsistancies in my hair, like little tiny bumps where it wasn't smooth. It's probably split ends, or just where 2 (or more) hairs intersect at different angles. But the compulsion isn't actually to remove the hair, it's to pull out these little inconsistencies. Is that why you guys do it?