My Struggle with Trich by Lauren, 19 from New York
Hi, my name is Lauren and I suffer from trichotillomania.
I started pulling my eyelashes when I was 10-11 because I was leaving a small elementary school where I recognized everyone’s face and going to a middle school that was made up of 10 elementary schools. That was very stressful for me and so my trich began. My middle school years were brutal-I was teased often because of my size(short),my hair color(strawberry blond) and my teachers were unnecessarily harsh with me. I came home everyday in tears. By now, my eyelashes were gone so I was biting my nails and picking at my skin (usually my legs). Unfortunately for me, one of my best friends came up with the idea of tweezing my eyebrows.
Well, let’s just say that I took that to an extreme. At one point during high school, my eyebrows were pretty much gone. When I was in 7th or 8th grade, my parents forced me to see my school psychologist who then told me I had repressed emotions. While it’s true I repress(ed) my emotions, I didn’t get my official diagnosis with trich until my sophomore year!
More years of high school until my parents sent me to another psychologist. When I was in 8th grade, I went to get my hair cut for my Confirmation and while I was there, the hair stylist freaked out saying: “Oh my goodness! Come look at this girl! She has no eyelashes or eyebrows! What a freak!” Let’s just say I didn’t get my hair professionally cut again until my freshman year of college.
High school was a smoother transition, but I continuously pulled my eyelashes and tweezed my eyebrows. I did cross-country and track the first 2 years of high school and while stretching I noticed patches of hair I missed shaving, so I started on my legs. I no longer wear shorts due to my scars all over my legs. I also began dating…and let’s just say my (now ex) boyfriend wasn’t the best choice for me- very abusive. I haven’t had a boyfriend since then since then.
Although I still have trich, I never took meds and I’ve reduced my pulling dramatically. I actually wear mascara now! I have eyebrows that look somewhat like normal eyebrows. I still tweeze them and I still pull the hair on my legs, but the pulling is really good. I stopped pulling at night by wearing gloves to sleep. I’m trying to find a way to sort of cover up all of the angry looking red scars on my legs so I can wear shorts again one day. I’m almost 20 this year and it’ll be a decade of
trichotillomania.
Add comment April 10th, 2009
