Blogger, Andrea from Happy While Healing Disorders gives 5 simple tips to stop the urge to pull your hair.

She writes, “If you’re like me, you can spend hours (and I mean HOURS) pulling out your hair. Whether you’re working or watching Netflix, hair pulling can catch you at any time of the day. You know you shouldn’t be doing it, but it feels too good to stop, right?! 

One of the hardest parts of your healing journey is catching the urge to pull before you do it. Here’s how in five easy steps. You’ll no longer be controlled by trichotillomania and that’s what healing is all about!”

Why mindfulness matters for Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB)?

Being mindful of your emotions and behavior means slowing down and choosing to choose another behavior before the hair pulling urge takes over. 

Two keys to stop hair pulling:

1.     Catching yourself before the urge gets too strong

2.     Learning to regulate your emotions

 Here’s how to do both through mindfulness:

5 Mindfulness Tips to Stop Hair Pulling:

1. Observe yourself and detach 

Observation is powerful, my friends!! 

If you observe yourself at times when you usually pull, you’ll learn to detach from yourself and ultimately, the behavior. 

Detaching from your worries and problems will lower the intensity of your emotions that cause you to pull hair. 

You can do this by referring to yourself in the 3rd person. 

 Instead of saying, “I’m working on this hard project and I’m super stressed.” Say, “She’s working on a project and she’s feeling stressed but pulling her hair won’t help.”

Feel the detachment?

It works because when you talk about yourself in the 3rd person, you can see your situation more objectively.

2. Take 5 slow, deep breaths 

Take 5 slow breaths whenever you feel the urge to pull. You’re like pressing a reset button to help you feel more balanced and calmer. You can then take it to the next level and meditate for 3 minutes a day. 

Meditating, even for a short time can train your mind to be still despite the hectic emotions you’re feeling.

This is a powerful practice to master if you have trichotillomania.

This study showed that meditation can reduce stress, make you present, and put a stop to destructive thoughts. If you want to learn how to meditate with anxiety, click here to read my post. 

3. Sound the alarm when your hand raises to pull your hair

Another tip to be more mindful of your hair pulling urge is to be caught off guard by it!

 It’s a quick and easy way to be reminded of what you’re doing. 

How? You can wear the HabitAware Keen bracelet (designed to vibrate your wrist when you go to pull your hair) or any bracelet that has lots of charms that’ll jingle to wake up your brain from the trance-like state trichotillomania can provoke.

4. Use tapping for trichotillomania  

I first got introduced to EFT (tapping) from my therapist and it really worked for me! 

According to this awesome article on tapping for trichotillomania, freedom tapping techniques helped people with anxiety more than CBT did. 

You use your fingers, palms, or fists to tap on different pressure points of your body. It’s derived from ancient Chinese acupuncture. 

Do this to release tension in your body. Instead of hair pulling, tap! 

Here are some pressure points you can tap on:

• Scalp

• Eyebrows

• Temples

• Chest

• Under the knees

Tapping to cure trichotillomania may sound crazy, but many people have done it. Liz Fisher from Tap Into Health, LLC is a great resource. Each time I felt my anxiety rise, I would tap on my eyebrows and feel my body calm down!! Highly recommend you test it! 

5. Write in a journal

This is one of my favorite mindfulness tips for trichotillomania. Journaling has helped me lower my hair pulling so much! 

You can journal whenever you feel anxious or after you pull your hair. 

Here are the best ways to journal to raise BFRB awareness:

·        Writing freely about your thoughts and worries 

·        Brainstorming solutions to problems 

·        Daily or weekly tracking your mood, urges, and pulling

Checking in with how you feel and seeing it on paper is life-changing!! You’ll feel a sense of release!

Remember, being aware of your actions and your feelings before the hair pulling starts is key. You got this!!

Author Bio:

Andrea is in her mid-20s who had trichotillomania since high school. With stress from school and having high expectations, she never knew that hair pulling would be so comforting. After years of feeling hopeless, she finally learned how to take her healing journey seriously. Now, Andrea has gone months without hair pulling and is on her mission to help other girls do the same. You can find her on her blog Happy While Healing Disorders.