As women who have navigated the challenging waters of chronic hair pulling, your guides here at HFHP understand that finding effective ways to manage this condition is a deeply personal journey.
There's no universal remedy, or a silver bullet that works for every person, but
those of us living with trich become our own best experts at discovering what truly works for our individual needs.
Your HFHP guides have learned a lot along the way, and that's why we recommend assembling a self-care kit to help reduce hair-pulling flare-ups.
A self-care kit consists of
tailored strategies and remedies that you personally find helpful during difficult times so that your urges to pull become less frequent and overwhelming. It's more than just a collection of items—it's a proactive approach to managing your emotions and reactions, empowering you to handle the urges to pull your hair with calm effectiveness.
Building your self-care kit is not just about combating trichotillomania—it's about embracing conscious choices in adopting a lifestyle that enhances your overall wellbeing while connecting you to a community of women who share your experiences and support your ongoing healing.
1. Keep Your Hands BusyCarry items like fidget spinners or stress balls. Engaging your hands can help divert the urge to pull. Even something as simple as popping bubble wrap can provide enough distraction during critical moments, or putting a rubber band around your wrist that you snap when the urge hits you.
2. Creative ExpressionsEmbrace activities that absorb your attention such as drawing, knitting, or journaling. These not only keep your hands busy but also allow emotional expression, reducing the stress that can lead to pulling.
For example, in our course called
UnTrick YourselfTM, we give participants a free Mandala coloring book that you can use multiple times to help calm your mind while creating art as a self-care practice.
3. Soothing Textures
Include items with pleasing textures in your kit. A velvet scrunchie, a smooth stone, or a textured bracelet can offer sensory comfort and a tactile distraction from hair pulling. Many of us keep a textured brush in our shower too, that we can use instead of scratching or pulling.
4. Physical Activity
Incorporate regular exercise into your routine. Physical activity is a powerful stress reliever and can decrease the intensity of pulling urges. Walks in nature, daily yoga, and other calming restorative practices can help you release anxiety and while naturally lowering inflammation within your body.
Short on time?
Go out into your yard or a park, take off your shoes and let your bare feet snuggle into the grass as you relax with some deep breaths.
Then let us know how you feel!
5. Mindfulness Practices
Try guided meditation or mindfulness apps. Focusing on your breath or engaging in mindfulness can center your thoughts and calm impulsivity.
6. Breathing Exercises
Simple techniques like deep breathing that you learn in yoga classes can be a quick way to calm your nervous system when you feel the urge to pull.
7. Anti-inflammatory Foods
Since diet can affect inflammation and consequently your emotional health, including anti-inflammatory foods like berries, nuts, and green leafy vegetables while maintaining a diet that is low in sugar, carbs, alcohol and caffeine has been shown to help women reduce their hair pulling urges.
8. Journaling
Keep a journal in your kit to track your triggers and successes. Writing down your thoughts and feelings can be incredibly therapeutic. If you don’t want to journal in a physical book, try online apps like Penza for a journal that you can keep on your phone.
9. Counting Exercises
When you feel an urge, chances are you’ll be sitting down. Stand up, moving your body as you make fists while counting to 100. Concentrate on each number and visualize it. This method helps break you away from a "zone out" to shift your focus away from pulling.
10. Community Connection
Engage with other women who understand what you're going through. Sharing stories and strategies can provide comfort and new ideas for managing trich.
To help integrate practices like above into your daily life, we also give you a free Self-Care Bingo card when you enroll in our self-help course, UnTrick YourselfTM.
This fun and engaging tool prompts you to choose different self-care activities each day, ensuring that you are taking proactive steps to soothe your body, mind, and spirit. In turn, self-care helps manage the triggers that contribute to hair-pulling flare-ups.
Healing from Hair Pulling offers health education and customized support programs for women who have trichotillomania. We understand how chronic hair pulling makes you feel because our team members all have TTM too!
HFHP’s evidence-based, peer-led educational program called UnTrick Yourself™ incorporates personalized support plans and a friendly private community—all designed to help you better manage your symptoms while uplifting how you feel—physically, emotionally, and in spirit.
Our affordable, holistic education gets to the root of the issue, as we explain TTM causes and triggers, diet changes that can reduce flare-ups, daily self-care actions, and ways to create a caring support team who helps you heal, alongside therapy and medication.
Join us at healingfromhairpulling.com and take the first step on your journey toward healing.
Together, let’s find what works best for you!
