When I turned 13 almost 3 years ago, my parents got a divorce and I developed a bad habbit... I used to think it was just a phase but after a whole year of doing it, my parents got me some counsiling. I have been in counciling for about 3 years, and it's not helping, I still pull my hair, I dunno if you do this too, but after I pull my hair out, i'll put it in my mouth and bite on it, all the kids at school make fun of me and laugh at how I look... I'm pretty other than my hair, my good friends tell me it looks like I just have short hair... Others have called me some very rude names. I 've tried so manythings to quit, but I still haven't found the right thing... Here's a list of things i've tried some may or may not work on you, I wish you the best.
1.) gum- always having a piece of gum in my mouth
2.) rubberband on my wrist- snap yourself everytime you catch yourself doing it
3.) writting, coloring, painting- something to keep your hands busy.
4.) having parents, friends, or anyone let you know when you're doing it.
5.) hair extensions- they're really expensive, but when I got mine all I could think about was how good it felt to have long hair again. That worked for a while.
6.) painting your fingernails so it's harder to grab a piece of hair.
7.) wearing bandages around your finger that you pull with so it's harder.
8.) having somthing smooth in your hands like a small rock or something to rub on whenever you feel an urge
9.) a mouth guard, if you bite it, then it's almost impossible to do it with one in.
10.) having a pen or pencil to fiddle with when you get an urge.
11.) having your parents punish you from something that you love, or do everyday.
12.) wearing a hat- so you can't get to your hair.
13.) wearing gloves so it's hard to pull.
14.) brushing your teeth constantly.
15.) taking showers constantly, so you hair doesn't feel the same when you pull it.
16.) wearing gel or something to make your hair harder to pull .
17.) picking up a hobby, something that can keep you busy, like running, playing a sport, playing the computer, or something like that.
18.) counsiling may work for you, but so far it hasn't worked for me.
19.) getting hypnotized to stop, I only tried this a couple times, and gave up, but some people say it takes more than a couple days to start working.
20.) try to reward yourself when you don't do it. Say if you don't do it for a whole day then you can go out and buy yourself something, or you parents can take you out to eat.
21.) antidepressant pills, also, an add medison like ridolen or straterra may work I knew a lady who took ridolen and stopped right away, didn't even have to try.
22.) if you're religious, pray... I'm not but I tried praying for a while.
23.)don't avoid doing things because you're afraid of what people might think about you, i've learned that if you're out doing something, it keeps you busy.
I'm no professional, but if I can help, that's what I want to do. If you've tried anthing different than me let me know, and if I think of anymore i'll sure as heck let you know. I kow I always feel like a loner, like nobodyelse know how I feel , or what i'm going through. But getting around that helps a little knowing that you're not the only one in the world.Let me know if any of these things helped you, keep my updated.
<3 <3
