Daughter pulling out hair

[Mugaloaf]

DD, 11, has recently started pulling her hair out. She says she likes the feel and she likes looking at the skin at the end. She says she can't stop.

I'm not really sure what to do. Please let me know what worked for you if you've had experience of this.

TIA

Mugaloaf, my daughter was the same, it actually turned out to be low iron / ferritin levels meant her hair came out easily she pulled and wasn’t painful. She was the same pulling constantly but once her iron levels were up she stopped as it became painful. Might be worth asking doctors to check her levels, good luck!

Thanks @Wootothewho . She decided to be a vegetarian in December, so that is definitely something to have a look at.

It's called Trichotillomania. Is contact a go for help before it gets to bad

Gp even

Its called trichotillomania, spelling might be wrong! Have a look online for strategies to help her stop, cutting hair quite short can help, but doctors first. It is considered self harming behaviour, I remember a doctor asking if everything was ok at home but for me it was more of a compulsive thing. After it was out in the open I stopped and the great thing about hair is it grows back. Good luck to your DD

@Mugaloaf it’s well worth getting some blood tests to rule out, my daughter decided to become vegetarian too but wasn’t great at eating food higher in iron . We had to put mitts on my daughters hands at night as she even did it in her sleep, it stopped once her levels were normal.

Is it just the hair on her head?

I think it's more of a compulsive thing for her too. She's asked me for help to stop we talked about distractions, but pulling out eyebrows or picking her nails are the only two things she feels will stop her pulling the hair from her head.

I'll book an appointment with the GP.

Thanks for all your help.

An elastic band on her wrist and everytime she has that need to pull she should ping the elastic band. Worth a try. I hair pulled as a child and I remember the feeling was almost addictive. I'd also contact the gp

Just popping back to say thank you all for your advice. I've spoken to the GP and she's given some great advice. 🤞🏽