Recently i've developed this obsession with plucking hairs. I usually go to the salon and get a full Brazilian wax done (ouch!  ) but even after all that i still find a few random stray hairs so i break out my hello kitty tweezers and get to work. It's become such a daily routine for me that i actually kinda enjoy finding any hairs and plucking them, i even keep a pair of tweezers in my car so when im in traffic or waiting for someone i have something to do.


         I read online about a plucking obsession called "Trichotillomania" which im starting to think i have lol so im wondering if anyone else here does this too or knows of someone that does & what did you do to stop yourself from tweezing? I hate body hair!! ugh im thinking about just getting lazer done on my arms and legs to curb this obsession. Now that im done removing my facial hair perm body hair removal seems like the next thing on my list of things to do.     

Quote from: Adele on August 10, 2011, 04:20:00 PM
It's not just you. I always seem to find new ones. I keep telling myself that one day, I'll only have hair on my scalp. hehe

  Lol ikr 

i am right there with you, I am seriously begining to develop a compulsion

Quote from: Rachael on August 10, 2011, 05:10:07 PM
i am right there with you, I am seriously begining to develop a compulsion

I'm trying to stop cuz i read if you do it to often and don't pluck the hairs right that you will develope red bumps and even busted veins underneth the skin. 

I know it can cause problems, but having hair not on my head, hurts me mentally So yeah, I break out the tweezers and epilator a fair bit, I also wax sometimes. I really want to be able to afford some laser sometime soon!

But, yeah, obsession? I think I am developing one.

Quote from: Forever21Chic on August 10, 2011, 05:24:23 PM
I'm trying to stop cuz i read if you do it to often and don't pluck the hairs right that you will develope red bumps and even busted veins underneth the skin. 

That's what caused me to stop... at first, the tweezed areas looked pretty good and stayed smooth.  But then I started getting some serious red bumps.  They hurt so bad that I stopped tweezing anything but random hairs (unless they're on my face, where I get laser/electrolysis).

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on August 10, 2011, 06:03:49 PM
That's what caused me to stop... at first, the tweezed areas looked pretty good and stayed smooth.  But then I started getting some serious red bumps.  They hurt so bad that I stopped tweezing anything but random hairs (unless they're on my face, where I get laser/electrolysis).

   My roomate hid my tweezers from me and said if i need to do my eyebrows she'll do them for me, little does she know i have a pair in my car. 

Quote from: Forever21Chic on August 10, 2011, 11:26:00 PM
My roomate hid my tweezers from me and said if i need to do my eyebrows she'll do them for me, little does she know i have a pair in my car. 

  Well done!

My eyebrows are the one place I DO tweeze religiously, even though I tweeze nothing else.  About a minute or less every day keeps them totally shaped and groomed without spending a penny to have it done elsewhere.  Though other parts of my body responded with red bumps, my eyebrows have never had a red bump or ingrown hair after two years of tweezing.

Some people wonder why I tweeze my eyebrows and then darken them with black eyeshadow, but it's because my eyebrows are naturally close to blond, like the hair on my head was until I was about 13.  They look funny if they're not darkened.

I tweeze daily... Not only do the unwanted hairs bother me, but the alienation that I feel from the world including some of the crap dished out here on the forums tends to be a big driver

Yanking some of the most painful hairs actually feels good after dealing with various issues and reading some posts 

Well, I pluck like crazy. My grandma pluck so much that her eyebrows quit growig. I was hoping the same would work for my facial hair. Plucking one at a time can be a job. My son got me a pair of tweesers that can grab 15 to 20 hairs at a time. So now I cluster pluck my face and some has stopped growing. I went last week and has my face waxed. I still have no hair on my face. If it stays gone for next week or so I may do it again. I was spenting 4 to 5 hours a day plucking.

I've had two sessions of laser on my legs, bikini line, chest & stomach, arms and underarms.

It's quite effective and much less painful than facial laser (10 sessions so far).

I recommend it, though it is expensive. I should just start HRT instead but I can't muster up the courage. I'm ambivalent.

* Yanking some of the most painful hairs actually feels good after dealing with various issues and reading some posts *

Thanks for that tip V M!
Think in need to do that to re-focus from some of the crap, as you say. Hope it will work as it does for you.

I had gone through this plucking "obsession" at one stage, tried to hunt down all this stuff, on bikini, legs, face, etc.

Then it just have seemed to stop one day. I'm good with that, so I just let it grow out and have legs and bikini waxed every 1 1/2 month.
The point here is, that most nobody then ourselves see that stuff, so actually WHY bother?

Also, what helped, I looked at may ex's arms a while ago and they were more hairy then mine.

So I ask: what are we trying to prove here by all this plucking? (like that neurotic parrot in his cage? :-)

The only area left now is my face and my regimen is THU electrolysis 1 hr, epilate left over, pluck most of the rest. Then +/- every second day revisit with tweezers, then no more plucking for 4 days before next weeks electrolysis, so the stuff can be better seen and gripped for electrolysis.

I do feel this will be something to go on for ever... I don't even try to see the end of it.
Due to 99.9% white hair I can do that. I have no beard shadow - never had really.

Axelle

Quote from: Forever21Chic on August 10, 2011, 04:10:11 PM

so im wondering if anyone else here does this too or knows of someone that does & what did you do to stop yourself from tweezing? I hate body hair!! ugh im thinking about just getting lazer done on my arms and legs to curb this obsession. Now that im done removing my facial hair perm body hair removal seems like the next thing on my list of things to do.     

I was like you before my purchasing the Tria home laser system. Nowadays, I do not pluck, but shave once or twice per month. When seeing some hairs, I just zap them with the Tria.

Barbie~~

Quote from: barbie on August 12, 2011, 04:36:08 PM
I was like you before my purchasing the Tria home laser system. Nowadays, I do not pluck, but shave once or twice per month. When seeing some hairs, I just zap them with the Tria.

Barbie~~

where did you get it from? How much did you pay for it?

Quote from: jainie marlena on August 21, 2011, 01:55:42 PM
where did you get it from? How much did you pay for it?

A Nordstrom store located in Portland, US. The price was $495.
Also you can purchase it online: www.triabeauty.com

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,97170.msg715119.html#msg715119
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,86125.msg616755.html#msg616755

Barbie~~

Sounds like something I'll have to do if I ever transition :p

I find it to be almost meditative. Zen Plucking Meditation.

But seriously, though. When I'm doing my eyebrows and chest, it's a very relaxing time but still very focused. It's one of those moments where it's quiet, I'm alone, and there's only me and the tweezers and the radio.

In the first couple months I was obsessive about plucking and epilating because I wanted to reach the stage where it grew in thinner if it grew in at all. I kind of overshot the mark and ended up with hair so fine that I get bad ingrowns because they're just not tough enough to push through on their own. But it was never a "oh no, I'm overdoing it and need to stop!" realization. Instead, it felt more like I had plateaued at maintenance of the level that I had wanted all along, so the frequency and thoroughness of my epilating has dropped dramatically.

Still, though, maintaining my eyebrows is the one part of my hygiene routine that I enjoy.

Quote from: Adele on August 11, 2011, 12:55:23 PM
I'm sorry, but that made me laugh really hard. 

I thought it would make someone laugh. I giggled when I wrote it. Lol.

I brought a smile to my face, too - alongside a wince at the thought of actually doing it . Though it does sort of sound like being attacked by a flock of chickens...

Quote from: Padma on August 31, 2011, 07:04:17 AM
I brought a smile to my face, too - alongside a wince at the thought of actually doing it . Though it does sort of sound like being attacked by a flock of chickens...

its not so bad after you get used to it. I got my face waxed last month to see if it would be better than plucking. It was faster. I even think it lasted longer. But it felt like she was ripping my face off. I thank she liked doing her job. I plain to go back for more. I'm starting to realize beauty is pain. Lol