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TAKEN FROM LUCINDA ELLERYS WEB PAGE
HISTORY
This first client that Lucinda Ellery saw with trich - way back at the
start of her business in the 1980s - was overwhelmed with relief when
she realised that she was not mad as she had feared but was suffering
from an identifiable medical condition that has a name - trich. The
woman was delighted to learn that she could be helped, and that she was
not the only one in the world with such a guilty and self-destructive secret.
Such is the shame and horror involved with being compelled by your own
body - but against your best will - to tear out your crowning glory that
women who do so have no one to share it with, no one to confide in, and
are unable to free themselves from the grip of a compulsion that they
consider their own fault.Trich is thought to affect as many as 2% of the world's overall population, with an
estimated 1 million sufferers in Britain. Given that there are around 47,000 family
doctors in the UK, the average GP probably has 30 affected patients on his list, few of
whom will have come forward about their condition. As many as 6 million to 8 million people
suffer from trich in the United States. One study of college students found that probably six out of every 1,000 might develop this disorder at some time during their lives. Trich is therefore much more common than previously thought - yet many people who pull their hair are convinced they are the only ones with the problem.
Most people with trich experience negative feelings about themselves and their bad habit, day in and day out, for years and years and years. However at Lucinda Ellery we know there is much than can be done to help break the hair pulling habit, to shield the remaining hair from damage and to help the pulled hair regrow.One of the many advantages of using the Volumiser, as developed by Lucinda Ellery, is that this individually-tailored system locks into your remaining hair and acts as a physical barrier, covering the site of attack. The Volumiser is not a womans wig or a hair weave, nor does it involve bonding or stitching anything to the scalp, so it does not distress or diminish any of your remaining hair. It is a system that is integrated in an organic way with your very own hair. Because our pioneering system is based on a special mesh design that allows your own hair to grow through it, it shields the site on your scalp under attack from further damage by frantic, plucking fingers. This restricted access to the area that is being damaged allows the hair both time and space to regrow. At the same time the client using the Volumiser finds her self-esteem and wellbeing boosted by the positive experience of sporting a lovely head of hair that looks and feels just like her own, in a fashionable style and colour of her choice, as she starts the journey of learning to recognise and manage her trich triggers.At Lucinda Ellery we treat not only your hair but implement a study programme of counselling, self-help, and calming measures - ranging from yoga to meditation to herbal nutritional aids, as well as reading books aimed at helping people overcome life's challenges - all targeted at helping you take charge of your hair challenge. We also like to introduce those with trich to one another, as we find that for most women it is a true breakthrough when they meet others with the same hair challenge. There is nothing quite as healing as being able to be open about the condition with someone else suffering the same challenge. Our programme is geared towards changing the way the trich sufferer thinks, thus changing their way of behaviour, resulting in their looking and feeling very different. Some trich patients in Britain are already receiving similar help via the national health service (NHS) - but there is still much to be done to increase awareness of the condition. We are all accepting of women who suffer from anorexia, bulimia - but we have yet to understand that trich is a related syndrome and deserves just the same sympathetic treatment to try to break a self-destructive habit.As part of her tailored programme of trich management, Lucinda Ellery supplements the physical boost the Volumiser gives to looks and confidence with one-to-one individual counselling support sessions. Even if they have been pulling for more than half a lifetime, the average woman on the Lucinda Ellery trich management programme will be in control of her habit within 12 to 36 months.DISEASE OR DISORDER?
Trichotillomania is officially classed as an impulse-control disorder in which
there is:Recurrent pulling out of one's hair resulting in noticeable hair loss.
An increasing sense of tension immediately before pulling out the hair
or when trying to resist an attack.
Pleasure, gratification or relief of tension when pulling out the hair.
No evidence of hallucinations or delusions.
The name trichotillomania is misleading, however, as it implies that someone who
pulls out their hair is manic or psychotic. Some researchers suggest that it would be
better classified as a compulsive disorder. At Lucinda Ellery we agree. Most adult
hair-pullers report low self-esteem, feeling unattractive, isolated and peculiar as a result of this disorder. They feel stressed and describe their hair-pulling as a release of the tension they are under. Their anxiety may increase soon afterwards, however, out of fear of losing control and becoming completely bald. Many even contemplate suicide to escape this personal monster. Many women fear seeking medical help in case it confirms their worst nightmare - up until the moment of confession, everyone else thought they were normal and they do not want to be labelled a freak. Even having summoned the strength to seek professional advice, doctors often give unhelpful responses such as telling the sufferer to "pull yourself together and just stop", or "get a life and get a wig". If only it were as simple as that. Few doctors have knowledge of trich - partly because there is little information available on the subject, and because patients with the condition are often, understandably, reluctant to seek treatment.Tricho is a wide-ranging condition with a broad spectrum of symptoms. Those who pull their hair may pluck it from their scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, legs or even pubic area - anywhere where hair is present. This can lead to small areas of hair loss or complete baldness. Most people pull hair from more than one site on the body. Some may also bite their nails or pick at their skin, which can lead to scarring, disfigurement and chronic skin conditions. Some people will also, on occasion, pull hair from another member of the family such as as a child, even a pet or teddy bear. Some feel compelled to eat the pulled hair, leading researchers to link the condition to a lack of iron, as hair-eating in infancy has occasionally been linked with iron deficiency and the activity stops once this is corrected.THE EFFECTS OF HAIR PULLING
Hair pulling can have other, unexpected physical side-effects. One adult
patient had to have four gum operations, the last one removing a large
part of her hip to repair the roof of her mouth where the follicle had
embedded into her gums and started a new journey up into the brainpan.
Often, hair pulling is absentminded, such as when concentrating on ordinary,
harmless pastimes like reading or watching television. At other times
however, the hair is pulled out with concentration and deliberation - usually
when alone. Some sufferers describe entering a trancelike, almost meditative,
state when hair pulling, where they lose all track of time and their surroundings.
They describe searching for the right hairs to pull. These feel different and demand
attentive absorption. Plucking fingers may return again and again to a favourite area
of scalp. Most people use their fingers to pull hair, but it is not unknown to use a pair
of tweezers or other implements. At the onset of trich the activity may hurt, but
once the hair root has been plucked several times the skin seems to become
desensitised, as anyone who shapes their eyebrows or waxes their legs will testify. The hair pulling then becomes soothing, comforting or pleasurable, which may explain why the behaviour continues, only to be followed by severe shame and self-blame, and so the cycle continues.The length of a hair pulling attack can vary greatly from person to person and time to time. A mild attack may only last from three to 30 minutes, while an intense attack may last up to three hours. During an extreme attack of hair pulling, a sufferer may clear a whole head of hair within five hours. It seems to be very important for the hair to be extracted complete with its root. If the shaft snaps and the root is left behind, sufferers report feelings of intense frustration and lack of fulfilment. Many who pluck play with their hair afterwards by pulling it through the mouth, teeth or hands. The root may be bitten off and eaten, or the whole hair swallowed, in what is known as trichophagia. This can lead to the build-up of indigestible hair balls in the stomach, called trichobezoars. The most famous case occurred in 1779, when a 16-year-old youth was described as pulling out his own and other's hair, and subsequently eating it. He died from complications resulting from the abdominal obstruction caused after he formed a large intestinal trichobezoar. Our ancient instincts are not far removed at times from cats, who also collect dangerous furballs from cleaning themselves.Trich affects families, not just the individual who pulls their hair, who often becomes the focus of attention and may feel like a freak when relatives, friends, and even healthcare professionals cannot understand why it is impossible to just simply pull themselves together and stop. The activity may be viewed as manipulative, seeking attention, or as a sign of conflicts or childhood abuse. Family members may swing from feelings of helplessness to anger to disowning the individual out of a sense of shame by proxy. Some pullers are so adept at hiding their condition that the family may be unaware of the problem, or its members in such denial that the behaviour may never be discussed at all. People with trich or members of their immediate families may have other symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder such as compulsive checking, hand-washing, or obsessive cleanliness. There may even be evidence of stress-linked irritable bowel syndrome. It also seems to be linked with Tourette syndrome, in which there are obsessive compulsive behaviours, "tics", compulsive body movements and utterances that are often obscene. These three conditions - trichotillomania, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, and Tourette syndrome, may occur in the same family, although they seem to involve different chemicals and areas in the brain.
HOW TO DEAL WITH TRICHO
It is important not to scold or punish a child because of hair-pulling, as this
often makes tricho worse and has lifelong effects on self-esteem.
Watch your child non-critically, to establish which activities seem to trigger
tricho, such as watching television or settling down to sleep. Then, when the
child is in these vulnerable situations, encourage them to establish an
alternative, non-damaging routine such as squashing a soft toy between their
fingers, or playing with a piece of velvet. Praise the child for the alternative
habit until the pattern of pulling has changed. Patience and acceptance are
essential. It can help to use warm Vaseline - place some in the palm of your
hand and warm it with a hairdryer - and run this through the child's hair,
explaining that it is a conditioner or tonic. The Vaseline coats the hair and makes it
difficult to get a firm grip to pluck a hair. Some parents find it helpful to experiment
with giving their child a shorter hairstyle that keeps it away from the face and fingers.
Short hair is not always the answer, however, and may make the problem worse as children feel they are being punished. Parents have even resorted to shaving their child's head in the hope of breaking the habit. This can be successful for boys, on whom a skinhead cut may be acceptable, but in girls it can trigger playground bullying and being called names. A young child may also fail to understand why you have deprived them of their hair.Tricho management is difficult, mainly because its triggers are unknown and may differ from person to person. There are few psychiatrists or psychologists experienced in treating tricho, but it could be useful to assess whether an underlying problem such as depression or anxiety is fuelling the compulsive hair-pulling. If pulling can be stopped, hair may grow back normally, over time. There seems to be a 50% chance that pulled hair will have a different colour or texture to its original state, and this change may be temporary or permanent. Occasionally, scalp scarring occurs as a result of constant traction, in which case the hair loss may be permanent.