{"id":559076,"date":"2026-03-25T05:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559076\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T05:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:39:13","slug":"like-millions-of-others-i-pull-my-own-hair-out-we-need-to-talk-about-trichotillomania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559076\/","title":{"rendered":"Like millions of others, I pull my own hair out – we need to talk about trichotillomania"},"content":{"rendered":"

An online content creator who has a compulsive hair-pulling disorder says others with the condition “shouldn’t be ashamed” or “feel embarrassed”.<\/p>\n

Ruben Chorlton-Owen, 24, from Abersoch in Gwynedd, has trichotillomania, also known as trich or TTM. The condition causes him to obsessively pluck his beard or eyebrows when anxious or bored.<\/p>\n

Trichotillomania is believed to affect 1-2% of the population,<\/a> according to research published in the scientific journal Nature.<\/p>\n

Clare Mackay, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, said the condition could be very severe and result in people pulling out all of their hair.<\/p>\n

Ruben, who was diagnosed with trichotillomania 10 years ago, said at his lowest point he pulled out most of the hairs on his eyebrows.<\/p>\n

“I remember looking in the mirror thinking ‘what have I done?’ I began avoiding photos and sometimes wore a cap to hide thinning patches,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If people asked what had happened, I would joke about a shaving mishap rather than admit the real reason.”<\/p>\n

Ruben, who has more than a million followers on TikTok, hopes that by speaking out about his condition he will show others that they are not alone.<\/p>\n

“It is a real thing that people shouldn’t be ashamed of or feel embarrassed about,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Just be happy with yourself and if you want to have a look online or reach out to some charities or even myself, feel free.”<\/p>\n

What is trichotillomania?<\/p>\n

Trichotillomania is when someone cannot resist pulling out their hair.<\/p>\n

They may pull out the hair on their head or in other places, such as their eyebrows or eyelashes, according to the NHS.<\/p>\n

The condition usually starts between the ages of 10 and 13 years old.<\/p>\n

It is one of a family of disorders known as body-focused repetitive behaviours, or BFRBs, like biting nails or picking at skin.<\/p>\n

Roughly half of people with the condition never seek treatment, according to University of Oxford research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Ruben<\/p>\n

Ruben’s partner Amber says she has learned ways to help Ruben control his condition [BBC]<\/p>\n

Ruben’s partner Amber Phillips said she first became aware of Ruben’s trichotillomania when they were watching TV.<\/p>\n

“I’d notice he would always be pulling his hairs, and I’d say ‘what are you doing?’ and it was quite often, more often than a normal habit. He’d say ‘I can’t stop doing it’.”<\/p>\n

She said she was pleased that Ruben had decided to speak publicly about it.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s really good that he’s spreading awareness,” said Amber.<\/p>\n

“I’m really proud of him and it’s a really brave thing to do, to come out and speak about something that you’re insecure about and that you do keep hidden.”<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Clare Mackay has written about her own experience of trichotillomania [Clare Mackay]<\/p>\n

Clare Mackay has lived with trichotillomania for 40 years and now works in partnership with the support group BFRB UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n

Her new book, Keep Your Hair On: Understanding Urges to Pick, Pull and Bite, is based on her personal experience and years of research into body-focused repetitive behaviours.<\/p>\n

“It’s normal grooming behaviour to pick and pull and bite a bit,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But it can be very severe – people can pull out all of their hair. Different people are triggered by different things. It’s fundamentally a self-soothing behaviour.”<\/p>\n

She described trichotillomania as a chronic condition, but said it could be managed.<\/p>\n

“There are therapists that offer particular therapies, but self-help strategies can be just as effective. And one of the best ones is finding other people who suffer with the same thing.”<\/p>\n

Meryl Da Costa-Rohland works for TrichStop, a programme that treats trichotillomania.<\/p>\n

She said many different techniques could help people with the condition.<\/p>\n

“Most of us know about cognitive behavioral therapy which can help address the thoughts and the patterns that we have about pulling,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We also have acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT. This helps people create a little bit of space between the urge and the behaviour. And it also helps us to react differently to how we respond to that urge.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Trichotillomania is believed to affect 1-2% of the world’s population [Getty Images]<\/p>\n

Ruben said having his eyebrows micro-bladed – a semi-permanent cosmetic tattooing technique that shaped and filled them – had reduced his urge to pull the hairs.<\/p>\n

He intends to make more videos about trichotillomania following a positive response to his decision to speak about his own experiences.<\/p>\n

“I did have a bloke reach out saying ‘thank you so much for this, it’s given me the push to get help with my own situation’,” said Ruben.<\/p>\n

More top stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online content creator who has a compulsive hair-pulling disorder says others with the condition “shouldn’t be ashamed”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[216281,49,48,216279,84,216280,216282,64883],"class_list":["post-559076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-amber-phillips","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-clare-mackay","tag-health","tag-ruben-chorlton-owen","tag-trichotillomania","tag-university-of-oxford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}