Hair Twirling

I am a hairdressser who specializes in womens hairloss and i deal with people who battle trichotillomania regularly. Most statred as teens and continue to battle the urge to pull all their lives. I suggest getting help from a behavioral specialist or dr who can handle ocd (like in the link above) asap . After pulling for many years, permanent hairloss becomes a big issue so its somethunbg you want to address asap. Also autistic children tend to do this as well.
Most importantly, be sure she is not ingesting the hair (as many kid pullers do) because it can cause blockages that could require surgery.
Hope that i did not freak you out, but i watch people struggle with this and its not easy for kids , parents or adults...
I hope at this age its easier to address once and for all.
Please let me know what you end up doing and let me know what works for your child so that i can pass the info along to othersn need ....

this dr specilaizes in OCD in children... while your daughter may not be old enough fopr regular therapy, he may have some suggestions for you
http://www.stressandanxiety.com/more-about-allen-weg.html
a
nd another link about pulling in young children.........

http://www.trich.org/articles/view_default.asp?aid=16&amp...

Hello,

Ironically enough I used to do the same thing when I was little. My mom unfortunately had to give me a really short hair cut. I grew out of doing it when I was like 3 or 4. And if it's any help I have beautiful extremely thick hair! It may not be too bad. It could be just her way of stopping sucking her thumb. Even though I was never a thumb sucker.

Hope this helps,
N.

My girls both twirl their hair even now as teens (although not as often as when they were younger), but never to the point where it knotted and pulled out. It could be just a comfort thing like the thumb sucking but you should talk to your pediatrician to rule out any medical issues.

wish i could tell you it would just go away but i have had this same habit since i was about 8 years old, and i am now a 30 year old mother of 2:) i stopped for a few years somewhere between 20 and 25 but then started up again and havent stopped, the only thing i can recommend regarding the hair is maybe have her twist the hair in the opposite direction instead of tugging at the knot thats what i do so it doesn't get tangled.

Hi M.,

Perhaps you can put her hair in braids and at the end of each braid wrap a scuncie (rubber band type hair accesory but it's elastic, not rubber) around the end. She can still twirl her hair but this will prevent the tangles. Hope this helps.

D.

How about a baby doll with hair that she can twirl instead? I know that the hair doesn't feel quite the same, but it may be a reasonable subsitution. Or you could try pulling her hair back while she sleeps, or having her wear a hat.

Good Luck!!

My daughter is 3&1/2 and she sucks on her pointer and middle finger and she loves to play with her hair and anybody elses. I can be putting her to bed and she'll start twrilling my hair. As far as her playing with her hair she's not knotted it(yet) only given herself a bad hair cut once. I find that she loves hair clips and having her hair in pony tails, and when it's pulled back in a pony tail she doesn't play with her hair. Maybe the same could work with your daughter.