By Patti Wood
What is trichotillomania? 

Trichotillomania (TTM or “trich”) is a disorder that causes people to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, or any other parts of the body, resulting in noticeable bald patches. Hair pulling varies greatly in its severity. For some people, at some times, trichotillomania is mild and can be quelled with a bit of extra awareness and concentration. For others, the urge may be so strong that it makes thinking of anything else nearly impossible.

Trichotillomania is currently defined as an impulse control disorder, but there are still questions about how it should be classified. It may seem to resemble a habit, an addiction, a tic disorder or an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most recently, it is being conceptualized as part of a family of “body-focused repetitive behaviors” (BFRBs) along with skin picking and nail biting.

What does trichotillomania look like?

Most people with TTM pull enough hair that they have bald spots on their heads, which they go to great lengths to cover with hairstyles, scarves, wigs, or makeup. Others may be missing eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic or other body hair, which they may camouflage with makeup, clothing, or other means.

5 Steps You Need To Know For Your Hair Loss
By Patti Wood

When a client makes an appointment to see me for the first time about their hair loss, the first thing I do is send them a questionnaire to fill out. I ask that they fill it out as completely as possible, and if they don’t have recent blood work within 90 days, to get blood work done by their physician. 

After, I also ask them to make sure the doctor requests certain tests that are key to growing healthy hair. One is iron, along with the carrier, which is the ferritin. Another is Vitamin D and folic acid, two more key nutrients for hair. Some others are mostly what they check for like thyroid, hormones, diabetes to name just a few.

The Story Of Hair Systems
By Patti Wood

The fact of the matter is, a wig looks like a wig. A hair system, on the other hand, is something that is a part of you and is much more natural. A hair system can be custom made or they have plenty of good choices that are available within a 24-hour period. Even if a client only has hair at the hairline, it looks just as natural as real hair.

Beginning:

When I see a new client and she or he is wearing a wig by the time they come to me they are sick of wearing it. They are afraid it will come off and embarrass them and they can’t go swimming with a wig. Intimate relationships are stressful especially when it’s new and the other person doesn’t know about their hair loss problem yet.