Is it normal to have no pain when pulling hair out and seeing folicles?

Add A New Comment5 Comments

Comment by Rosa Cabrera on February 5, 2010 - 9:29am

Dear Anon,

I'm not sure if you are concerned about pulling out your hair with no pain or if this is caused due to the lack of effort in pulling and still losing hair? Are you concerned that you may not have pain receptors on certain places such as your scalp? If so, try taking the sharp part of a paperclip and gently tapping it on your skin, you should feel a sharp sensation. If the lack of pain only occurs when you pull on a string of hair, I think it's completely normal. We lose hundreds of hair every day and never even realize it.

To be honest, I'm a little more concerned as to why you're pulling your hair to the follicle? Was this something that happened one day and you realized that you were losing more hair than you should be?

If your hair is falling out in chunks with little to no effort on your behalf, then unless you've just had a baby (an unfortunate post-partum effect) you should have your doctor check your thyroid levels or better yet do a complete blood count to ensure that everything is okay. Sometimes we have periods where we lose more hair than others but it's always good to get this checked out to make sure it's not being caused by something else.

Please let me know if I have answered your question(s).

Comment by Pat Elliott on February 5, 2010 - 6:27pm

Hi Anon - Like Rosa, I too am concerned about you as your question seems to be saying that you're pulling out your hair to the follicle level. This could indicate that you have a disorder called Trichotillomania which is an irresistible urge to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other areas of your body. The symptoms usually begin before the age of 17. If this is what you're dealing with it would be best to seek support from your healthcare provider to better understand and deal with the condition. Here are some links that will help:

http://www.empowher.com/news/herarticle/2009/03/21/why-does-one-pull-the...

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/trichotillomania

http://www.trich.org/

Will you please let us know if your questions have answered and/or if you have additional questions?

Take care, Pat

Comment by Rosa Cabrera on February 8, 2010 - 5:06am

Thanks for posting the additional information Pat.

To Anon, any update on this?

Comment by Anonymous on February 10, 2010 - 8:09am

Thank you for the feedback

Comment by Anonymous on February 10, 2010 - 8:21am

I started taking blood thinning medicine 7 months ago,do you think this has anything to do with it? I don't have urges, I did more when I was a teenager and would become angry with bad hair days, but recently did it again out of frustration. I typically don't do this. I asked some friends and they didn't think it was normal for it not to hurt when pulling. I showed them and they freaked out. They think I have cancer or something really wrong with me. I don't know if this is normal or if I should be extremly worried. I'm not a hypocondriac.

Are you a member? Log in first to track your posts

Not a member? Join us. Membership is not required to post.

Tell us what you think: *

More information about formatting options

If you would like to be notified via email when someone comments on this post, please enter your email address below:

We never share email addresses with third parties. Your email address will be used to notify you of activity on your post and send you our newsletter if you choose to sign up for it.

Verify that you are a human (not a computer):

This is necessary to prevent computer programs from automatically posting spam or other irrelevant content on EmpowHER.com. Enter the characters in the box to the left (case sensitive). Do not enter spaces between the characters.