Pulling your hair out? - Part 2

*Please read yesterday's post before you read this post...it'll make more sense.*

What the heck?! 20/20 did not show anything about trichotillomania, even though my info guide told me they were. ??? Oh well.

The earliest I can remember pulling was in the 3rd grade. I used to pull out my eyelashes and put them in my schoolbooks. I wanted to see how many I could pull out at a time. But it also felt "good"...like a stress relief or something. It's such a hard thing to describe.

Trichotillomania is an obsessive-compulsive disorder that has two sides to the shame of it. First, you have the obvious visible repercussions that can cause embarrassment depending on the severity of the results of your pulling. But worse is the emotional side of it. Whatever momentary, slight pleasure you get from pulling, its followed up by deep shame and regret. And you JUST can't make yourself STOP! I think this article describes it all pretty well.

My personal struggle with trichotillomania has ranged in severity. In the last 5 years, it has been at its worst. At one point, I pulled out all of my eyebrows. I ended up having them tattooed on, which actually really helped my self-esteem. Because if I couldn't control pulling out my eyebrows, at least there was something permanent there to make me look like less of a freak.

But lately, I've been doing really well with my eyebrows! Here's a picture so you can see that it mostly hair there, and you can barely see my tatoos!

Although I still do pull, I do not feel like a prisoner to the emotional aspect of trichotillomania anymore. There is no cure for it, but guess what? OUR GOD IS MUCH BIGGER THAN THIS, and He understands, even if no one else does. He can also bring complete healing and restoration in this area. And for any of you who suffer from this, doesn't it feel like it would take a miracle to cure you from this? Good thing Jesus is the God of miracles.

*Added later on*...
Since I post so many hideous, no make-up photos of myself on this blog, I thought it only fair to add one WITH make-up! This is what my eyebrows and eyelashes look like with a little bit of make-up on.