Monday, October 29, 2012

Mrs. North Carolina 2013

Mrs. North Carolina 2013 Josie Sanctis photo by Angelia Hudson Photograghy

How cool is this?!~  Mrs. North Carolina 2013 Josie Sanctis is bringing awareness to trich!  "Josie is a role model for all the women in North Carolina with her positive goal oriented can do attitude.  She is constantly giving back to her community and bringing awareness to Trichotillomania disorder a condition affecting her and one she will champion as Mrs. Carolina." according to Frederick Galle Director Mrs. Amercia and Executive Director for Mrs. North Carolina.  You can check out her facebook page here and follow her journey as Mrs. North Carolina.  Good luck, Josie!!  You're making the trich community very proud :)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Rarely (if ever) do I take a shower before I take the kids to school.  But I still put on my eye make-up before I go.  The more I think about this, the more annoying it gets.  I put on eye make-up simply because I'll have brief interactions with other people (very brief).  Then i come home, shower and put my make-up on again.  So annoying.  

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The streak is over.  I pulled three lashes last night... yes 3!  This group of lashes had been bugging me.  They weren't growing straight; they were all kind of leaning to the side (if that makes sense).  In addition to that they would constantly snag on the lower lashes.  They were long enough to use a eyelash curler on- so that helped a little.  But they kept bugging me- visually and physically.  So last night I was just touching them- should have stopped!  Then I was just slightly tugging on them- should have stopped.  And it didn't take much for them to finally surrender.  After pulling the first lash, I started to think about the blog and what I was going to have to write.  I was thinking about saying something like "Just cause you pulled one doesn't mean you've failed, keep trying, blah, blah, blah..."  And as I'm thinking this, there goes lash two and three.  But then I was done.  I went to bed.  I got rid of the lashes that were bugging me.  And now today is a new day.  Going to try again.  Twelve days was the longest I've ever gone pull-free; a new personal record.  And the thing with personal records... you always trying to break them.  So here I go!  

Friday, October 12, 2012

Still pull-free.  But let me tell you- it's not easy.  Not sure how much is the NAC and how much is will power (or whatever)... but it definitely takes work!  The hard thing is I don't really want to stop pulling my hair.  I want to pull my hair; I like to pull my hair.  What I don't want, what I don't like is the damage.  If I could pull and have no damage then I would have no desire to be pull-free.  That really makes it challenging.  I have to keep the goal, the end result in mind.  And it's easy to think "it's just one hair."  I mean really... how much damage can pulling one hair cause?!?!  Well... keep telling yourself that every time and you'll see.  The damage adds up.    

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Hmmm... guess this could kind of apply to hair pulling (in addition to life in general).  Don't pull just because you are temporarily angry, stressed, scared, tired, or hungry.
Image via Karen Salmansohn at notsalmon.com

Monday, October 8, 2012

Well, I did it.  One week (and counting) of being pull free.  I've only done this once before (see here) and I only made it a week.  So if I make it through today- it'll be the longest I've ever gone pull free.  I'm feeling a little more confident this time around... I think.  Maybe I'm just holding on to the NAC and praying it's some type of miracle!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

On my very first post to this blog, I mentioned that I was inspired by another blog.  I wrote, "I was looking around on the Internet and came across a blog of a young girl in UK who was blogging about trichotillomania and how she has been pull free (I'd share the link to the blog here, but I honestly can't find it anymore). After reading a bit of her blog... I kinda just felt like- I can do this. So here I am. I'm trying to be pull free... and you can join me on the journey. My journey with trich."  

She really did inspire me to do this... And I've so bummed that I couldn't find her blog again (I couldn't remember the blog name, her name, or what words I was googling when I came across her blog).  Well, with it being Trichotillomania and Skin Picking Awareness Week, I've been looking up a lot of trich stuff online.  And I found the blog!  I found her!  So let me give credit to my inspiration... Rachel from Not So Trichy.  Rachel (if you ever read this), thank you for sharing your story and giving inspiration to others suffering from trich!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Thought I should mention- I'm two days pull free.  I won't say it's the NAC helping... it's probably a little too soon for that.  But with it being Trichotillomania Awareness Week and just starting the NAC- I have been trying really hard not to pull.  So it's been a lot of will power I guess.  Hopefully it'll get easier.  The longest I've been pull free is a week... so hopefully I can make it even further this time!  

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Check out this great story that was posted in the Huff Post today- 
Trichotillomania: The Secret I'm Finally Letting Go.  
Thanks for sharing your story, Sandy, and bringing more awareness.
According to TLC, "Hair Pulling Disorder affects 2% of the population, Skin Picking may be as high at 12%: yet TCL knows of only 200 treatment providers in the US!"  Wow!!  It's not wonder that people feel alone and think that they are the only ones that have this problem.  The more we talk about... the more people will become familiar with it.  And hopefully more treatment providers will start popping up!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Want to help spread the word about trich this week (or anytime for that matter).  Check out this list of ideas... like sharing this PSA video with others:

Trichotillomania & Skin Picking Awareness Week

It's Trichotillomania & Skin Picking Awareness Week.  And it's totally a coincidence that I decided to start taking NAC today and really working on fighting the urges.  I knew this week was coming up, but that's not why I chose today (I honestly just like starting things on the first of a month, week, etc.).  And I think this coincidence is a good thing- might help give me a little more motivation.

Trichotillomania affects up to 9 million Americans.  And Skin Picking affects an estimated 12 million in the US alone.

So many people suffering in silence and feel alone.  But that doesn't have to be the case.  The more we educate people and spread the word...the more people will know about these disorders.  And I know- it takes a lot of guts to share something like this, but... you never know who you could be helping.  And if spreading the word is embarrassing, BUT it helps just one... isn't it worth it?!?  People shouldn't have to feel alone or ashamed.  Okay... not trying to pressure you too much into posting on your facebook or twitter accounts :)  But please consider spreading the word.  As TLC put it, "Let's Make Some Noise!"