How do I STOP touching my hair???

[julliams]

I find myself running my fingers through my hair all the time. I used to plait it but now I'm just running my fingers down the strands, feeling for the coarse ones. I love the way they feel - all bumpy and random.

I'm sure it makes my hair tangle more and it's not good for my hair but I just can't seem to stop. I don't pull out the coarse hairs ( I used to because when I was a young teen I thought a smooth one might grow back in it's place) - the urge is there but I figure it's pointless because then they just have to grow out again and they are better off being long.

I think it's a bit of a nervous habit. I've just had 2 weeks of holidays where we have pretty much done nothing so maybe I'm a little bored and once my normal routine kicks in again (tomorrow) things will go back to normal again.

Anyone else in my boat? :p

[Gnomentum]

UPDO'S!! I'm exactly the same but I have been able to resist since learning a whole bunch of updo's.

Plus, it's a geat excuse to get all sorts of pretty hairtoys...

[Nae]

Yeah, updos and braids help me too, but I do the same thing. It is a habit, especially when I am tired, probably a vestige of my baby hair twirling. What can I do? Any chance the oils from our hands can help the hair?? Probably a stretch I know......lol.

[paigeturner]

Any chance the oils from our hands can help the hair?? Probably a stretch I know......lol.

I wish!
I have the same habit too...and my hair is SUPER fragile so I really shouldn't. I just try and put in up in an elaborate updo so I'm not tempted to pull it down and play with it!

[Pierre]

I put my hair up, but leave enough dangling so that I can stroke my face with it and feel it with my hands and not worry about tangling, until a few days later when it's time to wash it and get the newly shed hairs out. And I oil it, so feeling my hair oils my hands. :)

[chopandchange]

I braid* it, but then I play with the tassles. :D

It doesn't seem to do it very much harm.

*Edit: oooh, you said "plait" so I could have used that word, too, and you would have known what I was talking about! I've got too used to Americanising what I write on here! LOL.

[twilight_faerie]

I have the same problem, and the ONLY way I've found to stop me from doing it is to put it up with no ends dangling whatsoever. If there is anything dangling, I will find it, and I will fondle it. :p

[lastnite]

I always touch it when its down or in a braid. I'll keep twisting strands trying to feel for fairy knots or splits. Probably not good for it, I try to make a conscious decision to stop when I catch myself doing it.

[Nae]

I braid* it, but then I play with the tassles. :D

It doesn't seem to do it very much harm.

*Edit: oooh, you said "plait" so I could have used that word, too, and you would have known what I was talking about! I've got too used to Americanising what I write on here! LOL.

Ha! Plait away, please. It is good for us Americans to learn some of the other terms out there. Knocks us out of our box and reminds us there is a whole world out there!!!:D

[BunnyBee]

If there is anything dangling, I will find it, and I will fondle it. :p

:spitting:
That there is classic..

Well you're not alone, it's an annoying habit for sure.. I end up fiddling with my updos all the time too :rolleyes: Covering it with something like a scarf of Buff seems to work best, otherwise I always find a way to *fondle* :p

[spidermom]

Running fingers through hair gets it dirty faster, plus if you ever pry tangles apart, it damages hairs.

I used to run my fingers through my hair all the time when it was shorter, but now I hit snags if it's down, and that's no fun. It's best to put it up.

[windinherhair]

Updo's help me! I always wear my hair up for work, so it doesnt get in the way and helps me forget about it. When I wear my hair down outside of work, my husband points out how I am playing with the ends of my hair. I dont even realize I am doing that. Updo's. :thumbsup:

[Dani]

If there is anything dangling, I will find it, and I will fondle it. :p
HA! Awesome.

I started messing with my hair and "looking" for the coarse ones when I was 18 and moved to Virginia. It was stress for sure, and I used to pull out any that didn't feel right to me. I've been doing it or just feeling my hair for those special hairs that don't "belong" for 10 years now! What a terrible habit I made for myself. :p I'm a million times better now and can control myself, and it helps very much to put my hair in braids or just up out of the way.

It's definitely a form of trich, and mine started out stemming from nervousness/anxiousness and stress, but for a long time now I know it's just a bad habit (albeit not nearly as bad as it used to be, as I said, because I'm awake and happy and grown up (for the most part)). I don't feel like I have the usual trich stuff anymore, just a bored habit kind of thing- I don't do it for any particular reason, I've noticed. Not stress stuff. Funny how my pulling my hairs and messing with them coincided with moving to Va and finding the old net 54 forum. Blast you, Long hair peeps, making me notice my hair and being obsessed with it forever! Heh. I've since learned that it's just hair, and I'll do whatever works for me, and I really don't need to look at it and inspect it all the time. My hair is just fine without that. My god, how I tried to have Perfect hair for so long. Striving for perfect hair is like slowly torturing oneself for a long period of time, with terrible results of course, since we are human beings... the epitome of imperfection... until one wakes up and is like, What the duce?! No need for all that. Plus, I love imperfection in myself and in all things, so it's funny and weird to me that I was this way about my hair for so long. I love chopping it into awesome styles and adding colors and such, but for years I tried to have perfectly trimmed virgin hair, and that was boring as Sh*t. I can only take that for so long, before I want something fun and different. It's mostly because I just love to cut my hair so much. It's just too much fun not to, for me. :p . . . I've measured my hair once or twice a long time ago, but I don't know how people do that very often. I would go crazy. :p Anyway, now I'm off on one serious tangent and methinks I need more coffee. Or not, as the case may be.

[Capybara]

Find something else to keep your hands busy with - a stress ball or worry stone, maybe?

[fair isle]

This is probably one of my worst hair habits! I have always done it (except when my hair was chin length). I have at least broken the habit (mostly!) of twirling small sections and tying and untying that section into a knot, so bad :P Braiding helps, but my hair is so slippery that it rarely stays in an updo all day, I usually have to redo a few times.

I have thought about trying the rubberband trick to train myself not to do it anymore, it worked with biting my nails :)

[Tabihito]

I've found that the only way I can keep from playing with my hair all the time is to put it up. Otherwise, I will amuse myself with the bouncy little curlicues at the front, and I somehow doubt it's good for my hair.

[julliams]

Thanks guys - good to know that I'm not the only one. Spidermom, I am noticing that my hair is getting dirty faster and also that it is tangling more and in untangling I think I am getting more splits and certainly funny ends.

I think what you have all suggested about updos is probably the answer for me. The only issue there is that I constantly take my hair out of a bun and redo it, just cos.

Anyway, I'm hoping that now that my routine is back on, I won't have as much time to think about it and my hair will go up without another thought.

[kristymarie87]

I tend to rub the roots and scalp and pic any dead skin (TMI?) which makes my already v.greasy hair even worse!!

But i have a worse habit i do when im nervous - picking the skin off my lips :(

[LILBERT]

i put mine up in an attempt to stop stroking my hair, but now ive found i absentmindedly pull at the root hairs that are slightly tighter than the rest (i.e the ones holding the updo.) Thats even worse because i know im stretching the hairs :rolleyes: Bad bad girl! :o

[Ievet]

Exatly the same, some days are terrible and I notice I'm touching all the time, some days nothing at all. I have no clue but the best thing for me is to be aware of it. Once you're aware you are doing this you could start to observe yourself and analyze why or howcome you are doing this or think or do somethign about avoiding to tough it more.
I tend to make a braid or even better, a updo! Eventually i get over myself and forget about it :) Be well!

[Iron0Maiden]

I have this habit and its really bad... I cant ever stop touching my hair. And whats worse is I ALWAYS pick my split ends. Like ts really bad and Ive tried to stop so many times. None of them have worked... wow.. I sound like a smoker lol!!

[starlights]

definately put your hair up... you wont play with it as often, plus in my case it's great tying my hair up most of the time because the rare time i have it down, it has grown & makes me more happy and i play with it then, :)

[Sammich]

LOL! I have this exact same problem, but with braids I keep playing with the tassel, because I love feeling hair's softness. :p
Gah, hopefully when I'm done reading these replies I'll find a solution, because I feel I'm making my hair greasier! :p


I braid* it, but then I play with the tassles. :D

It doesn't seem to do it very much harm.

*Edit: oooh, you said "plait" so I could have used that word, too, and you would have known what I was talking about! I've got too used to Americanising what I write on here! LOL.

Lmao! I understand you right there, I use the Americanised version of plait too, and it feels weird whenever someone says plait now. :p Everyone calls me Americanised because of my dearest! :p


If there is anything dangling, I will find it, and I will fondle it. :p
Amazing. LOL

[Anniekins]

I try really hard to keep my hair up so I wont be playing with it but I find all up dos to be at least a little bit uncomfortable and I keep taking it down and trying another do. I love to have it down but I am disabled and spend most of my time in a recliner or wheelchair and in the recliner the back of my head is against the chair causing rubbing. I do have a satin cover over the back of my chair and my neck pillow and that has helped the rubbing a lot I think. Time will tell but I still play with my hair any chance I get. I am working on it.

Anne

[christine1989]

I do it too but I think its pretty harmless as long as you don't pull hair out.

[Heartwillfollow]

I hope it gets better for you Anne :) My hair has just reached shoulder length so I can put it up mostly a tails up with a flexi 8. I have had a couple of days that it has given me a headache , am hopeing that I will get use to having it up all day long.

[Ylesque]

Another one chiming in with the same problem! I've always been a nervous hair-twister, and now that it's long enough to run my fingers through, I find myself mindlessly finger-combing whenever it's down.

As everyone has said, getting it up and out of the way is the only way to stop my restless fingers. ;) Good luck!

[pepperminttea]

Count me in - I did a side braid over my shoulder yesterday and couldn't stop twirling the ends with my fingers, literally. Today it's going in a bun, so I'll forget it's there. (That's the theory, anyway. :p )

[tabby28]

I have this problem really badly. I've been a hair twirler since I was a little girl. I blame it on my hair being curly, so its a nice texture to twirl round my fingers. I think it became a comfort thing some time in my childhood because I do it more and more when anxious. My DH finds it hillarious to watch when I'm stressed out!

I find that I can stop myself by braiding it and then putting the braids up out of reach, tucked under so no hair pokes out that I can twirl. Even then I find myself running my hand over it when I'm not thinking...grrr