You really are not alone! I had the problem of plucking my chin and eyebrows (to the point of where I had holes in them!) I finally sought out help for it and it really is a problem that goes well beyond just hair. It is an obsession which I deal with on a everyday basis. I see a therapist and she has started me on anti-depressant medicine to control my compulsions. I have noticed a huge difference. Although I know this is a hair forum and not an OCD one, I just wanted to let you know that I too know what you are feeling and probably A LOT more do too!

It is awefull. I also pluck for hours. I enjoy plucking out each hair. When I dig out the ingrown ones, then I get big bloody scabs on my legs. I usually use a pin and tweezers for that. Because of the plucking, it looks like I have chicken pox all over my legs, from the knee down. I'm getting married soon and I want to stop. No one knows about this. I get better and then start again. It's hard to shave because of all of the bumps and scabs.

Ohmigosh. I do this too. I thought I was the only one! In my case, it's probably part OCD, and I've been doing it since I was very young (I'm 40 now). I really only pluck from my legs between ankle & knee, and just "love" to dig those ingrown hairs out. Then I feel horrible after I've done it because I know I'll just have yet another scar. But it is definitely an obsession. Needless to say, I hate summer, hate wearing shorts in public and wish I could wear dark panty hose thru the entire summer. During the hot weather, I have to put makeup on my legs (coverup) because my legs are so badly scarred. Does anybody know of anything that helps fade the scarring? I've gone to a hair removal clinic and spoke with one of the ladies there about the scars, and she said there wasn't much to do. The scars are a bunch of brownish & reddish dots, and apparently due to my mediterranean background, I have hyperpigmentation, which accentuates the scars. I always look at other's women's bare legs and wish I had flawless skin on my legs, and wish I had never started doing this. Sigh. I'm so glad I found this forum.

It is truly sad. My wife and I both read Wurtzel's book, and when I was doing electrolysis on her legs, she commented that for all the time spent and pain endured with tweezing, you could be getting permanent hair removal with electrolysis.

*raises hand slowly*

I am in the club, too, apparently.

I seriously thought I was the ONLY one. I had no idea this was a disorder.

I have black coarse hairs coming out of my chin, neck, chest...I don't see my plucking as being a disorder, the black hairs are the problem. Yes, the scar tissue looks like hickies but that is better than the hair. I know I need to do laser or go back to electrolysis.

Hi:

I used to pluck my wrists and hands which became an obsession. It takes a lot of time outof your day and if you have a partner it will drive them to kill mode!

It was recommended that rather than being killed for being annoying that I should get them lasered. So I started that, stopped the plucking and it seems to be working. I really could not stand the dark hairs showing, and this has thinned them out considerably.

Alicia

When i was a little kid (11), I'd pluck my leg hairs simply because I didn't want to shave and supposedly "make them grow back THICKER!!" I wouldn't say it was an obsession - 'twas fun, though! A clean pluck with no sound is the BEST, isn't it? I hated it when the hairs would literally snap. Haven't done it in ages although i did it a few weeks ago on my kneecaps because they're hard to shave. Hope you find help. Try waxing - then you can't do it for weeks at a time!

Wow. I was just doing an online search about Tend Skin when I came across this forum. I did some reading and joined because I absolutely HAD to reply to this. I used to do the EXACT same thing to my legs. I would spend hours contorted with my leg up next to a lamp and pluck. (The knee area was the most satisfying.) Then I started shaving/waxing my pubic area and found a whole other place to pluck! So much easier to reach! I do it every time I go to the bathroom. It leaves me with huge red bumps and I'm sure it just makes the ingrowns worse (but I secretly like the ingrowns because I want to dig them out....)

I am positive that I have OCD as far as picking/plucking is concerned. (I used to have acne, so I also have scarring from the picking I did on my face.)

I just needed to share. You are not at all alone.

Thanks all of you... you have made me feel normal. I pluck with sewing needles; I have started shaving all over just to get some hairs to pluck. It really soothes me; sometimes I spend an hour looking for hairs to pluck. I even think about it when I go to sleep. I think that if there was a profession for pulling out ingrown hairs, I would be the woman. I still feel weird writing this. When I start looking at my legs and arms for ingrown hairs in public, and someone asks me what I'm doing, I have to make excuses like, "Oh, I missed a spot shaving," or "I think I got bit by a bug."
I think we should all keep in touch and create some sort of support group!
Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!