Nail biting and hair plucking

[Em.m]

Hey everyone. I just signed up here because I really felt the urge to ask this to someone as I am too embarrassed to ask my psychologist. I dont know if this is related to anxiety but I hope I can get some answers even if its just to understand if this is normal or not. I’m 18 and I’ve been biting my nails since I was young, its not too extreme as I sometimes try to stop biting them but i often leave my fingers hurting because of my nails. I was going around the internet to check about nail biting and I found something about hair pulling. This is where I got confused and almost shocked. I have been plucking my body hair since I first started getting hair due to my puberty at around 10/11, as I would close myself in the bathroom and pluck my pubic hair that were growing. It didnt stop, and I would keep plucking for hours, leaving cuts that now have resulted in minor scaring. With time I stopped plucking my pubic hair but I passed to my leg hair and my chest hair. I am a girl and I am not even that hairy, but I had a few hairs growing in between my boobs on my chest and around my nipples, really nothing serious, but i always pluck them and now I have difficulties even wearing a Tank top or swimsuits as I always have marks, cuts healing on my chest and even stomach. It is something that really embarrasses me but I have always dealt with it as i am kinda able to control it. I can spend hours sitting down just plucking my hair and i never get tired, but i always leave behind cuts and marks, that resulted in scaring, even if minor. Do you think its normal or something i should worry about?? why cant i stop plucking my hair??? Even if my psychologist and I often talk about my anxiety I have never mentioned anything about nail biting or hair plucking as I never found it important. Thank you in advance for reading and stopping by )

 

[GoodLife]

I also bite my nails and the skin on my fingertips as a way to cope with stress. The plucking might be another coping method. I will often pluck my baby hairs from my head as almost a self-soothing action. As long as you're not severely hurting yourself when you are plucking I don't think it should be a big problem. I don't have an answer for you as to why you can't stop plucking yourself but it might come down to a nervous habit. (P.S. Im not a medical profesional or anything, this is just from personal experiance.

 

[destanaynayy]

i mean the way how you said "normal" no ones normal we are all different people with different opinions and etc, anyways i dont think its too much to worry about, but biting nails , reduces ur nail growth.
i suggest as soon as you feel like biting your nails just cut the tips of ur nails off to the point you cant bite them.
about the hair picking idrk i guess when u get the urge , just shave !??!?!?!?!? sorry
my sister used to bite her nails and when she started just biting other things instead of her nails, she clipped her nails to the point she cant bite it so you can start by biting other things like ur shirt or your blanket, so do it every day for a week, start doing it every other day, thenn start doing it every week, then every month

 

[Cuchculan]

Plucking it more normal for some people than you might imagine. Have seen many posts over the years about it on various forums. Another strange thing that people can also do is chew their own hair. ( Not advised with public hair ) Is all just part of the anxiety cycle. Gives the person something to do with their hands. Others might scratch their heads a lot. Nail biting is big too. Rather strange story of a woman from the US. Ended up in hospital unwell. They done an x-ray and saw something in her stomach. Kind of baffled them as to what it was. So down went the camera. It was hair. Her own hair. Which they had to remove. Shows that some people go to extreme lengths. She would tug her hair until a bit came off in her hand. Chew it and swallow it. no idea how long she was doing this for before she became ill. Just shows what some people do.