Preventative tricks

• General
• keep a list of options (such as this page) nearby so you won't ever be stuck with no idea of what to try.
• make a list of eight to ten things you actually like to do. Make the list ahead of time, when you aren't pulling and keep it nearby, because when we're trapped in a pulling cycle it is often the case that we can't think of another attractive alternative, just the long and growing list of things we think we should be doing--ten minutes of real fun might break the pulling cycle and refresh us for everything else we think we need to do
• adopt a few simple rituals, such as laying out your clothes the night before for the next day, or not starting the car until everyone in it has their seatbelts on but don't yell at the people in the car, just sit there until they get the message, or else that will defeat the purpose of this hint which is:

choose simple, good rituals which are easy to do, which actually improve your surroundings, and which allow you time to collect your thoughts--this helps break the grip of panic when we're afraid we're going to pull and we have that huge list of things we think we ought be to be doing

• eating dinner with your family at a fixed time everyday might be a good ritual if it is not more stress than it is worth to convince everyone to be there at the same time
• wear band-aids on your fingers
• wear rubber fingertips (like secretaries wear to flip through paper)
• wear gloves (including driving gloves)
• carry a handkerchief with you (this can usually be used inconspicuously where gloves might draw attention)
• wear artificial nails
• paint your nails
• cut your nails very short
• wear your nails very long
• throw away all tweezers (Some simply let spouses hide tweezers. I find that frustrating because I end up begging my spouse to let me have them back and he won't. So, now when I break down and buy a pair, I break it and throw it away as soon as whatever "grooming" I'm doing gets out of control. Then I just write the monthly pair of tweezers off as a cost of not letting my trich get out of control.)
• wet your hair
• splash water on your face
• take a shower
• turn off the TV--or put in a video that you know is soothing and commercial-free, with no spectacular special effects to make you anxious
• wear a bandanna or hat
• sit on your hands
• increase the time before you give in to an urge for a few seconds by repeating the motto: "Each time I resist the urge I am lessening its hold over me."
• avoid trigger situations, such as watching TV or looking in the mirror
• each day when you wake up make a mental list of what you need to do to avoid pulling today, for example, remind yourself to spend little time in the bathroom and think ahead about any stressful encounters you are likely to have so that you can remember to bring your toys with you or pack an extra hanky, or get in and out of the meeting as fast as possible
• get out of the house
• leave outside worries outside and let home be a safe haven
• arrange your schedule so that the more tedious things get done at what is deemed a safer time (often mornings or early afternoon) and then do active things such as chores in the other times
• make a short list of goals that relate to varying lengths of time, and only go for the goal you feel strong enough to reach--you can add the others to your list of things to try in case you need them
• give yourself a clean slate on pullfree-ness and on the things you are supposedly behind on--whatever you get done today is what you were supposed to do
• make a small "to do" list and don't let anyone else add to it before you are ready, but feel free to take a break and look up something on your "fun-stuff" list (this is not saying to be lazy or selfish or a "copout" ... it's just that many of us are finding ourselves pulling more because we are worrying about what we haven't done and what we have to do and even when we are supposedly doing recreational activities we are still worrying because our long lists are just too oppressive)
• discover the truth in the old sayings:
• Don't cry over spilt milk.
• Tomorrow is another day.
• Learn to pick your battles.
• Don't borrow trouble.
• Don't burn your bridges.
• Cross that bridge when you get to it.
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
• Don't count your chickens before they hatch.
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
• be with people as much as possible
• write real, paper letters ... and feel free to abandon the internet, including the bulletin board, for a while if that's what you need to do
• avoid stressful people as possible--if someone is bad for you it isn't selfish to avoid them ... even if you care about them there are probably ways you can let them know you care without putting yourself in the way of stress ... running away isn't usually good but setting an example for all the people around you about how they can cope with various kinds of people without getting hurt is a good thing
• put your hands in your pockets
• press your hands against something, such as your desk if at school, the stick shift if in your manual transmission car, the grocery cart handle if you are at the store
• wherever you don't want your hands or eyes to be, determine and practice safe places near the unsafe places that you can quickly send your hands or eyes while you are regaining your balance, for instance:
• If your hands go to your hair, practice smoothly sending them all the way past your hair
• maybe out to the air on the side of you head
• or tug on your ear
• or pat your cheek
• or reach up into a yawn-like stretch
• or go all the way round and down to your hip
• or just make some sort of gesture on the side
• et cetera :-)
• If your hands go to your brows or lashes move them down to your chin
• or down to your chest in a sort of "oh my" gesture
• If your hands go to your pubic hairs while you are in the shower or getting dressed or going to the restroom, slide them over to the front of your thighs or up to your hips
• If your eyes go straight to your lashes or brows or hair when you go to a mirror, practice a quick shift up to the corner of the mirror

(At first this still seem unnatural and awkward and silly, if you even remember to do it to begin with, but it gets more natural, and you get to worry just a little bit less about where your hands are and whether other folks can tell that you started to do something "bad.")

• keep your hands well moisturized, as it is hard to get a grip on anything when you have lotion on.
• put clips in your hair so you can't reach your favorite spot
• Distractions: play with paperclips, silly putty, koosh balls, rubber squeeze balls, rubber bands
• pet your pet
• do crossword puzzles
• crochet, knit, do cross-stitch
• garden
• sing songs
• just go to bed (fatigue depletes serotonin, which might help explain a lot of late night pulling)
• when talking on the phone don't be still--wash dishes, do laundry, or write notes
• when studying, take notes or make flashcards (to help your concentration and keep your hands busy, while gaining the added benefit of extra well-organized study materials for exam time)--it might take creativity to figure out what useful types of things you can write on cards but there is probably something
• when doing something tedious where your hands are bored keep a pencil or something in your writing hand and a hand-held counter like those used in counting admissions at a movie in the other hand. Everytime you find your hand reaching for a hair, click the counter. After half an hour or so, look at the counter. In addition to having given your pulling hand a distraction, you now have a record of how many times you triumphed over trich.
• brows and possibly lashes
• if you have the urge to pluck your eyebrows just to shape them, consider trimming the ones which seem out of place. If you trim "a little too far" it will be easier to recover than if you pluck too far
• lashes and possibly brows :-)
• sunglasses, just to fiddle with instead of your eyes
• leg
• wear long pants or leggings at home
• don't sit in the sunlight and inspect your legs
• don't sit anywhere with tweezers or needles near you
• do not check for healing
• don't "help" scabs or dry ski n along
• only look at legs when getting dressed or bathing
• get dressed quickly
• if ingrown hairs are a trigger avoid checking for such hairs
• bedtime seems to be especially problematic since you will often have your legs exposed then, even if you've avoided it the rest of the day so, change bedtime rituals
• throw cover over legs immediately after getting into bed
• don't lie in bed watching TV or listening to the radio
• if you have to have an activity before you can go to sleep, let it be something that involves your hands more, like crafts or a crossword puzzle
• if you have scars (from using tweezers to seek for hairs), Alpha-hydroxy acid Lotion (20%) has been found to help eventually lessen the scarring (for a couple or up to six weeks the skin might seem leathery but then newer smoother skin is supposed to reveal itself). The person who reported this said that it seems to even have prevented ingrown hairs from forming.

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