Hair twirling

My friend is really worried about her 4 year old DD.
Ever since Ash was born she sucked her thumb. As soon as she was on the ground she'd pick up strands of hair & wrap them around her thumb, then suck.
When she started crawling she went for the brush.
When her hair got longer she started twirling it & has gotten worse & worse even leaving bald patches.
My friend has tried all she can think of. She bought a clip with hair on it to try to stop her pulling her own hair out.
She recently cut it all off hoping Ash wouldn't be able to get hold of it & wouldn't worry about it.
She feels like the only thing left to do is shave her head. But Ash starts school next year & she doesn't really want to do that.

We are desperate. Has any one got any ideas???

:hug: to your friend.

I used to look after a little girl, kinder age, her mum could not control head lice in her daughters beautiful curly locks, she was due to start school in a months time, she shaved her head, it was sad to see but in this occasion it did not do any harm to the little girl, she made friends well and luckily she was not teased for being a girl with no hair.

I cannot think of much in the way of ideas for helping you friend, maybe if her hair is short, put wax or something, sticky and slippery in her hair so it is hard to grasp, twirl and pull?

I wish her the best of luck.

Deanne.

Thanks. I did say to try tying it up & hair spraying it or something, but thats when she told me she'd cut it all off & couldn't tie it up. She's a bit worried about the amount of hair spray/gel or whatever that she would actually ingest if she did do something like that.
She said that she has no hair left at the front. We are moving back to where they are soon & she's hoping having my girls around will relax her a bit (if stress is the issue) or just distract her.

my niece has done this ever since she had hair and it gets that bad her fingers actually get stuck in her hair :S. she is now 6 so its been going on for a while. There is nothing wrong with her its just a habit. She does it alot when she is tired or bored. She is a real girly girl and i told her that if she twirled it too much then her hair wouldnt grow and then it would turn blue. Oh she believed me and my sister said as soon as she realises what shes doing she stop coz as she says "oh mummy, i dont want blue hair". lol im a meany i know.

You could make your own hair gel that is edible - 1/2 to 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin and 1 cup warm water, may want to add something like vinegar so it doen't taste nice... otherwise she will end up licking it :)

ETA: Has your friend asked her daughter why she does it? It may give her a bit of insight and therefore a cure, in saying that though any habit is hard to break.

Deanne.

Hollye - She's a pretty wild child. The hair thing was brought up because she is a bit of a bully. They are thinking about taking her to a paed about that, & mentioned the hair thing then.
You'd think at first about her home environment & maybe anxiety. I did, but trust me, she has a much better home environment than most kids I know.
I may not have been around them much the last few years since we moved, but I know my friend very well. If there was anything going on I'd know about it, so they think it might have to do with the bullying, but don't really know.
I'll see, but I don't think she's girly enough to care about blue hair! Lol!

Matilds'smummy - I'll let her know when I ring her tomorrow. Thanks heaps.
I honestly don't even think Ash would know why she does it since she's been doing it pretty much since birth, but I will definetely suggest that she asks her. Just to see what she says.

My niece did this for years and she's now nearly 11yo. She hasn't done it in the past two years (since getting a little baby sister...maybe the distraction cured her!), and she has FINE blond hair, so she couldn't really afford to be losing the hair she'd eventually twist out of her hair! She was a real tomboy, too, so she didn't mind losing her hair to the chop, as would often happen when she twisted out huge chunks...photos of the chunks serve as a reminder to her!
My thoughts for a while were that her dad's wild parties at home may have been partly to blame, but her parents are nothing but extremely loving to their kids, and don't do favouritism with the older son (or subsequent kids). I know she hated, absolutely hated, when her dad would get drunk (and stoned, but she didn't know that was contributing at the time!) and would curl up to me and cry, when she was about 6-8yo...and in every other way to this day she is a completely self-confident child.
One thing, she is eccentric (in a very lovable way, she has friends, so she's not a weirdo in that sense!) and definitely walks to the beat of her own drum...and it's great to see a kid who doesn't conform to what other kids her age are doing. So, I tend to see it now (the hair curling) as just a habit that was hard wired in her brain (she would thumb suck vigorously...usually at the same time as twirling, as photographic evidence would have it!) that she just needed to grow out of. I guess it worked out very well that it wasn't made a big deal of, the kids at school never seemed to notice, and she's always been appreciated as the oddball she is. Very intelligent, inquisitive and caring child she is! Just to give you an illustration of another child who does the exact same thing.
My verdict tends to be that it's just a 'thing', it might not be an indicator of emotional unrest, and it's something that causes a physiological chain of events that comfort and reassure your friends DD. I hope :)

Find the worst tasting hair gel you can? It works for fingernails.

Otherwise, I would tentatively suggest visiting the GP and asking for a referral to a child psychologist. I hate to see children labeled at such a young age, and I don't think that is what will happen. It sounds to me like a very mild form of OCD, which believe it or not is not uncommon in children at that age. A psychologist might be able to give some advice about strategies to distract her and break the habit.

Hi
This is a link with answers about hair twirling and other childhood habits. It may only be a habit but some people develop a bigger problem that needs to be dealt with as early as possible. Perhaps your friend should see a paedeatrician if she is concerned.
Regards
Lmbmcb.
http://www.todaysparent.com/behavior...10_170056_3252

Hi all.
Well I talked to my friend again this morning. Her DD doesn't actually suck on her hair anymore, its just the twirling & pulling.
I said to maybe tell her her hair would turn blue, but she agreed that it probably wouldn't make a difference. She might give it a go though!
She was already talking about taking her to a paediatritian about that & her being a bit of a bully & extremely loud, so I did suggest maybe a child psycologist.
She is holding off on that for now as they are living in Brissy ATM, but are moving back to where her family is (same place I'm moving to). So she's hoping once they are there & are all less stressed it'll settle.
Thanks again for all the ideas & info.

Sound like something else might be going on for her, rather than it being 'just a thing' - like the link says, it says it could be a 'something', or just a habit and you need to look at the whole picture to see what the child is telling you, without actually telling you!
It's great that your friend has you as a friend who isn't afraid to be caring enough to help her look into it. Lots of people would just gossip about it and speculate, leaving the mother high and dry and worrying about it all alone :( More of people like you please!!

Thanks Mayaness.
Unfortunately its probably because I'm all alone, being the one gossiped about when my 6 year old throws a tanty screamimg in the supermarket, that I like to help others having problems with their kids.
I know what its like. People just assume DD1 is a spoilt brat & that I let obviously get away with murder or she wouldn't act like that.

A pox on those people :P I know people think my DS is spoilt - I had one lady tell me recently "I can see that he gets away with anything", just because I didn't smack him or publicly humiliate him for taking her water bottle from the side of the pool (sure, it's a fun-looking bottle beside a pool where there are no other kids cos he's a bit advanced with his swimming and can use the big pool...bite me!). Before kids, I was probably one of those people, too :rolleyes: