Spring 2013

BeauTrichful ®

“TLC contacted me about filming for their show,

“Truth Be Told”; an OCD episode. I do not believe Trich is an OCD.”

Meet Our IBS Sponsors

Green Beauty Tips

Kick Up The Volume Hair Tips

Growing Out Trich

Lashes & Brows

I am very excited to present HelpMe2Stop’s 1st Issue of BeauTrichful. I wanted to present a magazine solely for Trichotillomania and hair loss sufferers.

BeauTrichful Magazine are stories of real life beautiful people with Trichotillomania; tips to care for hair, receipes to strengthen hair and how to style hair; makeup application; fitness, health; and highlights of our sponsors and events.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much I have enjoyed making it for you.

Please send me your edited stories- about living with Trichotillomania, tips, makeovers, fund-raising events, etc along with high resolution photos for my next issue to press@helpme2stop.org

ABOUT Charlene Blacer: A Student Nurse, turned Hair Extensionist inspired from a college part time job, living in Midtown Manhattan who had no choice but to start her own business because New York City salons did not have a need for her hair extension services.

After the bith of the Internet, Charlene launched a website and soon generated many clients. Her clients wanted hair

extensions but had little or thin hair. Charlene took hair replacement classes and started offering hair loss solutions.

One day, Charlene consulted her first Trichotillomania customer and was nervous that the customer might pull the hair from her hairpiece. They agreed to gave it a try and it worked! After 9 months, the customer’s hair grow long and she transitioned to hair extensions. It was a “miracle”!

Volunteering for the cancer community, Charlene saw the awareness, the walks, the runs, the pink ribbons, the pink blowdryers, everything pink and felt that Trichotillomania is a very underserved population of millions...thus the birth of HelpMe2Stop.org.

HelpMe2Stop is bridge connecting sufferers to salons and raises money for services that will boost sufferers’ confidence and remedy their image.

Salons are the front line and HelpMe2Stop focuses on developing partnership with salons to impact positive life changes in the lives of pullers. HelpMe2Stop offers Salon Partnership Programs. helpme2stop.org/salon Be sure to share this issue to all your friends, because you are all beautiful!

Hello! This is Charlene, FounderBy Charlene Blacer

“Greetings from my homeland the Philippines- taken June 2012”

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Green Tea Hair Mask

This homemade hair mask is very effective for stimulating healthy

hair growth if you suffer from thinning hair and hair loss. Use this

treatment three to four times per week to create long, thick and

luxurious hair. 

INGREDIENTS

◦ 2 tablespoons fresh green tea (strong)

◦ 1 tablespoon mustard powder

◦ 1 egg yolk

PREPARATION

Mix all ingredients together until you reach a creamy consistency. 

If it becomes too thick, add more green tea.

APPLICATION

Part hair down the center and apply mixture. Cover hair with a

shower cap or cling wrap. Leave in for approximately 15 to 25

minutes. Your head will feel slightly warm, as the mustard helps to

increase the blood circulation to the scalp. Rinse thoroughly, then

shampoo and condition as normal.

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David Rubenstein, President of Klix Hair is glad to know that

there are non-invasive products like hair extensions and

hairpieces to offer for sufferers of hair pulling disorder

Trichotillomania and is very happy to support the cause. For

more information about Klix Hair Extensions visit

KlixHair.com

IBS New York Gold Sponsor

Hair Essentials™ naturally combats hair loss, repairs and revitalizes damaged or

dormant hair follicles and stimulates healthy hair growth so that women no longer

have to suffer from hair loss; so they can walk into a room and feel confident of

the way they look; so they can take off their wig or hat or scarf and enjoy the

breeze; and so they can reclaim their lives and, once again, feel like the vibrant,

beautiful woman they are.

For more information, visit

HairEssentials.com

IBS New York Silver Sponsors

Esche & Alexander is a national beauty PR firm specializing in both the professional and

retail segments of the beauty industry. Originally located in New York City, now in San

Diego, CA, Esche & Alexander takes pride in its unique entrenched experience in beauty

public relations & communications, connections with key national media, and close client

relationships throughout the country.

Company principals Sharon Esche and Alexander Irving are a high energy, hands-on team of

beauty PR strategists that build editorial credibility-through-visibility for people, products,

and companies. Over the past 20 + years, Esche & Alexander has skillfully guided beauty

related companies, both 'Start-up' and Fortune 500, to stronger positions of positive public/

industry perception through media influence. This strengthened 'perception of success'

among target audiences translates directly to product and/or service sales.

For more information, visit

Beauty-PR.com

IBS New York Bronze Sponsors

Volluma hair thickening spray is the instant styling solution for thinning hair and hair loss in women and thinning hair in men. Volume.net

The Swarvoski crystal company was started in 1895 and is renowned for it's imagination and beauty in creating and cutting crystals.

The Swarovski crystal is the creme de la creme- this is why RegaliaRags.com enjoys

working with Swarovski crystal rhinestones!

Eyebrow

Tips!

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NationalHairSociety.org

I first recall pulling my hair at the age of eight. My parents divorced when I was five, my mother had remarried, and I believe this stress first caused me to pull. But I don’t blameanyone, I know that I was born with Trich and that it would have eventually reared it’s ugly head anyway. From what I recall, at that time I only pulled a small 2 inch patch from my head, and was able to stop for nearly 11 years with the help of a counselor and relaxation techniques. I still am amazed that I had the will to stop if as such a young girl and this timehave been struggling with it much worse for the past 7 years.

I recall a school assembly where I was being recognized for winning the spelling bee. I was sitting there waiting on my time to shine, when I heard a few people snickering behind me.Apparently, my hair had shifted so my bald patch was showing. The girls were pointing and laughing hysterically. I will never forget the utter humiliation I felt at that moment. In tears, I walked over to the principal and had to be escorted away from the assembly. I was so alone and knew that no one could ever understand, because I didn’t even understand what I was doing, and half the time I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Even after pulling, I never thought my hair was pretty. It was wavy and

hard to manage and the blonde hair I once had started turning darker as I entered high school, giving me an appearance of really bad roots, even though I had never dyed my hair. I remember a girl saying I had greasy hair, but amazingly, I did not pull. I did not even THINK about pulling during that 11 year period.Moving along to college, my hair was actually starting to look pretty and healthy as it did when I was young. My childhood dream was to work as an anchor on the news, my father had been a weatherman, and I loved the idea since I was able to walk. Little did I know, after graduating, the loss of hair would pose a problem, as I didn’t feel comfortable going in forinterviews with my thin hair. I still wonder what would’ve happened with that had I not pulled out so much of my hair and damaged so much of my self esteem.It was then that a steamrolling 6 years of stressful events occurred, thus re-triggering my hair pulling beyond my worst nightmares.

Strength, Healing, InspirationBy Delia Jo Ramsey

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“TLC contacted me about filming for their show, “Truth Be Told”; an OCD episode. I do not believe Trich is an OCD.”

I married at 20, (too young in my opinion, to fully grasp the seriousness I was signing up for), only to find less than 2 years later I was being cheated on. At this time, I was 21, had normal hair, and was in the best shape of my life. Needless to say I was completely blindsided. After the split of that relationship, several years of partying, recklessness, and bad decisions ensued. I thought being a party girl was the answer to my problems, and though I was still close with my family and some friends, I apparently had no respect for myself. I think Trich plays a big role in hugely diminishing pride and self-respect. But in the party world, I could get all dolled up, throw on a wig, and 90% of people didn’t even know, or didn’t care. The few people who did notice, I just told I wore wigs for fun and because it’s easier than fixing my own hair. For a while, I just had small patches, which I could hide easily with clip-in extensions, etc. But after awhile, a wig became necessary. My stupid decisions led me to have to spend 15 days in a local jail facility. The part I dreaded most (and believe, me, this prissy girl had a lot of dread) was that I had to go in there with my hair as it really was, 3 huge bald patches. I knew these people would not be kind, I had to make up lies to tell them, anything but telling them I pulled my hair. The judgment would just be too harsh. Miraculously, I did not pull a single hair during that time, the first 4 days I did not even have a book to read in my cell. I lay there at night and would recite the words to familiar hymns in my head. It was at this lowest of lows that I realized I could not withstand all these things of the world by myself, I needed God, and very much so. While I had been baptized at the age of eight, some rude people in the church and bad experiences led me away. God spoke to me through this experience and held me in His arms and I was under His care, and didn’t even feel the need to pull my hair. I wish I could say that I stopped pulling after, but at least after this point I did start drawing nearer to God. I started being more accepting of myself and all my flaws, being more open to talking about Trich. If anyone couldn’t accept me as I was, then I didn’t need them in my life!

I moved to Texas later that year for a job, the first time I would ever be more than a 3 hour drive from my family. I did pretty good, minus a few setbacks, and promised to give it 6 months before I packed up and moved home. The beginning of 2009 came and my resolution was to get back into church. It’s very hard going by yourself, especially wondering if they will notice I have a wig on, etc. Around that time I also saw an ad online asking for people with “Embarrassing Medical Conditions” to be on their show on TLC. I contacted them, because Trich is a pretty embarrassing one! People judge and point andlaugh, I knew this would be a way to reach the world about my struggles. I started going to a church I passed randomly down the street from my apartment. The third time I went I noticed a

handsome man singing a beautiful song he wrote. The song and his voice touchedmy heart, and I saved the bulletin, and later would look him up on Facebook. At the sametime, TLC contacted me about filming for their show, “Truth Be Told”. The only thing was,they had decided to put me on the OCD episode instead of the one I had originally signedup for. I do not believe Trich is an OCD, as I do not have any other obsessive tendencies, but I still wanted my story out there. I have received some criticism for misrepresenting, and this was not my intent at all. Trich is in a league all it’s own... We don’t want to do it, we don’t mean to do it, and don’t even realize we are doing it, but we do. We were born that way.

I began hanging out with the aforementioned handsome man from church, and the first time we met we were beside my car, and there was a wig sitting in the floor, obvious to see. Although normally for me that was a bit too soon to bare my Trichysoul, I went on and put it all out there. He didn’t run screaming away. He accepted me and a relationship blossomed. The TLC crew came and filmed and although my story was a little bit embellished (No, I do not have a lifelong dream of being a model, it was just something I dabbled with for awhile), I was glad to get it out there. Sometime in August, my boyfriend, my therapist, and I were convinced thatshaving my head might be a good way to start over. I shaved it and was able to go to Six Flags for the first time in years. No wig, no worries. Just me. It was exhilarating!

The show aired, and I had close to a hundred people contact me on Facebook who were going through the same thing. Amazing!Never before had I found so many people who were going through the exact same thing I was! I will say, it helped tremendously.Around the same time, my handsome man proposed and we decided to get married in December. Time of hesitation: I didn’t want to be married with such short hair, and have to always remember my struggles with Trich. I ordered a beautiful wig, and decided not to let my hair hold me back. Anyway, how much time would I save by not having to fix my hair? The wig was already flawless! I did really good about pulling the next few months. I think finally being in touch with other people who had Trich and also being more open and talking about it. Of course it didn’t hurt that I was incredibly happy finally not being alone anymore, and having a wonderful, talented, Godly husband to share my life. But Trich is much easier to deal with when life is going your way. The true test is staying strong when tough times come, which I still have to work on. News of my father having kidney cancer brought on more nerves, anxiety, urges than I have had in awhile. It’s still a struggle and I definitely take thingsday by day. But I am uplifted by the hands of God, and knowing that there areso many other people just like me out there who are struggling with this same monster. I am so looking forward to meeting some of them soon.

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You guys know why I started blogging in the first place, right? It was to have an open and public place to talk about the disorder—trichotillomania—that has affected me for the past several years. I began my blog LastLash in 2010 so I could tell the world my story, and document it for all to see.

Since then, I've received countless emails from people across the world who also deal with this life-changing disorder. Through every email, it never ceases to amaze me how open people are—how people pour their hearts into their words and tell their story to a complete stranger. I am so thankful for it...

I think it's time for a trichotillomania update. I got an email last week from a woman who's been struggling with trich for 26 years. Twenty-six years. She had finally reached a point of desperation and emailed me—the first person she's ever contacted about her struggles—to see if I could help her or point her in the right direction. It is times like those when I wish I was a professional... but I'm not, I'm just me—a fellow stranger across the internet who also happens to struggle with trich. What a beautiful email I got to share with a woman who I will never probably meet, but feel like I already know because of our disorder we share.

With my trichotillomania, I don't think there was ever a point where I enjoyed destroying my eyelashes and eyebrows. Oh, and talk about a self-esteem killer—I became very depressed at my worst stages of pulling, and I knew I needed to make a change. It was only when I decided to—and made a conscious effort to—that I began to actually see improvement in my pulling. Having trichotillomania is like an addiction and in fact, has been compared with having an addiction to heroin. Heroin. In other words, this isn't something you can just stop. But if you try and pray and seek treatment, it IS something you can gain better control over.

When I talk about my pulling on this blog, I know you can get an idea of what it looks like to have absolutely none or sparse eyelashes and eyebrows. But today, I want to show you. I want to give you a real look at the trichotillomania I've struggled with for over 10 years, and I also want to show you how far I've come. I've said it before—I AM NOT CURED, I STILL HAVE AND STRUGGLE WITH TRICHOTILLOMANIA—but it's not anything like what it used to be.

A Real Look At Trichotillomania

By AunieSauce.com

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Aunie Sauce is the

blog about the life &

sauce of Annelise

Rowe.

Why "sauce?" Aunie

Sauce documents

life—the ups, the

downs, the big

details, the little

memorable

moments, and all

the love in between.

The "sauce" is all

the extras—style,

faith, beauty, fitness,

thoughts, etc.

What a blessing life is. I'm so thankful for how far I've come, and I have so much hope in my heart that I will be able to stop pulling completely

someday. If you have trich or something you struggle with and you're ready to make a change—do it. Call your mom, your best friend, a doctor, a

counselor—anyone who can help—and take your life back. Now is the time.

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Trich Friendly Salon in Australia

By Charlene Blacer

With over 20 years in the salon industry, 10 years as a hairextensionist, hair enhancement and hair growth specialist, 5 years ago, Zak Shadbolt director of www.shiquehairextensions.com.au, found yet another passion, creating mastery and miracle hair solutions for gals with Trichotillomania.

Zak creates natural systems that help his clients look and feel beautiful and help them stop pulling. “I do not view Trichotillomania as a disorder, but something the gals do to manage their stress/and a bad habit”. He refers to Trichotillomania similar to anyone coping with stress by… shopping, alcohol, gambling, smoking, etc and not as having a mental or “weird” condition.

In the 5 years of servicing Trichotillomania, Zak finds his Trichotillomania girls to be very talented, intelligent, high achieving and often perfectionists. He believes there is so much pressure in our society to look great that these girls begin to feel unattractive, undesirable, ugly, different, ashamed, embarrassed, and hence lose their confidence and withdraw into an unhappy state of mind. Zak turns their lives around. “Negative thinking at any level is a very destructive force”.

Zak has seen and heard so many stories of his clients being medicated with little success and often more harm and separation than healing. Wearing his unique Trichotillomania systems can turn a Trichotillomania girl around in hours. “Its such a wonderful feeling when they walk out feeling confident and ready to live a new life”.He helps them break the habit giving them a chance to move forward powerfully and live the life they’ve always dreamed of. One of his salon policies is helping the gals take the first step ….ACCEPTANCE (“They just pull their hair”) of who they are and what they do. The rest is a BAD made up story that they live into. Zak’s Salon Shique hair systems and service help boosts confidence, beauty and normality- something that Trichotillomania has deprived the gals throughout most of their lives.

Zak’s clients come from all over Australia; Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia to experience Salon Shique’s unique trich/hair pulling services. Our Trichotillomania clients and families feel at home mingling and getting support from other girls in his small private studio in South Yarra- the area of fine fashion.

Zak wants to normalize and let the world know about Trichotillomania and says; “These gals are not freaks or weird or abnormal. They just happen to pull their hair. “I am proud to be a part of HelpMe2Stop’s vision. More education and exposure will help normalize this condition. People always fear what they do not understand.”

Zak is also an author of a 30 Day Confidence Boosting book…. “putting the gain back into loss”…. which gives anyone with Trichotillomania or hair loss an easy to follow process to live the life they’ve always dreamed of.

For more information visit www.shique.com.auTo apply for a Grant Award and receive up to $500 that will apply towards the cost of a 12 month hair makeover, go to http://www.helpme2stop.org/grant-application

To become a HelpMe2Stop partner go to http://www.helpme2stop.org/salon

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“Let’s Create Magic For Trichotillomania And Our Beauty Industry”

Zak Shadbolt, Director of Salon Shique, Melbourne Australia

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ntYoung supporters of the Trichotillomania cause wear feathers symbolizing “hair” while holding up a number “2” “peace” sign during a community event. Sponsor: Harvest Festival Mount Pocono, PA

BeauTrichful People Wish:

1. To be treated like everyone else.

2. Do not want us to think they are any different.

3. Never ask “Why do you do that?” or

“Stop doing that.”

4. Never ask “Why can't you just stop?”

5. Offer tips like styles to cover bald spots.

6. Offer scalp massages.

7. Always be warm and friendly like you treat

everyone else.

8. Never look at them as “sick”, “crazy”.

They are normal.

9. Never embarrass them in front of other people.

10. Let them open up to you instead.

For more Info & Donate

HelpMe2Stop.org

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