addicted to scratching the dandruff flakes from my head

I am 29 and female, I have very thick hair and bad dandruff. I've had this condition since middle school, and although annoying it's also very addictive and I've never been able to stop for a long period of time.

You sound like my perfect woman, i would love to date you, i am a 42 year old male, not bad looking and also have dandruff, i would love to run my fingers through your hair and watch your dandruff flakes fall.x

1. How old were you when the habit started?
Around 12 years old
2. Did you move around a lot as a kid/teenager?
No I only moved once to my neighboring city in California and then once more to south Korea in sixth grade and I have lived her ever since.
3. Do you experience anxiety/depression?
I did go through a period of time where I was extremely sad and felt suicidal, but I have mostly overcome that. I feel like there are some mental issues with me, and I hope to one day see a therapist or find some explanation for my messed up mentality eg. fears of friends leaving me or disliking me, feelings of anger towards my mother, the fear that people judge everything I do, the inability to finish work on time, etc.
4. Do you feel that picking the dandruff relieves stress?
I don't know if it necessarily relieves stress, but there is an indescribable satisfaction that comes with it. I literally feel happiness when I find a large chunk of dandruff.
5. Do you do it even when your head isn't itching?
I do it constantly. Some times it's because i just want to other times it's because my head is the slightest bit itchy which leads me to scratch and find a tiny piece of dandruff. When I start I can't stop until I am 100% sure there is no dandruff or until i scratch too much that there is a tiny tiny amount of blood. Its really embarrassing.
6. Do you feel sad when you can't find any dandruff?
It's a feeling of frustration and disappointment. Sometimes I scratch my head pretty hard just to create some. Other times if there are bumps on my scalp (more like pimples) I try to scratch them off. Those hurt though and do not come off. When I can't find any dandruff to scrape off my head i feel as though its like a heavy door that I can't open or like a feeling of expecting to eat candy but not being able to find any.

Also, what is your race? Where are you from? Are you a boy or girl?
I am an 18 year old ethnically Korean girl, raised in southern California until the age of 11. I now live in South Korea and attend a foreign school.

Feel free to email me about this. It's actually very frustrating that I do this and kind of gross, but i can't stop. I would really like to understand why I do this. : ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** posting of private e-mails is not allowed *** *** all questions should be discussed on our website *** Please read our Terms of Use​

1. 12 years old
2. Moved once
3. Experienced depression and anxiety
4. It relieves me of stress
5. I pick when nothing itches
6. Yes
Female Caucasian

Oh my gosh, i thought i was a psycho for scratching my dandruff off my scalp and find it satisfying. It worsened when I started college, stress is inevitable we all know that. Most of the time I unconsciously do it most especially when I'm in deep thought or really stressed. Sometimes i can't control it in a public place which is really embarrassing coz most of my blockmates adore how black and thick my hair is. I seriously want this to stop but i can't help it

I tried to put on aloe vera gel to my hair after I wash it and massage it to my scalp. Actually it worked. It lifts up all the dandruff off my scalp... The fall off is insane but after a week of using it, my dandruff lessens. But i'm so weird because i start scratching all over again. I thought this wasn't serious until I discovered that many experience the same. Dandruff is still fungus. I want to maintain proper hygiene. My mom scolded me a lot! Haha

Wow, I just found this thread via Google and I'm stumped. I had no idea this behaviour was an actual thing, I thought it was just a weird obsession of mine. I've been scratching flakes since I was a little kid. Always enjoyed finding those big ones and seeing all the tiny holes from the hair follicles - I still do. I have never experienced anxiety or depression, I think I started while being bored and for some reason, it just stuck with me throughout the years. Well, I'm so glad to find out that I'm not the only one in the world doing this, even if it took 20 years or so, haha.

The condition is a Body Focussed Repetitive Behavior or BFRB for short. If you Google TLC and BFRB you could find help for it, help is usually behavioral related, although I think there is a supplement or 2 that is supposed to help. I was relieved to find an official "diagnosis" for the condition.

I loving having dandruff, I work as a chef at the Halfway House near Shipley in West Yorkshire, England and I shake my dandruff in customers food from time to time when I get the urge, according to trip advisor my food gets mixed reviews.

Hi, I’m The Exact Same! I’m An 11 Year Old Girl & My Addiction Started When I Was 8, I Once Was Playing With My Toys On A Black Couch, My Head Was Itchy So I Scratched It And I Seen This White Speck On The Couch I Fell In Love, Sometimes I Scratch My Head Too Hard That My Head Starts Bleeding, My Addiction Is Very Bad Too.

Hi there I am 30 years old . my story is as. Follow .
I was a very happy person with thick black shiny hair everybody admire my hair but then I think I was 15 year old when once I bring 2 rabits as pet and I sleeping in the roof in full cold weather so at night rabbits were comming in my bed to sleep to avid coldness. Unfortunately one of the rabbit was having that thick dandruf on his skin thaylt if I try to remove it his skin got injured so I decided to give home shower thinking his thick layer of dandruf will remove but actually he died after my shower . Well but his this dandruf disease some how ransfered on me . I noticed that I have dandruf in my mustache my eyelashes in eyebrows and in scalp. Little by little my hair start getting whitr becauae of this dandruf hair start getting weak and weaker . Any way now I am 30 year old I only itch when I feel that I have something on my head or scalp I want to put out but another problem . From 9 year old age I was addicted to ea my nails even I tried to eat the nails of feet . Now my point is that I dont even have nails even like that if I try to pick the pieces of dandruf from my scalp I feel it get injured only by picking the dandruf with fingers because I have no nails so please any solution what disease I have anybadvise thanks .

I Have been diagnosed with ADHD and social anxiety and I have been picking and scratching flakes off my scalp since grade 2 and I found out that all of my cousins do the same thing too!!!!!

Is it weird that I find what you just said hot?

HAHAHAHAHA HAHA HA

Even the waiters and waitresses have started doing the same thing now although I have to say they don`t have dandruff to the same extent I do, I pick at my scalp from time to time and a bloody scab that has dried up has found its way on to food.

i thought i was the only one lmfao, it’s so satisfying idk why