Trichotillomania Statistics: How Common Is Hair Pulling?

Trichotillomania (trich) is a condition where people repeatedly pull out their own hair and find it very hard to stop. This page gathers the key trichotillomania statistics in one place: how common trichotillomania is, when it starts, who it affects, and how many get help.

It’s written for anyone who wants the numbers: people who pull, parents, students and journalists. Every figure comes with the study behind it and a short note on what it can and can’t tell you. Where studies disagree, we show the range rather than pick one number.

Trichotillomania statistics at a glance

These are the figures we think are most reliable, and the ones we use across this site.

Question	Best current answer	Main source
How many people have trich?	About 1 to 2 in 100 (pooled estimate 1.14%)	Thomson et al., 2022 (review of 30 studies)
How many adults have it right now?	1.7% of US adults	Grant et al., 2020 (10,169 adults)
How many pull hair at all?	8.84%	Thomson et al., 2022
When does it start?	Usually between 10 and 13	NHS; Grant & Chamberlain, 2016
Men vs women?	No clear difference in the population; clinics see mostly women	Grant et al., 2020; Thomson et al., 2022
Most common site	Scalp (about 73%)	Woods et al., 2006 (1,697 adults)
Other conditions	79% have at least one	Grant et al., 2020
Age at first diagnosis	Median 24.6 years	Farhat et al., 2025 (Sweden)

How many people have trichotillomania?

About 1 to 2 people in every 100 have trichotillomania, or roughly 1 in 50. That makes it a common condition, even though most people who pull have never knowingly met anyone else who does.

The best single figure for trichotillomania prevalence (how many people in a population have it) comes from a 2022 review that combined 30 studies with more than 38,000 people. It put the rate of trichotillomania at 1.14%. It also found that 8.84% of people pull their hair in some way, without it being frequent or distressing enough to count as trich.

Different studies find different rates because they count different things:

Study	Who took part	What they found
Thomson et al., 2022	30 studies, 38,526 people	1.14% have trich; 8.84% pull hair in some way
Grant et al., 2020	10,169 US adults, online survey	1.7% have trich now
Grzesiak et al., 2017	339 Polish medical students	2.4% at some point in life; 1.2% now
Duke et al., 2009	832 US young adults (average age 20)	6.5% pull hair; 1.2% pull in a way that causes problems; 0.6% meet full criteria
King et al., 1995	794 Israeli 17-year-olds	1% have ever pulled hair; 0.5% pull now

Stricter definitions give lower numbers. When studies only count people who meet every part of the formal diagnosis, rates fall towards 0.6%. When they count everyone whose pulling causes hair loss and distress, rates rise towards 2%. Stigma also matters: many people never tell anyone, even in an anonymous survey, so the true figure may be higher.

Trich is one of a group of conditions called body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), where people repeatedly pull, pick or bite at their hair, skin or nails. For comparison, a 2023 review put skin picking disorder at about 3.45%. You can read more in our guide to body-focused repetitive behaviours.

At what age does trichotillomania start?

Trichotillomania usually starts between the ages of 10 and 13, around the start of puberty. The UK’s NHS gives this range, and a 2016 review in the American Journal of Psychiatry notes that studies agree closely on this.

Pulling can start at any age, but it most often begins between about 10 and 13.

The age of onset, meaning when pulling first starts, can be any age, though:

In a 2023 study of 858 people with trich, pulling most often began between 11 and 15, and 93.5% had started before age 20.
In a 2012 study of 98 adults, about 43% had started at age 11 or younger.
In general population surveys, the average age people remember starting is later: 17.7 in the 2020 US survey and 15.9 in a 2009 US study. People may remember when pulling became a problem rather than when it first began.

Pulling in toddlers and very young children is different. It’s often short-lived and stops on its own, although not in every case. Our guide to toddlers who pull their hair explains what to look for.

Is trichotillomania more common in women?

Probably not by much. Clinics see far more women than men, but large population surveys find men and women pull at similar rates.

Clinic figures only count people who come forward for help. Population surveys find men pull about as often as women.

In clinics and treatment studies, the male to female ratio is lopsided: women outnumber men by about 4 to 1, according to the 2016 review, and by up to 9 to 1 in another clinical summary. In Sweden’s national patient records, 85% of people diagnosed were female.

Population surveys tell a different story:

The 2020 survey of 10,169 US adults found trich in 1.8% of men and 1.7% of women, which is no real difference.
The 2022 review of 30 studies found no clear difference between men and women for trich itself.
In children, the 2016 review reports that boys and girls are affected about equally.

Clinic numbers only count people who come forward for help, so they can’t show how many men pull and never ask. Whatever the reason, the picture of trich as a “women’s condition” leaves many men and boys out.

Where on the body do people pull from?

The scalp is the most common place to pull from, but most people pull from more than one area. The largest survey of adults with trich, the Trichotillomania Impact Project (TIP), asked 1,697 people where they had pulled in the past two weeks:

Site	Share who pulled there
Scalp	72.8%
Eyebrows	56.4%
Eyelashes	51.6%
Pubic hair	50.7%
Legs	21.8%
Arms	12.4%
Armpits	12.4%

The scalp is the most common place to pull from, but most people pull from more than one area.

Some people also chew or swallow the hair they pull, which is called trichophagia. Estimates range from 5% to 20% of people with trich. In a 2008 study of 68 adults, about 1 in 5 were eating their hair at the time.

Our guide to eating hair explains the warning signs in more detail.

What other conditions often come with trich?

Most people with trich also live with at least one other mental health condition. In the 2020 US survey, 79% had at least one. Among people with trich in that survey:

53% had an anxiety disorder
45% had depression
29% had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a condition involving unwanted, repeated thoughts and actions
29% had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
24% had skin picking disorder

Sweden’s patient records showed the same pattern, with 79% having another recorded diagnosis. Rates vary between studies, and having another condition doesn’t mean one caused the other. It does mean that good support looks at the whole person, not only the pulling. If you pick your skin as well, our guide to skin picking and hair pulling covers both.

How many people with trich seek help?

Many people with trich never get a diagnosis, and those who do get help often find their doctor or therapist knows little about it.

In the 2020 US survey, about 63% of people with trich said a health professional had diagnosed them. That leaves more than a third undiagnosed.
In the Trichotillomania Impact Project, 61.7% had received some kind of treatment. The most common was medication (42%), followed by behaviour therapy (about 31%).
In the same project, 28.1% felt the professionals they saw knew nothing at all about trich.

These figures probably overstate how many people get help. The Trichotillomania Impact Project was an online survey that people chose to join, and people who seek out a trich survey are likely to be more engaged with support than most.

There’s hopeful news too. In the 2020 survey, 81% of people who said they used to have trich had stopped without treatment. That doesn’t mean pulling always fades, but it does mean change is possible. For what the research says about each type of treatment, see our guide to trichotillomania treatment.

How long before people find out it has a name?

No study has measured this directly, but the evidence suggests many people pull for a decade or more before anyone gives it a name. In a 2025 study of 1,234 people diagnosed through Sweden’s national patient records, the median age at first diagnosis was 24.6. (The median is the middle value: half were diagnosed younger, half older.) Pulling usually begins around age 12, so that’s a gap of roughly 12 years. The researchers link the delay to shame about the symptoms and to health professionals knowing little about the condition.

Many people also go years believing they’re the only person who does this. Knowing that trich has a name, and that it affects around 1 in 50 people, is often the first real relief.

What’s the best way to quote these numbers?

If you’re writing about trich, these are the safest ways to describe the figures:

“Trichotillomania affects an estimated 1 to 2% of people.” (Thomson et al., 2022; Grant et al., 2020)
“It usually begins between ages 10 and 13.” (NHS; Grant & Chamberlain, 2016)
“Women make up most people seen in clinics, but population studies find similar rates in men and women.” (Grant et al., 2020; Thomson et al., 2022)

Avoid calling trich a bad habit, a form of self-harm or a choice. It’s a recognised condition, listed with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Our full guide, what is trichotillomania, explains it in plain words.

When to get help

If pulling is causing you distress, taking up a lot of your time, or affecting your work, school or relationships, it’s worth getting support. You don’t need to wait until it feels “bad enough”.

Many doctors and therapists have never worked with someone who pulls. Everyone in our directory has told us they understand trichotillomania and already help people who pull, in person or online. You can search the directory to find someone who understands hair pulling. Our guide to finding a therapist who understands trich explains what to ask on a first call.

If you’re a parent, our guide for parents of children with trichotillomania is a good place to start.

If you’re feeling very low or hopeless, please talk to someone today.

In an emergency, call 995 or go to your nearest emergency department.

Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) — 1767 (24h)
IMH Mental Health Helpline — 6389 2222

Questions people ask

Is trichotillomania rare?

No. At around 1 to 2 people in every 100, it’s more common than most people think. It feels rare because most people who pull hide it, so few ever knowingly meet someone else who does. In a school of 1,000 students, you’d expect around 10 to 20 to be living with it.

How many people in the UK have trichotillomania?

There’s no UK-wide count. Most prevalence studies come from the US and other countries. If the usual estimate of 1 to 2% applied to the UK, that would be somewhere between several hundred thousand and over a million people. Treat that as a rough guide, not a measured figure.

Why do different sources give different numbers?

Studies measure different things. Some count anyone who pulls, some only people who meet the full diagnostic criteria, and some ask about now while others ask about any time in life. Online surveys, student surveys and clinic records also reach different groups of people, which shifts the results.

Can men and boys have trichotillomania?

Yes. Large population surveys find men pull about as often as women, and in children the numbers are roughly equal. Men are much less likely to be seen in clinics, so they’re often left out of the picture.

Does trichotillomania run in families?

It can. The UK’s NHS notes it may be genetic and can affect more than one person in a family. Having a relative who pulls doesn’t mean you will, and it isn’t caused by anything a parent did.

Where do these statistics come from?

They come from peer-reviewed research: a 2022 review of 30 prevalence studies, a 2020 survey of more than 10,000 US adults, a 2025 study of Sweden’s national patient records, and several large surveys of people with trich. Every source is listed with a link at the end of this page.