Laura Darcy has trichotillomania, a condition that causes sufferers to be unable to resist the urge to pull out their own hair, according to multiple reports. She has decided to embrace baldness and stop using wigs or hair systems, and she appeared on This Morning to discuss her condition and her journey toward self-acceptance.
Darcy first developed noticeable bald spots from hair-pulling at age nine, multiple reports indicate. As a teenager, she used fidget toys and gloves to avoid hair-pulling and let her hair grow back, and she hid bald patches by scraping her hair into a ponytail to conceal the effects of her condition from others.
Darcy spent £20,000 trying to stop her hair-pulling compulsions, according to multiple reports. Her brother confronted her about her hair-pulling in her twenties, prompting her to seek therapy, and doctors suggested therapy and Prozac for her condition as part of her treatment efforts.
Initially, Darcy did not tell doctors about her hair-pulling due to embarrassment, multiple reports state. This secrecy delayed her from receiving professional help earlier in her life.