coralie mercier

Chaetophobia

Sunday, April 29, 2007 10:19:10 PM

I was reminded of a phobia that I have had for as long as I remember. I meant to look the word up and Amy found it: Chaetophobia, the fear of hair. I don't know how to pronounce it, but I can certainly describe my own version of the phobia.

When I was a kid and my mum was bathing me, I was terrified of floating hair in the water. So I already had long hair at the time. I remember curling up as far as I could from these long, threatening, floating and offensive threats. My word was "thread", as in "there is a thread". My mother had to remove the floating "thread(s)" from the water.

Now I don't curl up so much, but I'm still really bugged by the occasional strand(s) of detached hair. A lot.

I don't mind attached hair at all. How funny to make the distinction.

o-ringSize matters

Comments

Charles McCathieNevilechaals # Monday, April 30, 2007 9:12:23 AM

Being scared of hair seems like being scared of bugs and things. I am generally not scared of bugs and spiders, but I really don't like it when I feel them sort of clinging to me - and the same goes for floating hair. Especially when it is wet, it just won't go away.

How that develops into a phobia is as much a mystery as other phobias. I have a mild phobia of being under bridges - although it has mostly gone away now, I still have moments where I look up and feel a shiver.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, August 29, 2007 4:41:03 AM

Nicole Sullivan writes: I absolutely hate hair in drains, like in a clump in the tub. But I think it is more a fear of drains than hair... ;)

coralie mercierkoalie # Wednesday, August 29, 2007 9:54:45 AM

/me waves hi! to Nicole :)

Unregistered user # Thursday, January 3, 2008 9:56:37 PM

kati writes: hi im kati. i hate detached hair. i think its the most disgusting thing. it all started when i was in 1st grade and this girl told me to suck on my hair so you can taste the shampoo. well i did and ya i tasted it but then i heard this weird like squeeky noise and then i got this weird tingaly feeling in my gums. and then now like if i hear the noise or if i see hiar like on someones clothes or anywhere other than a head it creeps me out. espesially when its wet...... thx 4 reading..... lol and now im 13 and it still creeps me just as much as it did in 1st grade.

Unregistered user # Sunday, March 9, 2008 1:11:36 AM

Anonymous writes: I HATE HAIR!! It is the most discusting thing in the world. As long as it is attached i'm ok but otherwise it creeps me out if it is wet of on my shirt or even someone elses shirt eww.

Unregistered user # Monday, April 14, 2008 9:49:12 AM

Damaris writes: WOW! I had no idea there was actually a phobia of this. I would always say I was not scared of hair so it cannot be a phobia, but I only find it gross. Does this mean I fear it? I just think it's nasty to feel it on your body when you shower, to see it ANYWHERE in the Kitchen, Fridge, Sink or near your mouth or body. I's just so nasty and disgusting that a loose dry strand alone is bothersome to me even when its on the ground, imagine the long wet ones?.. ugh! Does this mean I have this phobia too?.. Gosh.. I have to learn how to pronounce it. I thought I was the only one. When I was young, I would have mom wash my hair, comb it out, put on the ointment and then I would set it in rollers. Now as I moved from NY to FL after marriage I cannot afford to pay a stylist to wash and blow for me, so I completely chopped off my long beautiful hair. I tried desperately to find someone here affordable, but it just was not working with anyone. They overcharged for an aweful price..... so I cut it way short and still had hair coming off of me, and onto my shirt. Now I have found the perfect stylist and have let it grow, but I still don't wash it on my own. I know this lady in church that washes my hair for me at her house and blows it out for me every 2 weeks. After 3 weeks (like this past weekend) I get desperate and go to the stylist, which I did (I needed to dye my roots and get a trim anyway)... but BOY, do I hate hair! I can bare it when it's at the beauty salon, but if I see it in places where it SHOULD NOT BE, like in someone's scrapbook behind a photo, or in my lip gloss, I just get upset and grossed out. Do I have a phobia?

Unregistered user # Sunday, June 29, 2008 12:25:02 PM

Anonymous writes: i cannot stand hair being pushed the wrong way- as in pushed towards the root so it feels all rough. it's the same with eyebrows being rubbed the wrong way, arm hair etc. it actually makes me feel physically sick. so strange, no idea where it stemmed from...

Unregistered user # Wednesday, October 15, 2008 8:41:36 PM

Anonymous writes: omgshh. im so glad i am not the only one that feels this way. my friends are always pickin hair off of themselves and waving it in front of me. i can't stand it. detached hair makes me sick. i have to have someone else clean my hair brush out, because i cringe and feel naseous.attached hair on myself, or a few close friends is okay, but hair in general disgusts me.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, October 29, 2008 3:09:38 PM

Anonymous writes: i'm the same way, i think free hair is digusting and really creepy. But I too have long hair it's about a little under a foot from my butt and i have no problems with it. I love my long hair but lose hair is DISGUSTING!

Unregistered user # Sunday, November 9, 2008 12:45:47 PM

Anonymous writes: wow i didn't know so many people felt the same way! my friends would make fun of me and pull out hairs and start piling them on my desk at school and i would start freaking out and all they'd do is laugh. i don't really know how it stemmed, but detached hair really freaks me out. i used to be scared of my own hair too, but after a while i kind of got over that. it's still disgusting when i see other peoples detached hairs. just thinking about this makes me shiver.

Unregistered user # Friday, March 20, 2009 3:32:39 AM

Anonymous writes: i dont really know for sure if i really have this phobia .. but not too long ago, hair didnt bother me too much until my little sister and brother caught lice. and you know that when you catch lice, you tend to itch your scalp and i think its totaly gross. so now whenever i see loose hair sitting around or when somebody scratches their scalp i cringe and i feel sick to my stomach. it terrifies me to have to sit there and watch that person scratch away at their scalp. when hair is attatched it doesnt bother me at all. it also really bothers me when hair is dirty ot has flakes in it. and now im getting to the point where im scared to even do my own hair because it makes me feel horrible. its really hard to explain and i feel like an outsider to all the rest of my friends sometimes because they've never herd of this phobia before. nut today i looked up the symptoms and im pretty sure that i have this phobia. but anyways, thanks for taking your time to read this(=

Unregistered user # Monday, April 27, 2009 2:54:56 PM

Anonymous writes: hello. peeps.. i have fear of hair..... thats why i'm bold :D jokes.

Unregistered user # Friday, July 3, 2009 7:26:07 PM

Anonymous writes: WOW! When I read your post, I thought you were talking about my childhood! I hated bathtime as a kid for exactly that reason! My mom would make my bath and a fuzz from her sweater or a strand of hair would fall in. I would immediately start freaking out because all i thought about was that hair floating into me as I was sitting and it sticking! I was like a cat being forced into a tub of water, not good! I refused to let my mom use bubble bath too because i couldnt see what was going on in that water. As an adult,I refuse to take baths only showers. Showers are tough too cause I have long hair and it loves to stick to my skin,ugh!!! Wet hair stuck to the shower wall makes me want to faint! Anyways, I hate wet hair touching me and I'm glad others have this same phobia. Nice to know I'm not crazy.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, July 8, 2009 9:41:57 AM

Anonymous writes: Wow it's really good to know that there are other people that suffer from the same phobia as me. I really hate wet hair touching me and looking at it around the shower - gross, makes me feel sick. My own hair is bad enough but if you are staying in a hotel and there is someone else's hair in the bathroom, it is so disgusting. Had a bad experience years ago whilst on holiday staying with friends of the family I was with. Had to take a shower in the most awful bathroom - lots of long hair everywhere, was a really traumatic experience for me and I still cringe today when I think about it, and that was 10 years ago! Can't go swimming in pools either in case a hair sticks to me. Makes me feel better that I am not the only one. What is even more weird is that I hydrobath dogs for a living and dog hair doesn't bother me at all !!

Unregistered user # Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:33:52 PM

Anonymous writes: It's good to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I gag every time I find hair in the tub or shower, in between my toes in bed, and the worst of all hairs is long hair! I went to a fast food joint and ordered a taco. I bit down into the food and swallowed. I immediately felt the scraping of my throat and pulled out a long hair from my mouth!!!! i almost threw up. Every time I feel like hair is on me or touching me, I feel like freaking out. I get itchy and feel gross and want to barf. What are we supposed to do to get rid of this?

coralie mercierkoalie # Wednesday, July 15, 2009 8:16:10 AM

<quote>"What are we supposed to do to get rid of this?"</quote>

I don't know. I mean, I don't know that it can be gotten rid of.
Perhaps read about worse phobia?

Unregistered user # Friday, August 7, 2009 2:27:15 AM

anonymous writes: These comments give me chills because I see so much of my strange hatred of loose hairs in them. My hair is long, wavy, and dark (From recently coloring it. Big mistake. I didn't think ahead that it would make detached hairs more visible when showering). Hairs sticking anywhere on me makes my stomach churn, and I sometimes get dizzy. Showers are longer than they should be because I am checking every nook and crevice on my body for hairs that slide in and get stuck. As much as they gross me out, I don't want them to stay hidden. Sometimes I dread getting in the shower because I know loose hairs will escape from my head. Curiously, attached hairs are not an issue, and other people's loose hairs do not bother me at all. I am a dog groomer and even millions of dog hairs sticking to me does not gross me out! It does make taking a shower more necessary, so I can't put it off to avoid my own hair.

Unregistered user # Sunday, September 27, 2009 2:26:22 AM

writes: I never even knew my fear had a name until just now. I hate hair. One single strand bothers me. It makes me want to vomit. All my friends like to tease me about it.

Unregistered user # Thursday, October 15, 2009 8:37:16 PM

jessica writes: when i try to take the hair out of my hair brush or someones else is doing it or it is laying down on the ground it makes me very sick. i am woundering what it is called an what i can do to make it go away. it has allways done me this way.

stress managementstress-management # Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:20:16 PM

I hate only someone's hairs, but mine - are ok.

Unregistered user # Sunday, October 25, 2009 11:15:27 PM

Anonymous writes: i. am so glad to find that i'm not crazy!! my phobia has developed over the past couple of years. it's progressed in an odd way; going from a dislike of detached human hair, to disgust with human hair, pet hair, and even artificial hair that is attached to wigs. I get nauseated, dizzy, i shake, and sometimes cry. i'm a girl, but i keep my hair super short now, mainly because long hair is even more disturbing to me (liiiike... pixie cut short). IRONY: My best friend is a hair stylist. :) Visiting her at work is a tad difficult.

Unregistered user # Thursday, December 31, 2009 2:08:55 AM

brittanymihelle writes: well its not only that type of hair for me, it's pubic hair too. makes me sick when i go to someone's house and i see them in the shower...or on the soap

Unregistered user # Saturday, June 19, 2010 6:16:27 PM

Anonymous writes: I hate detached hair.

Unregistered user # Thursday, July 8, 2010 1:50:12 AM

Anonymous writes: So I share a bathroom with my brother. And i find it disgusting when i see stray pubic hairs everywhere. It's absolutly DISGUSTING. I feel like vomiting . I'm a very clean person, sometimes I even think it's OCD. But stray pubic hairs are DISGUSTING.

Unregistered user # Saturday, August 21, 2010 11:30:29 AM

Anonymous writes: What a relief to hear so many other people have the same thing as me. I utterly hate detached hair. But not all detached hair. I think I'm a bit wierd, but I'm selective in my hate towards hair. I don't mind hair that's not detached, as long as it's clean. But when it comes to detached hair, I have no problem with my own (and I have long hair) except in the shower, my partner's hair, not animals hair either, but everyone else's hair creeps me out. Thanks for sharing your stories, I feel a bit less wierd now!

Unregistered user # Wednesday, October 27, 2010 9:16:17 AM

Anonymous writes: Loose hair makes me crazy... loose wet hair clingy to me. Short hairs... long hairs... disgusting. I have a shower ritual that helps me feel a little better... I won't get in the shower without it... I spray bleach in the tub so it will disinfect, then I start the shower on super hot to rinse out any lint, hair, anything that makes me twitch... I put in my left foot and rinse it just in case there's a hair on it and then the right foot. No germs and no hair. Works for me.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, June 29, 2011 5:51:26 PM

Brenna writes: Oh man! I have been dealing with this fear for far too long. I cannot figure out what started it for me, but if there is a detached hair on me anywhere, it turns into a full blown panic attack if i cant get it for some reason. I've had people mess with me and pretend to put it on me just as a joke and it seriously causes me to feel like im on a giant roller coaster that wont end. it's absolutely terrifying.

Unregistered user # Wednesday, January 4, 2012 3:37:25 AM

Anonymous writes: So glad to hear I'm not the only one! I can't go into any pool because I'm afraid of hair floating into me. And I won't put my hands into a kitchen sink or any other body of water in case there is hair in there!

Unregistered user # Sunday, December 9, 2012 4:52:36 AM

Angela Marie writes: Wow. I am beyond happy to know there are others out there like me. Ever since I could remember, baths in the tub were torture for me...seeing those loose strands floating around and clinging to your body....eeeek!! My gf growing up used to mess with me by taking hair out of a brush and getting it wet and waving it in my face. Everyone thinks I am looney but obviously I am not alone! This is TMI but for those of you with long hair, you know the worst is in the shower....the loose hairs cascade down your back and get stuck in your bum crack! Ugh!

coralie mercierkoalie # Monday, December 10, 2012 3:28:19 PM

Ayup! the bum crack part is indeed TMI ;)

Unregistered user # Thursday, January 17, 2013 3:47:29 AM

Anonymous writes: I hate hairs, I find them one of the most discusting things ever invented ( I hope the person who first had a loose hair stuck to them died an ugly death) I have nice, long, curly, THICK, Golden hair. Now, I shall have you know that taking a shower has become a battle, between me, and my hair. Most of the time I try to avoid washing my hair until I ultimately have too ( when it starts to hurt) because I'm so terrified of loose hairs! When I was a little girl, my mother would take me into the bathroom to " scrub my head" because of my thick hair, lots of hair obviously came out. When mother poured the water over me to rise out my hair of soap, I opened my eyes to find myself COVERED ( LITERALLY COVERED) IN HAIR! It was between my toes, fingers, and all over my body, I started to screa Because it was so gross. I must have screamed for a long time because I remember passing out and hitting my head on the tub. Ever since then the thought of a loose hair touching me brings me back to that " head scrubbing" And that is why I fear my hair

Unregistered user # Friday, March 1, 2013 3:52:47 PM

Anonymous writes: I dont know if what I have is a phobia, since I dont feel particularly scared, but more extremely disgusted (so I guess its more an aversion) but wet, detached hair, especially if its not my own, just...ugh, its so gross.As a teenager I used to wear flip flops to the shower just so I wouldnt get a stranded hair on the bottom of them.And if Im doing the dishes and theres hair on the, or the sponge?It drives me crazy.Also not a big fan of pools since they are basically a loose, wet hair minefield. With time, it has gotten better, (I no longer wear flip flops,lol, but I do stake out the shower for any of my little friends and take them out of there (with some tissue paper of course, I aint touching that thing) before I get in. I can also handle it more for some reason if I know the hair is my own. Anyway, its a problem, but it has gotten better, and Im glad to know Im not alone in my phobia/aversion.