Sam Faiers has bravely opened up about her difficult battle with trichotillomania. The former TOWIE star has suffered with the condition since she was a child and is now determined to speak out on her battle in order to help others in a similar position. Trichotillomania, also known as trich, is a hair pulling disorder that means that the person suffering can't resist the urge to pull their hair out, affecting the hair on the head or other places like eyebrows or eyelashes.
Sam's condition was triggered by her father being sent to prison when she was a child, and has been pulling her eyelashes ever since. Now, the mum-of-two is keen to open up about her journey with trich and is aiming to raise awareness during the new series of Sam and Billie Faiers: The Mummy Diaries, starting 11 September.
Sam opens up about her mental health journey in brand new series of the Mummy Diaries
On opening up about her life with trich, Sam explained the sense of responsibility she felt to speak up about the disorder, as someone in the public eye. Speaking to HELLO!, the mum-of-two said: "I think in this day and age, it's really important now for us to use our platform for all different reasons not just posting our fashion and our day-to-day life."
She continued: "We have a lot of women and young girls that look up to us, the fact that we're opening up about certain things like what I have been doing just shows that we're not perfect, we're very normal like everyone else, everyone's dealing with their own issues and problems somewhere along the line whether they're big or small."
MORE: Kate Middleton's autumn hair makeover revealed - and it's gorgeous
On dealing with the condition itself, Sam explained that it affects everyone differently. "It's a very personal thing because it always stems from somewhere with kind of trigger, so that is the personal side of it," she said, "but in terms of actually trying to heal it and stop it, it's just the journey that I'm going through at the moment which I'm going to share and hopefully be able to help other people."
Sam also explained the methods she is trying out to treat the condition and revealed that there are many avenues for those suffering to explore. The reality star said: "it could be that you see a life coach, hypnotherapy, or it could be schema therapy… I'm just trying to figure out what works for me at the moment and I'm just going to share it and people can take from it what they want, and hopefully find help as well." We wish you all the best, Sam!
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.