• Repeatedly pulling your hair out, typically from your scalp, eyebrows or eyelashes, but sometimes from other body areas, and sites may vary over time
• An increasing sense of tension before pulling, or when you try to resist pulling
• A sense of pleasure or relief after the hair is pulled
• Noticeable hair loss, such as shortened hair or thinned or bald areas on the scalp or other areas of your body, including sparse or missing eyelashes or eyebrows
• Preference for specific types of hair, rituals that accompany hair pulling or patterns of hair pulling
• Biting, chewing or eating pulled-out hair
• Playing with pulled-out hair or rubbing it across your lips or face
• Repeatedly trying to stop pulling out your hair or trying to do it less often without success
• Significant distress or problems at work, school, or in social situations related to pulling out your hair

Criterion A. Recurrent pulling out of one's hair, resulting in hair loss.

Criterion B. Repeated attempts to decrease or stop hair pulling.

Criterion C. The hair pulling causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Criterion D. The hair pulling or hair loss is not attributable to another medical condition (e.g. a dermatological condition).

Criterion E. The hair pulling is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder.