From my interview with Angela, unfortunately I could not use as much as I expected because of the duration of my documentary. Although I only used just small bits from my interview with her, there were some other answers that she shared with me that had a great impact on me.
Firstly, I was very moved by her story with trich. She started pulling when she was 11 and as she explains in the audio bit attached below, it was very hard for her to face it not knowing how it was called. Moreover, the reactions of her two boys when they were little was very moving for me personally. I felt her pain and it made me think not only how strong she must have been to face such a remark which was not intentional but how many mothers struggling with trich are facing this on a daily basis.
Listen to the sound bite here.
Talking to your family about a taboo topic such as trichotillomania can feel challenging. The acceptance of it from all the family members is the key step to moving forward towards peace on everyone’s part. I resonated with Angela here because I understood the hardship of it all.
Listen to the sound bite here.
Talking to Lucinda was inspirational as well. Similarly like in Angela’s case I only used a few seconds from my interview with her which was almost one hour. What she shared with me was so amazing, but what struck me the most was a little story about how she met her first client with TTM and how she started the business afterwards.
Listen to what Lucinda said here.
The fact that Lucinda was the first one to find out about Jena's situation made me reflect on how important it is for a trichster to have someone who will give them a hand instead of judging them for what they do. It made me realise that if we want to break the stigma, we must first start by being more acceptable of these people and making them feel comfortable enough to speak up. We as the society with norms first need to accept it so it won’t feel so forced and hard for them to accept afterwards.
This is why I knew from the moment I finished my interviews that if I will ever see someone who does this, my immediate reaction will be to be kind to them and help them on their journey to a pull-free life. And even if they won’t get there that fast, we should still have patience along with them.