is hair texture a factor in hair pulling?

Are fine, straight hairs less pulled?

Before people pull out a hair it is common for them to go through a process of searching for the right one to extract. I call this 'the audition'. Auditioning for the right hair means locating one that 'feels right'. Hair pullers seek out a strand that is satisfyingly kinked, or wiry or curled. This preference means that there must be hairs that are clearly less attractive to them and which remain unextracted. These tend to be fine, straight hairs that do not pass the audition process.

The favourite area to pull from for people who pull out head hairs is a region of the scalp called the vertex, which is at the top of the head and where most men naturally manifest hair loss.  However, less common areas for pulling are at the very front or those areas close to the sides where the hairline meets the skin regions. Why is this?

One answer I would suggest is that straight, fine hairs on the border of where hair meets skin do not produce fatty roots. The oily sebum yielding roots come from more central areas of the scalp and this is a major reason for pulling from those areas. Indeed, Mansueto (1990) has noted that procurement of hair roots provides a strong incentive for pulling, with 43% of TTM subjects acknowledging that they manipulate the hair/hair root.

It is only my theory, but one experiment would be to use water or gel in order to smoothen the hair and give it a straighter, finer texture than usual. This might interfere with the auditioning process by removing the kinks and wiry texture from hairs which trigger the pulling. Maybe someone has tried this already. If so, get in touch and say how it went.