Toothcombing

hair pullers 'comb' strands using their front teeth

Animal behaviour can reveal a lot to us about our own!  My interest is in grooming behaviours because these are some of the most ancient behaviour patterns we possess and for this reason they tend to occur automatically, requiring very little (if any) conscious effort.  Whether it is scratching an itch, rubbing one's beard, running your hands through your hair...these actions are not so much ones that we do but ones that we are!

In animals too, grooming behaviours are the most natural and automatic of actions.  Recently, I was cycling along a country road and was fascinated to watch a mare with its young foal in a nearby field grooming each other.  They were taking each other's fur into their mouths and then using their teeth to comb the hairs through the teeth and in the process remove any dirt or entangled debris.

Other animals tooth comb too.  Primates do it.  And so do humans!  Now, you are probably wondering how can humans comb hair with their teeth.  Well, for people with hair pulling disorder (or trichotillomania) it is an integral part of the behaviour pattern.  They select and pluck out a hair.  This can be from the head, or elsewhere from the body and they aim to do this so that they remove the white lipid fat hair root which is attached to the hair stem.  They then bring this root to their lips and manipulate it by rubbing the moist root against the lips.  Finally, they use the gap between the front teeth to run the hair through and in so doing comb off the root and eat it.

Trichotillomania is a behaviour that connects us to behaviour patterns which relate to our lower brain - patterns that make us human and connect us to our primeval past!  It makes hair pulling a fascinating disorder by revealing remnants of the animal in us.