Understanding body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs)
Plain-language guides, written for people who actually live with this.
Body-focused repetitive behaviors — BFRBs — are a family of self-grooming habits that have gone past the point of usefulness and started causing damage: pulling out hair, picking at skin, biting nails or the inside of the cheek. They are far more common than most people realise: surveys of 10,169 US adults put current trichotillomania at 1.7%[1] and current skin picking disorder at 2.1%,[2] while habitual nail biting is estimated at 20–30% of the population.[3] Almost nobody talks about any of them, which is exactly why so many people who have one assume they are the only one.
BFRBs can be difficult to notice in the moment. These guides explain the terminology, discuss available support and distinguish educational information from the capabilities of an awareness app.
Trichotillomania (hair pulling)
What hair pulling disorder is, why it feels automatic, and what actually helps.
Read →Skin picking (dermatillomania)
Excoriation disorder explained — triggers, the shame cycle, and evidence-based approaches.
Read →Nail biting (onychophagia)
When a common habit crosses into a BFRB, and what to do about it.
Read →Habit reversal training
The best-evidenced behavioral approach, broken into its four working parts.
Read →Explore awareness tools by behavior
A camera cue notices visible hand movement, not a confirmed pull, pick or bite. Choose a product guide for the moment you want to notice.
Hair pulling awareness
Camera cues for movement toward your hair, scalp or face.
Skin picking awareness
What a hand to face cue can and cannot notice.
Nail biting awareness
Explore a cue for visible hand to mouth movement.
Compare camera tools, wearables and manual trackers, check platform limitations, or browse all published guides.
Automatic and focused moments
Researchers generally describe pulling and picking as happening in two modes. Focused behavior is deliberate — a response to an urge, a feeling, or a specific sensation you are trying to fix. Automatic behavior happens outside awareness, usually while you are absorbed in something else: reading, working, watching something, driving. Most people do a mixture of both, and the proportions differ from person to person and even hour to hour.
The same person can experience both kinds of moments. An awareness cue may help someone notice visible movement, but it cannot establish why the movement happened or replace an individual care plan.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Awaira is a wellness and awareness tool — it does not diagnose or treat any condition. BFRBs are highly treatable, and a clinician experienced with body-focused repetitive behaviors is the right person to help you build a plan. The TLC Foundation for BFRBs maintains a directory of trained providers and free educational resources.