Keep Your Hair On

Fantastic. Very readable, blending personal experience with science, resources and so much helpful, practical information – John Piacentini, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA
Must-read to truly understand BFRBs… Mackay’s book is a unique blend of inspirational memoir with vigorous self-exploration and scholarly brilliance resulting in a thorough examination of BFRBs. Highly recommended for mental health researchers and providers, those living with BFRBs and their families, as well as anyone wanting to understand the complexity of these disorders – Angela Hartlin, BFRB advocate and author of ‘Forever Marked’ and ‘Embracing Dermatillomania’
This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about mental health stigma and what it means to have bodies that are far-from-typical. With a unique voice, Clare Mackay brings together personal and professional experience with a seemingly effortless flair. Packed full of easily-digestible evidence from a range of fields, the book is informative, credible and accessible. Keep Your Hair On offers an essential contribution to how we understand body-focused repetitive behaviours, and Mackay is an unstoppable pioneer of the BFRB community – Dr Bridget Bradley, University of St Andrews
If you live with a body-focused repetitive behaviour this is a go to… I found Mackay’s book the most comprehensive, inclusive and open-minded, relating to BFRBs, that I have read… I will read and re-read this book and will certainly refer to it in any workshops that I plan to deliver for those living with or those loving someone with a body-focused repetitive behaviour – Lisa Marie Hayes, counsellor/psychotherapist
I highly recommend this book to anyone living with a BFRB, their loved ones, and treatment providers. It is a must-read for everyone in this community, from those with extensive experience to those who have never heard of a BFRB – Dr Laura Chackes, licenced psychologist, director of the Center for Mindfulness and CBT, and author of ‘The BFRB Workbook for Teens & Young Adults’
Essential reading for anyone touched by BFRBs.What distinguishes this book is the rare dual lens McKay brings to it. As someone with lived experience of a BFRB and a practicing neuroscientist, she is uniquely positioned to do what few authors can: evaluate the existing research with genuine rigour while never losing sight of the human experience at the centre of it… Keep Your Hair On is the kind of book that stays with you… I highly recommend it to anyone who treats, researches or lives with body-focused repetitive behaviours – Dr Marla W. Deibler, PhD, licensed psychologist, founder/CEO of The Center for Emotional Health and author of ‘The BFRB Recovery Workbook’ and ‘Free to Be Me with a BFRB’

Clare Mackay is a professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, and has spent over thirty years studying the structure and function of the human brain. In 2023, Clare decided to turn her attention to the disorder that had been with her all along, and ‘came out’ about her secret shame of living with hair pulling disorder. She has since established a number of new collaborations and research projects, and organised the first UK conference for BFRBs. She is committed to raising awareness, improving our understanding and reducing stigma around compulsions to pick, pull or bite.

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