Spinning My Silent Reverie: Confessions of a Compulsive Hair Twister

In this confessional essay of her compulsive hair knotting habit, the author considers the DSM-5's recent classification of body-focused repetitive behaviors as forms of obsessive–compulsive disorder and also Freud's analysis of this kind of tactile, repetitive motion as a symbolic substitute for masturbation. Yet although both Freud and the DSM-5 take seriously the etiology of habits that are otherwise generally overlooked and dismissed, Daum argues that neither explanation addresses the particularity of the specific compulsion. After all, hair twisting, nail biting, nose picking, skin picking, and beard stroking all involve different movements performed on different parts of the body, and as a result, conjure up different symbolic implications. Daum follows the historical thread of her own compulsion back to the archetypal tangles between women, hair, sexuality, spinning, weaving, and storytelling. As she explores these motifs in art, mythology, and folklore, Daum invites the reader to linger on the possibility that dismissing a “fussy habit” may be throwing away the key to one's intimate inner landscape.