My son is 11 and has suffered with both of these issues. We've done everything we can think of including medication to help him. As he getting older he gets more embarrassed. He finally allowed us to cut his hair, after a year. He confessed that it's because his head was so cut up. When we started to cut his hair, because he was to embarrassed to go to a barber, we quickly realized that his hair was to thin in places to cut it properly so we stopped.

We went to a barber that made it not a big deal and did a great job. We have had very bad experiences and bad hair cuts to hide the pick marks and make the thinning spots less noticeable. He is very comfortable with this barber and will be using him monthly.

He's already very embarrassed to the point he's starting to isolate himself. He's very scared that puberty is going to heighten his picking. I can teach him how to hide his marks with condenser but is it really appropriate? I think I'd feel less guilty teaching him that if he was female

How do I get him through puberty? Is it wrong to teach him how to counsel them? What can I do to help him? We've tried so many things that now we just give him hand motions to inform him that he is doing it.