# Human Hairballs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842 "1999-08-25T04:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kpier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kpier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kpier)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/1 "1999-08-25T04:53:00Z")
Is it possible for a humans to get hairballs? I mean, if you have a moustache or beard or just chew on your hair (as some women do), could you ingest enough hair to creat a hairball? Curious in Pittsburgh, K. Pier ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/2 "1999-08-25T05:01:00Z")
Yes, it is. And damnit, I’ve forgotten the name. Something like a “belzoar”, I think. I was posting about Niel Gaiman’s “Sandman” tonight and a “belzoar” was a plot point in one of the stories. I think this has been on the MB before, though. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/3 "1999-08-25T12:13:00Z")
Didn’t you see the AP story a week or so ago where the girl died following an operation to remove a hairball? Something like 10 inches long and 4 inches thick. She had a habit of chewing on her hair. They removed it but she later died from internal bleeding. ---
**Author:** ![ChuckSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@ChuckSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChuckSki)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/4 "1999-08-25T12:50:00Z")
I believe that the word for which you search is ‘bezoar’. While no exclusively a hairball, it is a gastric or intestinal mass. Normally associated with ruminants, bezoars were once considered an antidote to poison. See also [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/950811.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/950811.html) * * * “The intellectuals’ chief cause of anguish are one another’s works.” Jacques Barzun Cheers! CAL ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/5 "1999-08-26T01:57:00Z")
In a years-old Omni magazine, I read about a guy who had the habit of chewing on disposable coffee cups. He swallowed teeny bits of styrofoam, which collected in his stomach. After many years of this, he ended up with a glasslike bezoar more than 8 inches across. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 1999, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/6 "1999-08-27T05:46:00Z")
Oh, my God…I’m not joking…I do this all the time…I chew on and eat styrofoam cup rims, coffee stirers, coffee lid pieces…(I know, I’m nuts). Where does this stuff collect? I just thought it kinda passed through…That’s one habit I’m gonna kick…Guess I’m gonna have to go back to smoking crack… * * * An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/7 "1999-08-26T18:45:00Z")
Zette; ROTFLMAO! Smoking crack, indeed! * * * “I think it would be a great idea” Mohandas Ghandi’s answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization ---
**Author:** ![typertrphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@typertrphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typertrphy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/8 "1999-08-26T19:59:00Z")
There is actually a name for this syndrome…eating one’s own hair. I cannot remember what it is, but the person afflicted winds up with bare patches on one’s scalp. Very sad compulsion…okay, medical ones, what is it called??? Typer ---
**Author:** ![Leslie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Leslie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leslie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/9 "1999-08-26T20:29:00Z")
WAG - trichophagia? ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/10 "1999-08-26T20:40:00Z")
I wonder what the name for my affliction is? Cupastirafoama? or just plain old OCD? lol! * * * An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Kpier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kpier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kpier)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 1999, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hairballs/2842/11 "1999-08-26T22:44:00Z")
Zette, What’s that stuff taste like?