Matthew Selt: Snooker pro coming to terms with hair-pulling compulsion
- Published
Matthew Selt achieved his highest world ranking of 20 in 2016
"Obviously it's a mental illness and it's been there for the last 20 years of my life."
Matthew Selt has been a professional snooker player since 2000 - but for most of that time, he has been struggling with trichotillomania.
It is a compulsion to pull your own hair out, or in Selt's case his eyebrows and eyelashes.
Despite that, he believes he is playing some of the best snooker of his life and is already looking forward to next season, having lost 10-8 to eventual runner-up Mark Selby at the World Championship at The Crucible.
"I didn't know what it was, for the first six, seven, eight, nine years," Selt told the BBC Framed podcast.
"I don't have any eyelashes on top of my eyes, because I just pick them out. I don't know I'm doing it. Then, I think, about 2008 or so, I started picking my eyebrows out."
World number 30 Selt is not the only professional sportsperson with the condition. Boxer Natasha Jonas has spoken on a number of occasions about she began pulling her hair out as a child.
"I used to pencil my eyebrows in every single day pretty much for the last 10 or 15 years," added Selt.
"But it got to a point about only about eight weeks ago that I thought 'I just can't be bothered any more' so I don't now.
"I said to a couple of my friends, 'oh, have you seen my eyebrows? I haven't pencilled them in' and they said 'no, you don't look any different'.
"I thought 'Wow!' You think you just look so different, but people barely notice it."
Matthew Selt fought back from 6-3 down to trail Mark Selby 9-8 at the Crucible last season before losing
The 38-year-old continued: "It's just crazy, but it's something I have to live with day to day.
"The pencil I used to use is still in the middle part of my armrest in the car. I was looking at it the other day and thinking 'I used to do that every day for 10 or 12 years'."
While watching a video of his match against Selby in Sheffield, Selt realised that he could not tell whether he had pencilled eyebrows or not.
He said: "You get so self-conscious about it, but ultimately, who really cares? Not many people.
"I kind of feel like I've got over that hurdle, which is nice. I'm still always going to have it, I've not had any help for it... but I'm over the fact of caring [about it], which is nice, a nice place to be."
Selt won his only ranking title at the 2019 Indian Open, beating China's Lyu Haotian 5-3 to pocket a £50,000 prize.
He reached the Turkish Masters final in 2022 before losing to Judd Trump and this year equalled the record for the most century breaks in a single competition with 23 in the Championship League.
But it was his performance against Selby, having reached Sheffield for only the fourth time in his career, which has really instilled new belief in him.
"At The Crucible just gone, that's the most comfortable I've ever felt and I loved every second of being out there this year," he said.
"The three previous years I played there were a complete waste of time, I just froze and didn't put in a performance. But that was a really good match.
"I think I lost it in the first session, being too far behind. But overall, when I look back on it, I'm pretty proud of the fight that I put up.
He added: "I'm looking forward to seeing what opportunities lie ahead, because I haven't played snooker since then, and my only memories of the last game of snooker was losing to probably the best course and distance player at The Crucible in the last decade and in a very close game.
"I feel like I'm a better player now than I ever have been. I'm more confident, which is great, because it could have been quite the opposite.
"I'm getting close to 40 now, and if you're not really going in the right direction, it is a waste of time."
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- Published17 December 2018
