Discomfort from Certain Fabrics?

[Balok's Decoy]

Wondering if anyone else has this experience. I get a profound discomfort from the feel of certain fabrics, particularly rough fabrics or fabrics with a grain. I remember my parents had a couch with a rough texture and unpleasantly rubbing my fingers against the grain. The experience gave me chills and made me very uncomfortable -- I think I would do it in an attempt to get a handle on why it was making me feel so weird. Today even my shoelaces give me that feeling. When I pull the laces tight, I can feel the rough fabric scraping and it gives me awful discomfort and chills. I hate it, but it's just so perplexing.

I found a reddit thread that kinda sounded like what I'm talking about.

They reference "sensory processing disorder" and that sounded way too extreme for what I'm talking about. This isn't an experience that affects my life in a meaningful way. It's just one of those odd sensory idiosyncrasies that I just can't explain.

Does anyone else have this? Does anyone know what's going on here?

 

[Refuge]

I don't like that itchy feeling when wool fibers tickle between my finger tips and their nails. Like I don't like running my hands along woollen clothes, unless it's angora soft. It's different than irritation from a fabric, it is more like a touching thing.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yes, I definitely experience this. There are many pieces of clothing I have passed up because they weren't soft enough, or the texture just felt "weird." I also used to be really bothered by the toe line in socks, and wore all of my socks inside out as a child. I still have to do it with some socks, but now I'm able to just buy ones that don't have the seam.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Wondering if anyone else has this experience.

Such questions are virtually always answered with "yes."

I, too, am particular about what fabrics I wear. Cotton is the most comfortable. Some polyester/nylon itch/irritate the hell out of me.

 

[Relayer1]

I never wear wool. The fibres irritate the hell out of me. It's like wearing a hair shirt.

That's just skin sensitivity though - psychologically I have a problem with some matt finishes like blackboards and earthenware pots. The feel makes the hair at the back of my neck stand up and gives me chills...

 

[Balok's Decoy]

That's just skin sensitivity though - psychologically I have a problem with some matt finishes like blackboards and earthenware pots. The feel makes the hair at the back of my neck stand up and gives me chills...

Yeah that chills and hair standing on end is the kind of experience I have with rough fabric with a grain. It's a creepy, unsettling feeling, not just a dislike of it. I figure it's some kind of psychological response? Maybe?

 

[Relayer1]

Yeah that chills and hair standing on end is the kind of experience I have with rough fabric with a grain. It's a creepy, unsettling feeling, not just a dislike of it. I figure it's some kind of psychological response? Maybe?

That's my take on it.

If it had a detrimental effect on my life I'd probably consider some sort of therapy, but thankfully it's nowhere near that serious.

 

[publiusr]

Also be careful not to put certain things into the wash with your clothes. My mom put drapes that must have had fiberglass into the dryer right before the clothes.

Itched for a week.

 

[Timewalker]

Yeah that chills and hair standing on end is the kind of experience I have with rough fabric with a grain. It's a creepy, unsettling feeling, not just a dislike of it. I figure it's some kind of psychological response? Maybe?

In the case of wool, it's definitely not psychological for me. If I touch wool, my skin turns red and it's extremely painful.

Of course this had to start being a problem right when I had a custom needlepoint order to do for a customer... with wool yarn. It was the middle of summer, so wearing gloves was out of the question, not that gloves are an option with 3-D needlepoint anyway. I slogged through 3 miserable weeks of rashes all over my hands and fingers, and then made an effort to never touch wool again in my life.

 

[Starbreaker]

I HATE Velvet. I don't like to touch it or even look at it. It makes my skin crawl for some reason.