Hair Regrowth Journey
Long hair to bald on one side. We got all the looks from funny 80’s to bald creeper gollum, here’s how I confidently—and not so confidently—dealt with my strange/hilarious hair regrowth.
At first I didn’t really realize—or care, I guess—that a craniotomy would obviously come with a not so cute, albeit very expensive, haircut. After the surgery I didn’t realize my hair was gone because I had a bandage over my head for a few days. Only when I took the bandage off I was like ah… sh*t… my hair is shaved on one side. Huh… would ya look at that. But, I had staples in my head so I thought I looked kinda badass. I loved my hair though! It was sort of my staple thing having long blonde hair. It started growing back immediately which was nice so after a couple months it was still noticeable but not nearly as much as when it was shaved. I could put my hair up and no one would notice.
When I went to San Diego and got radiation at the Proton Center, that was a whole different story. My doctor told me that they don’t know how much hair will fall out due to radiation, it could range from none of your hair falling out or all of it—and it would most likely start around week 2. I was like okay, prepare for the worst, all my hair is going to fall out and if it doesn’t I’ll be pleasantly surprised! Well, come week 2.5 I still had all my hair so I was getting excited about the possibility that my hair wasn’t going to fall out! I even said this to my friend Jasmine who was down there with me at the time. Oh boy… did I jinx myself… the next day it started falling out like there was no tomorrow. I was devastated. I’m talking chunks were coming out when I would wash my hair, I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror and was horrified. I looked like weird barbie but…not in a good way—if there is a good way? Jasmine and I were dying laughing about my hairstyle. I looked like a crazy person. So, I elected to have Jas shave that part of my head in the bathroom cause at that rate, there was no way I was going to keep the hair in the area. I did not shave my entire head, just in the area that was getting affected by the radiation. It was a lot larger than the original shaved area. It stretched all the way down to my left ear and back pretty far on my head and over to the right side about an inch and a half further than my scar. My doctor did clarify that hair is very sensitive to radiation and they were only getting the tumor but, hair is likely to fall out in a much larger area that they are aiming the protons. I was also told that it wasn’t going to start growing back for months. Ugh, whatever, nothing I could do at this point. I guess I’ll just throw a hat on anytime I go out and let that be that.
Having half my head bald was definitely weird… for starters, it was cold! I don’t know how people who elect to be bald do it! I salute you because its freezing, even in San Diego weather. I also didn’t feel very attractive unless I put a hat on, because I love my hair and thats what, personally, made me feel pretty so having half of that gone and looking different than I looked before made me hyper aware of how I felt internally which was not great. Especially when you want to look attractive for your significant other or even for yourself. So, I wore hats a lot that made me feel “normal” and good about myself. I tried to get a wig when I got sick of wearing hats but that did not work out—I just didn’t feel like myself—so I just stuck to wearing hats.
Fortunately, my hair grew back a lot faster than anticipated! It did take around 2 months but the time sort of flew by. It started along the outer edges and started moving its way in towards the primary radiation spot. I didn’t notice it at first until my mom was like “Hey! I think your hair is starting to grow back!” at which I jumped out of my seat and ran to the bathroom to take a look. It was only 1 cm rim around my other hairline but hey, I’ll take it. From then on, its been coming back and growing at a steady pace. All of my friends say that its growing in quickly so that’s good! But, its thin… like thin thin. Fortunately, the outsides that started growing first are much thicker than the inside so maybe it’ll thicken up with time. I did go to an 80’s themed party for my friend Cass and I really looked the part because the hair on the top of my head—right now—is at the perfect length for 80’s themed, its essentially a female mullet but hey… I rocked it! You gotta laugh at yourself sometimes and have fun with it.
Now, it’s about a year out from radiation. So my hair—when I pull it to the front—is just reaching the tip of my nose. The texture is still a little fried but I’ve been putting hydrating oil in it every night to help it out. Hopefully that works with time!
