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After brain surgery, Tips for washing your hair and head?
Brain Tumor | Last Active: 22 hours ago | Replies (23)Comment receiving replies
After my first surgery (occipital), I left my hair on top, however it is a pain to wash and try to get the dried and matted blood out since where the incision was didn’t leave much movement in my neck. I couldn’t tilt my head back and when washing it was constantly getting snagged on my staples. It looks like a second surgery may be in my near future and wondered if anyone else found anything that helped make this part of the recovery a little less difficult. I contemplated shaving my whole head last time and while my first 6 weeks or so of showers would have been much easier, I know I am glad to still have my hair now. Not sure I’d rock the bald head with the size of my ears 😆
Replies to "After my first surgery (occipital), I left my hair on top, however it is a pain..."
@ittybitty
Hi, I totally get it about hair getting tangled, wondering if you should shave head. So sorry you may need a second surgery🙏🫂My hair is shoulder length. After my craniotomy the nurse gave me a large hair pick, and a detangling shampoo. I admit that I did catch the pick on my 60ish staples a couple times but learned to gently pick through my non affected side. It was way easier than using my wet brush or any comb. Hope thats helpful! Also consider time of year, I was covered w bald spots after radiation back in 2010 and its COLD w less hair. Wishing you an easy healing journey 🙏🫂❣️
Part of my head but not the entire head was shaved for the surgery. After I came home, I was ok with how I looked but my son said looking at me was driving him nuts. So he took me to get a really short haircut (not shaved, but close). And I liked the look. I still keep much shorter hair than I ever did prior to my surgery. I was forced to reinvent myself and liked the change. Good luck as you go forward.
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@ittybitty, I moved your question about managing your hair and washing to this existing discussion:
- After brain surgery, Tips for washing your hair and head?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/i-just-had-brain-surgery-the-other-day-n-i-need-to-know-how-to-wash/
I did this so you can get helpful tips from fellow members who have had brain surgery like @gerrica @jeanneoc @dbicher @catv7 @mkoch and others.
@ittybitty, how are you doing?