Dealing with Hair After Surgery

[Scoliat11]

I had 2 wait ten days

[Janet]

My very thick, and curly, hair came below my chin. I had decided to not have it cut shorter pre-surgery because I like being able to pull it into a ponytail or pigtails. Morning of surgery, I did pigtails using scrunchies, and figured that that would keep my hair from tangling & getting too dirty.

When I finally was awake and able to figure out what's what (which in my situation was 6 days post-op because I had pneumonia and was sedated and kept in ICU), and someone removed the "shower cap" thing they had put on me going in to surgery, I was horrified to find that there was just 1 scrunchie sort of resting against (not holding) my matted hair, and a rubber band that had been placed around a bunch of my hair. It was a bitch to remove the rubber band and to untangle the rat's nest that had developed.

Thankfully there is a travelling hair stylist who stops by at HSS and for $40 washed my hair while I was lying in bed. I think this was about Day 10. It was the best $40 I've ever spent. He used a wash basin and held my head over it - didn't get a drop of water on me!! Thanks BSprings for telling me about him.

Although the Dr's at NYU rehab had ordered assisted showers (so I could wash my own hair), the nurse's aides refused to let me take a shower for at least 5 or 6 days (too much effort for them to assist me?).

Looking forward to going home, I learned that the visiting home health aid had orders just to give me sponge baths, at the bathroom sink. We did 1 shampoo with me leaning over the sink, after which I decided to get my hair cut short. A visiting haircut person took off about 2/3 of the length, which made it a breeze to shampoo & untangle.

Finally, at 5 months post-op, I am having my hair done this week at the salon; I will try to get it cut into some kind of shape and get re-blonded!

My advice: if your hair is thick, get it cut short pre-surgery. You won't care what it looks like, but you will be able to enjoy having clean hair.