My hair is destroyed. This is so depressing.

[NubianDoo36]

Much love and hugs to you. Please focus on your continued health, and your new hair goals will follow. Thank you for your loyalty, insight, and willingness to share your knowledge. You are in my prayers, stay blessed.

[Crescendo]

Hugs and Kisses! Concentrate on getting better and keep your hair in protective styles. Also, you should consider getting a bunch of silk head scarves and rocking those for a bit. Work it and consider it a style change until your body is fully rested.

[issa]

Dee, I'm so sorry to hear about your hair, hon. I know it's real because my mom had a similar experience with anesthesia (only eye surgery, in her case, so less extreme breakage), and because of where I am now, bravely rocking 2" of hair after a 3rd b.c. (Meds were the culprit in my case.) You can see what I mean in pictures: http://public.fotki.com/sm116 pw:"hloss" for that album. I so didn't want to cut!

It hurts to lose something you put so much time into and get so much joy out of... Heck, natural hair even becomes part of our identity!

I agree with treating it as a transition. Baby what you have, trim as you go, and take care of the whole you. Doing this again has definitely given me a better perspective on what our newly Napptural ladies go through... the insecurity and redefining of yourself and your look... and most of all, patience. So I see it as a positive.

[c2shair]

Sorry you have to deal with this.

This makes me think of what happened to me a few years back and no one knew how to fix it so I went from thick shoulder length hair to a cut above my ears. It took time, eating better, exercise and adding a lot more water to my diet for it to start to get close to where it was before.

I hope this gets better for you ASAP.

[deecoily]

Thank you everybody, I have read every single post and I am so grateful to have such a supportive bunch of women around me. Yes my hair has become such a big part of my identity, and to see it like this breaks my heart. But it's not my entire identity... I am learning to deal with it, I haven't made any decisions yet (still dealing with my arm and that's enough to deal with) but I am moving forward every stride.

Hair is in twistrows, I can't do much styling with this arm still not 100%. I'm not a fan of extensions or anything pulling on my scalp. I'm wearing scarves and thinking about getting a natural texture wig. Not sure yet but I know I don't want to cut it all off. Just not ready for that yet.

Love you all

[Bithiya]

...The chemicals in the anesthesia are so potent and can cause so much trauma to the body...I wonder do you have access to a steam room?...

O M G !!!
All this time I'd assumed it was just breakage/matting because you were isolated Down Under and didn't have anyone nearby, to comb your hair for you.
Unfortunately, when I think this through, it's not all that farfetched; I suspect there is enough molecular similarity between certain gases used for general anaesthesia (e.g., halothane) and some of the stuff we're always talking about avoiding (e.g., hexanes), to cause this problem.
The length of time under anaesthesia needed for your relatively complicated surgery is very likely a major factor, as well

That being said, Lockolatte's suggestion is excellent.
Years ago, I read that certain European countries (e.g., Poland) have super-hot springs with rocks, to which people from all over the world go for healing and rejuvenation.
Perhaps you could research going for the best of these with your surgeon and your physiatrist.
Of course they won't want you to be far away from your treatment team - but they might be willing at some point to give you a medical pass to leave Australia for brief periods, if you offer up this rationale...

I'm just grateful it was not a more vital part of your body that was injured. You WILL get through this valley.
Whatever you decide, you are in my prayers.

[DeBe]

My heart goes out to you Dee. I hope your arms healing with no complications. Your hair will grow back. (I know it's easy to say, but I'd also be soooo peeved if it happened to me)

Is there anyway you can have someone do your hair for you? I know you're not keen on extension, but from a purely practical view, simple extension braids are so helpful and can last for a couple of months or more in some cases. The additional hair helps to keep your own hair in the braids, so it stays neater for longer. I had them for about 18 months once, I just rebraided individual braids when the roots became too long. It was so easy to care for, it was what bought me to locs. Other than cropped hair, this has been the lowest maintenance style ever. That it's also a protective style is just a nice bonus.

You can even latch the roots at a pinch, to make it last longer. Getting it done once may be enough to carry you through until your arm heals enough to do your hair according to your preferance.

DeBe

[simplyshida]

((((Hugs))))

[KellyVonn]

O no sis.......I'm sad this is happening to you!!! ((((Huggs baby)))

[Napia Mia]

I had to do a double take when I saw the author of this post. Sending lots of love and hugs your way. You mean so much to all of us that it's tough to hear this news. But you're an incredibly strong woman so I have no doubt that you get through this. It'll take time. It might be better if you go ahead and cut it down to a twa and get a jump on growing out strong healthy hair again.

Oh, by the way I didn't know about your arm. Hope you're on the mend and getting along ok.

Big hugs and more hugs to ya Dee. Keep us posted, please.