Lena Dunham reveals she feared public backlash after her autoimmune disease caused her to ‘shave’ her head in emotional Instagram post
After a lifetime of navigating a number of mental and physical health challenges, Lena Dunham revealed her heart-wrenching struggle with hair loss in an Instagram post on Saturday afternoon.
The Girls writer shed light on her painful decision to chop off her now long tresses, after her hair began to fall out almost three years ago, as a result from the autoimmune disease Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
‘2 and a half years ago, I shaved my head,’ the 33-year-old wrote in a lengthy Instagram caption. ‘Not in a fun sassy way but in a ‘my hair is all falling out from my autoimmune disease, better rush to the nearest barber shop and pay them 7 bucks to do this’ way.’
Suffering in silence: Lena Dunham revealed the heart-wrenching reason she had to shave her her hair on Saturday afternoon was due to her battle with the autoimmune disease Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
In her latest social media post, the actress shared a new picture of herself sporting voluminous brown waves and a nose ring in a pink hoodie, before chronicling her emotional hair journey.
Dunham confessed at the time she ‘didn’t have very many health answers’ and was too afraid to express her fear or ailing health to others.
After debuting her significantly shorter hair in 2017, she assumed people would just think, ‘There goes Lena getting another erratic hair cut, just like she has every week since she was seven and cut her own baby bangs with crafting scissors.’
Keeping quiet: After debuting her significantly shorter hair in 2017, she assumed the public would just think, ‘T here goes Lena getting another erratic hair cut, just like she has every week since she was seven and cut her own baby bangs with crafting scissors’
While the drastic change caused her to struggle silently, she announced having to shave her hair expanded her ideals of beauty.
‘Let me just say, bald is f**king beautiful, and it’s a full myth that ladies are meant to have long luscious hair’ she fired, before slamming other public figures for promoting hair gummies and extensions.
She added her hair growth ‘has been a living metaphor these last few years.’
‘Let me just say, bald is f**king beautiful, and it’s a full myth that ladies are meant to have long luscious hair’ she fired, before slamming other public figures for promoting hair gummies and extensions
In conclusion to her emotional post, she wrote: ‘All I did was leave it alone and something I had lost all of came back to be.’
She also joked, she’ll probably shave her head again ‘for fun’ next time in the same post.
The candid New York native, who rose to fame with her HBO show Girls, has never shied away from sharing her personal life to fans, which includes checking into a mental health facility in 2019.
Sober: The actress revealed she has also decided to take a hiatus from dating and has been single for the last 14 months, while getting clean from drugs and negative relationships
The Brooklyn born actress, who also suffers from endometriosis and underwent a hysterectomy in 2018, recently shared her battle with prescription drugs in the March issue of Cosmopolitan.
She said: ‘One day, I looked around and I was lying in a bed in my parents’ apartment under two blankets, in the same pyjamas I’d been in for three days, and I was like, ‘This isn’t me.’
The actress also revealed she has also decided to take a hiatus from dating and has been single for the last 14 months, while getting clean from drugs and negative relationships after dating ‘dear friend’ Jack Antanoff for five years.
Cover girl: The Brooklyn born actress, who also suffers from endometriosis and underwent a hysterectomy in 2018, also shared her battle with prescription drugs in the March issue of Cosmopolitan