Styling My Hair: Embracing our differences - Lauren | AboutKidsHealth at SickKids

Lauren is a young adult with a right brachial plexus birth injury who had difficulty putting her hair in a ponytail or bun and drying her hair. She demonstrates how she overcame these challenges by using a counter or wall for support when tying up her hair and using a hair dryer brush to dry her hair.

The way that you perform personal care tasks is unique to you and your particular hand or arm difference. There are many other ways you can adapt, like Lauren.

Watch the Embracing Our Limb Differences library to see how other young people with hand and arm differences perform a variety of daily activities:    • Embracing our limb differences playlist  

To read more about this series, visit AboutKidsHealth: Living with hand and upper limb conditions: teens.aboutkidshealth.ca/handlimbconditions

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This video is provided for general information only. It does not replace a diagnosis or medical advice from a healthcare professional who has examined your child and understands their unique needs. Please speak with your doctor to check if the content is suitable for your situation.

Cette vidéo sert à donner des renseignements généraux seulement. Elle ne remplace pas le diagnostic ou les conseils médicaux d'un professionnel de la santé qui a examiné votre enfant et comprend ses besoins uniques. Veuillez consulter votre médecin pour vérifier si le contenu convient à votre situation.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

I'm Lauren. I'm 22 years old. I have a right brachial plexus injury from birth,  so I have very limited range of motion. 
I can only lift my arm up this high.  
So today I'm going to show you guys how to style your hair. That's something I struggled with my whole life, but I found some tricks that help me do my hair independently on my own.

So one of the main things I learned growing up in order to do your hair on your own, especially if you want to do like your hair up in a ponytail or or a bun, if you have limited range of motion like me, resting your hand on a counter is very helpful.  

So I'll show you how I do it normally. Put my hair down, use the counter to help stabilize my hand, and then just tie your hair up.

So that's usually how I will do it. Or if you don't have something like this to rest your hand on, I also will use the side of a wall as well. So same thing, we kind of just rest your hand against it for support and then same type of thing, just kind of gather you hair.

And you can tie it into a bun or any other type of style.

Now another great tool that I've used that's been a life changer for me is this hair dryer.  

So it has a comb and a hair dryer in it, so if you want to blow dry your hair straight, I have naturally curly hair, I use this and it's great because you only need to use one hand to be able to brush through it. And also, I mean I can lift it up to some degree so I can hold it like this.  

But if you have a limited range and you can't raise it that high, you can use it with one hand and just brush through it and blow dry it straight.
And it's a great tool. I've used it. It helps me. And just remember that no matter what, don't let your injury stop you from doing the things you want to do.

I'm now a nurse. I work full time and I've never let my injury stop me from doing the things I want to do. I hope this video was helpful and you guys can use some of the tricks that I've done. Thanks!

#LimbDifference #BrachialPlexus #BrachialPlexusInjury