Lena Dunham just shared the most insightful message behind her hair changes, from going bald to growing it out.
On Sunday, February 23, the Girls star took to Instagram to share a snap of herself rocking long, luscious locks. In the accompanying caption, she shared the significance behind the new look.
“2 and a half years ago, I shaved my head,” she wrote. “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.”
She continued, explaining that this was before she really knew exactly what was going on with her health. “I also didn’t know how to express my fear to the people around me so they just thought, ‘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.’”
While she clarifies that “bald is f—king beautiful” and linking long hair to femininity is myth, she does associate her now long hair to her triumphant health journey. “But my hair growing has been a living metaphor these last few years — all I did was leave it alone and something I had lost all of came back to be,” she wrote. “I’ll carry that knowledge forward and then, you know what? I’ll probably shave my head again. Just for fun, this time.”
Since overcoming her illness, the 33-year-old has been quite open about her struggles with endometriosis. In fact, this new hairstyle isn’t the first way she’s physically commemorated overcoming it. In April 2019, she got “sick” tattooed onto the back of her neck, spelled out in a rope design.
“Thank you @havenstudiobk for labeling me… and to my sisters in this dizzying but starry slog,” she wrote on April 3, sharing the design on Instagram. “I am lasso’d to you!”
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