Anxiety w washing/brushing hair, facewashing and doing makeup
 

Hi Everyone
So before my double concussion in January, I was always styling my hair and doing my makeup and I loved skincare and beauty routines

Nowadays I feel so hyper aware and hyper sensitive about my hands or objects touching my face or scalp and I have a LOT of anxiety about reinjuries and even flare ups
It makes me change my behavior
It's caused my hair to always look more matted and greasy and my skin to have more blemishes

I've been prioritizing being symptom free and not worrying about my looks but lately it seems I am really struggling to properly wash my hair let alone do any of my beauty hobbies I used to
I feel like all I can do it lather shampoo in my hands and gently touch it on the top of my scalp but once I start to rub my fingers around or really clean effectively something scares or bothers me
So I always end up with more matted sticky looking hair because I only rinse the top
I feel like I can not brush my hair especially towards the scalp
I had a flare up from a brush touching down on my scalp too soon or rough before
And I try to just comb the ends
And then as far as face washing goes I feel like I have to go in the shower to do it because when I wash it in the sink my hands touch my face too soon and the sudden touch scares me
I've tried to be gentle but I'm still really struggling
There's other little things like getting my eyebrows done or color my hair that is like to do that I used to really get excited about that now I'm just scared of
Does anyone have any tips or similar feelings

If anxiety is a big problem, you may want to consider meds. Zoloft can be helpful in dialing down anxiety.

In terms of the flare ups, you can’t possible]y damage your brain by touching your scalp. If you do feel a flare up or pain from doing that, what you’re really feeling, in all likelihood, is nerve pain, not brain damage pain. It’s very common to get pain in the nerves that run through your scalp because they can get injured with concussion— due to direct impact, or through a neck issue, for example.

Pregabalin or gabapentin are meds you can take for nerve pain. But the important thing to know is that nerve pain isn’t causing your brain more damage and isn’t setting back your recovery.

I used to have pretty bad sensitivity to brushing my teeth. It went away with time. My advice would be to be gentle but not to fixate on such light touches and bumps.

For a time I also found it helpful to brush my teeth only right before going to bed (and, of course, being extra thorough). That way I wouldn't be thinking back to the morning tooth-brushing throughout the day.

For sensitivity to bumps in general, cardio exercise and an anti-inflammatory diet can be helpful.