Lena Dunham celebrates hair growth after it fell out due to illness

Lena Dunham has celebrated her hair growing after previously shaving it off when it started to fall out.

In an emotional post on Instagram, the Girls creator said that she shaved it off when she suffered hair loss as a result of having an autoimmune disease, and that its regrowth is a “living metaphor” for herself in recent years.

Dunham, 33, shared a selfie in which her long hair was worn loose.

She wrote: “2 and a half years ago, I shaved my head. 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.

“At that point, I didn’t have very many health answers and 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.'”

Dunham said that “bald is f****** beautiful”, adding that “it’s a full myth that ladies are meant to have long luscious hair – that’s why I have an essential issue with the culture of hair gummies and extensions ordered on the home shopping network.”

She added: “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.

“I’ll carry that knowledge forward and then, you know what? I’ll probably shave my head again. Just for fun, this time.”

Dunham has previously talked openly about her health issues.

In November she revealed she has a chronic illness called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare inherited condition that affects connective tissue.

The actress and writer said that she sometimes needs to walk with a cane.

Dunham also underwent a hysterectomy in 2018 due to suffering with endometriosis, a painful condition that occurs when tissue that lines the uterus is found outside it.