A bald woman who beat stage 4 cancer has become a TikTok sensation thanks to her outrageous hairstyles. Using items such as strawberry laces and googly eyes, Shell Rowe creates a hairdo then shares it with her almost 700,000 followers.
The film and TV student from Essex says her aim is to raise awareness and support for the Teenage Cancer Trust which helped her through her battle. She also hopes to spread a message of hope and positivity throuigh the wacky hairdo vids.
“Making positive videos is just part of how I reframe my life and chose to look at things,” she said. “If you trick your brain into thinking things aren’t that bad then things really won’t seem so bad.
"You have to fake laugh until you start really laughing. Every time I’ve gotten bad news, I ask myself how I can process it and deal with it so that it works in my favour.”
The 23-year-old was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2019 after a tennis ball-sized lump appeared in her neck. “I didn’t take it seriously at all – me and my family were laughing about it."
The 23-year-old was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2019 after a tennis ball-sized lump appeared in her neck. “I didn’t take it seriously at all – me and my family were laughing about it."
When she was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, one of her first thoughts was losing her hair. “I worried about what I would look like without my hair and wondered how I could cope with even leaving the house without it," she said.
"I started chemo within a week of being diagnosed and before long my hair started falling out in clumps in the shower. It was really traumatic losing it because I ended up getting sepsis and a bowel infection and I was really unwell.
"I went into hospital as my hair first started falling out. When I was discharged a week later, I didn’t even go home, I went straight to the hairdressers and had it shaved off.”
Since then, Shell says she has grown to love her new look. “I really like being bald now and having short hair, it’s a huge part of who I am,” she said. “I’m hoping through my videos, I can help other people experience that same self-acceptance.”
It was not until March 2020, when Shell’s cancer relapsed that she started to document her experiences on TikTok. “As a film and TV student, it’s in me to want to tell stories – that’s always how I’ve dealt with things – so making videos became my way of coping,” she said.
Shell began posting regularly on her account and was shocked by the overwhelming response from viewers. “I still remember the first time one of my videos blew up,” she said.
“I was sat with my girlfriend when I posted it and we watched it get 100 likes within the first 10 minutes and we were so excited. I was just so shocked and it was the first time I saw strangers commenting that they were going through a similar thing to me."
Shell says she could not have got through her cancer fight without the support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. “My support co-ordinator, Marlies, and Tom at University College London Hospital were massive supports for me on my journey,” she said.
“There have been times when I’ve been alone in hospital and people don’t understand the difference that organisations like Teenage Cancer Trust make. This campaign is my way of giving back to them.”
For Shell’s TikTok, visit www.tiktok.com/@shellrowe And to donate to Teenage Cancer Trust, visit www.teenagecancertrust.org/shell
