United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Need some help, time for daughter to start shaving but there is no way she can reach her arm and she won't take help. Is there Anything out there that helps with this or Any ideas someone has ? ? ? ? Its becomeing a real issuse here, thought we'd have another year or 2 but guess not. Thanks for any help.

"Angelsmom",
There is a topic thread on this subject on the UBPN Message Boards Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Injured Adult I will bump it up for you...go there anytime and type whatever subject you want to read or post about in the SEARCH BOX at the top of any page.BTW, everyone is welcome on any of the Forums. I learn sooo much from the "Traumatic(TBPI) Injured people about pain Management on their Forum.
HUgs,
Carolyn J
LOBPI/74

go to therafin.com and click on the independent living tab. there is a razor hoder right on the top of the page. i have that same razor holder and there is a lot of uses for it. if you put it on backwards (razor pocket on the back of the hand) you can secure a deodoant container in the affected hand and put on deodorant. you can use it to hold a toothbrush, or a lot of other things. well, you might want a different one for the toothbrush.....lol

You can shave under the "good" arm without even using your injured arm. Just put your elbow straight up in the air and you should be able to hold a razor and get to your underarm pretty easily without even involving the BPI arm. You just have to hold the razor lightly between your fingers so you can move it up and down; it doesn't work if you try and hold it in a fist because the angle is too awkward that way.

There's two easy ways I know of to shave under your injured arm. If she has the use of her hand she can just hold onto a towel rack that's above her head for easier access. That's what I do! If she can't use her hand use the elbow of the good arm to support the injured arm and hold it in the air while using your good hand to shave. Your good arm will kind of look like a triangle across your body with the injured arm propped up at the top on your elbow. That takes a little more coordination if you're supporting a limp arm and shaving at the same time but it can definitely be done!

Hope that helped!
-Brittney

Maia just started shaving this year and she has extremely limited range and use of her hand.
She does everything with her uninjured arm. She just needed some alone time in the bathroom to figure it out herself. As her mom, I got too worried about it and fussed about it ....and she just figured it out one day all on her own.

I use my good arm and curl it under like a monkey with the razor to shave it. Under my bpi arm I put the bpi arm on the towel rack to hold it up while I shave under it. Hope this will make sense to her.