When I was at primary school shortly before going to secondary school I got a chemical burn on my cheek. It wasn't to the same extent as Hanako's but it was very red and noticeable and a few people pointed out at school so I hid away from them, it was horrible. Ever since then I tried to hide it with my hair. It stayed with me for the first year or so of Secondary school, till about the time I was thirteen it faded off. There's nothing there now; though a year or so after that, due to the trauma from picking myself apart so much I noticed a scar or my forehead which kind of stuck out a bit. I picked at it and it got infected. I dealt with that for a few years by hiding it with my fringe and ridiculous make up, sometimes it got really bad with the stuff I kept doing to it, I burnt off a layer of skin one time accidentally. I got made fun of for my make up a lot. :| A few years ago I had it removed by a private dermatologist, there's not really anything there now, just a tiny in dent dot near my eyebrow from a regular chicken pox scar.
Here's a picture of me. Excuse the derpy expression and kitty plush, I took it for a friend a few days ago (she made me the plush).
Even after all these years after I still have Hanako hair, because it's like a mask and I feel so vulnerable without it. I sometimes get the nerve to wear my hair back (when I'm at home I'm okay and if there's no one I know). I cosplay and doing Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) was really awkward for me to do since there was no fringe, all my others have had more hair covering their faces.
It was funny though, playing through the game all I could think of to say to Hanako was 'don't hide your face' because her imperfections are what made her adorable. I think that's helped me understand that it really wasn't important. I've never discussed this with anyone, not friends or anything, because I didn't want to draw attention to it. I just hid everything and hoped no one would ask. So it's really.. weird for me to be talking about it now. It's something I kept hidden for a long time. At one point it was so bad I couldn't bare not wearing make up even at home, even though if anything it probably made it stick out more.
So real life Hanako? Not really, but I can understand just how she feels. :<
I just hadn't thought about it from someone elses perspective before, like how I looked at Hanako from mine.
but you can still get the burn looks without actually burning yourself. Use make-up and look at burn victums on the internet to get an idea of what you should look like with Hanako's burns.
