As Kristin Maurer recently prepared to go off to college on Aug. 23, she was going to get her nails done when a salon worker complimented her.

“The lady said, ‘Oh, you’re so cute with your short hair,’ and I had to think about that for a second,” said Maurer, a recent Southern Regional High School graduate who began classes this week at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. “It was a bit weird, actually. It finally hit me. So many people don’t know the whole story.”

Part of that story can be summed up rather easily – for about eight years, she didn’t have any hair.