Topic: Who do you wear your Wig for?

I never cared about losing my hair, I thought I would just be having fun with it, get bunch of wigs and change up. Well, I wore wigs twice! First time, at a family party, thank goodness I brought a scarf, it stayed one about an hour and I had to ditch it (and it was one of the nicer wigs!), I kept lifting the forehard to scratch, it was so hot & itchy. The second time was at a wedding, by then, I already had at least 1.5 inch of thick hair, but... after all I had been though, we were dressing up for a wedding and I wanted to feel pretty, so I prettied myself up with a short wig and I looked GREAT :) Now, I was very HOT (August wedding!) but since I wasn't dealing with chemo anymore and any SEs, I was able to deal with the hot, but as soon as we walked out of the wedding reception, I walked to my car with a wig in hand ;) LOL!

I got my passport during chemo, it never occured to me to put on a wig, I knew I couldn't do the hat or scarf so I'm completely bald on my passport pic. The way I see is that in 10 years, when it's time to renew my passport with a new picture, I can look at it and be thankful to be a 10 year cancer survivor

So, I was bald during the winter, lost my hair a couple of days before Christmas. At first, it was very cold, but quickly stopped the scarves & caps in the house, only to go out. The skin on my head thickened quick. Since I was always bald, it stopped bothering rather quick to see myself in the mirror. I think it would have been worse to see myself with hair everyday then bald by bedtime. When the weather got nicer, I started going out completely bad, by then, I couldn't even tolerate the scarves for more than an hour or so. I figured that *someone* was going to be uncomfortable, either me (who was already going through so much dealing so many side effects) or the stranger in the store who would keep walking and I decided that it was not going to be me. The stares never bothered me, where I felt bad was for the little ones, they weren't scared, but I heard quite a few getting scolded for pointing at me and asking loud enough "Mommy, why does the lady doesn't have any hair?" and I kept wanting to tell the parents not to worry that if I didn't want them to point, I would cover my head and that really isn't a big deal.

With that said, you can tell from all the different opinions that no one is the same on this issue and it will always be that way. Do what is best for you, if you choose to wear the wigs, it's perfectly fine, but I hope you do it for your own sake and not for others. I was bald for almost 6 months, by the time my hair was growing, I don't think my friends and families were that bothered with seeing me with no hair anymore and when it started growing they were all excited to see 1/8" of hair, then a 1/4", then 1/2" then 1" and so one, I'm at about 2.5" now.

I wear my wig for ME, because, plain and simple, I just cannot stand the sight of myself without hair on my head -- and LONG hair, at that. My pre-chemo hair was only an inch or two shy of my waist (I'd recently had a split ends trim), and my wigs are both halfway down my back. I consider myself barely acceptable looking with shoulder length hair (if it's to the BOTTOM of my shoulders), but to feel pretty, it's gotta be halfway down my back or more. I finished chemo on 7/23/09 and now look like I have mold on my head -- I'm happy because my hair is obviously beginning to grow back, but I'm still nowhere near passing for human unless I wear a wig. I can't retire the wigs until my hair is to the bottom of my shoulders. And the reason why I have two wigs instead of one is because I needed to make sure I'd have one "in time" --  a week prior to starting chemo, I bought a quickie synthetic wig on the same day I ordered a custom wig with human hair close to my natural color, because I knew it would take awhile for the custom one to be ready and I didn't know exactly when my hair would fall out. 

About how I appear to other people -- it's true, I'm an introvert and don't want to be noticed or stared at -- when I go out in public I just want to be invisible and go about my business, not draw attention to myself. So if hiding my head under a wig until enough of my hair regrows enables me do that, as well as make me feel like I look human, so much the better. 

~Lena.

I am planning for chemo at the end of September and therefore, have not yet lost my hair.  However, I have made a decision to order a quality wig.  I intend to wear the wig most of the time.  I will also purchase headcovers to wear around the house.  My choice to purchase as wig has everything to do with feeling as normal as possible during my treatment.  I don't want to feel or look like a cancer patient for my own mental well being and for the well being of my children.  When I feel better, I have a more positive attitude.  There is certainly no right or wrong answer.  It's what makes you comfortable.

Lisa 

I have to laugh every time I think of my wig shopping experience.  I live in rural Maine.  Not alot of wig shops and hardly any that stock wigs.  I had to go out of town for a drs appt and had found a wig shop listed on line.  My mother was with me and we thought it might be kind of fun to try some on and decide what looked good.  When we pulled in the parking lot I should have trusted my judgement and turned around as fast as I could.  The wig shop which was in a trailer in a parking lot, was a mobile home store, a used car dealership, and a wig shop all in one.  The wig styles looked about 50 years old.  My mother and I laughed so hard.  It was either laugh or cry and I left there thinking I would never wear a wig.  Hair is a big thing for me.  I have always gotten compliments on my hair and couldn't imagine being w/o any.  My wig that I settled on came from  the TLC catalog from the American Cancer Society.  I had to wear a headband with it, otherwise there was just too much hair in the front.  People that knew what I was going through thought it was my own hair.  I am 9 weeks post chemo and have almost 1/2 inch of growth.  I wear my wig less and less all the time, but always in public.  It doesn't stay on very good anymore because of the hair coming in.  As soon as I can get one of those teeny clips in my hair to hold back my sideburns, the wig is gone!  I have tried to keep my life as normal as possible for myself and my family.  Going w/o hair for me, seemed  like a big announcement that I had cancer, and wearing a wig gave me a choice to not be looked at with pity by strangers.  I think I am going to have a big wig burning ceremony when I ditch it!!