Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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Sheri, I am 10 month PFC and my hair is still curly. I would like to know the answer to that also. How long will it stay curly? I have heard that it eventually gets back to pre-chemo but how long? It has been a new experience trying to tame this mop. lol!
Karen
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besty - welcome to the hair club!! This is so funny, but yesterday I put mousse in my hair to see what I could make it do, and it does the gerber baby faux-hawk really well! guess that means it's getting longer. I was so excited that it did something, I didn't care what!0
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Hi all! I haven't been here in a while, just been too danged busy. I do check in occasionally and read up on everyone's progress. I am almost 7 months PFC now and my hair is just over an inch long. The back is growing much faster than the front and it is curly. What I wouldn't give for some bangs! So far the color is dark like it was with just a touch of grey. In the mornings I look like an ostrich!
Have a great day everyone!!!
Lisa
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Ok folks - I have been following this thread - I couldnt bear to do daily or weekly photos (seemed like it was growing too slow) but here I am on 8/28/09. I began chemo one year ago on 8/13/08 and had my head shaved exactly a year ago on 8/28/08....
I have had 4 haircuts (back and sides to give it that trendy pixie look) and highlights. Just had some lowlights added in for the fall!
Good luck to you all!!!
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Everyminute, you look great. Did you not get the curlz? Your hair looks pretty straight! And I might ad, the style looks wonderful on you too.
Lori
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Thanks. My hair has always been curly - still is. So I blow dry and straighten most of the time. Always did before too.
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Betsy, 5 o"clock shadow is the way my eyebrows look. I have read that quite a few women did not lose their brows until after chemo. I lost all but one and that one is still hanging on, but I can definitely see new hairs in the dark shadowy areas....also have teeny weeny lashes, but there was one that never fell out on my left eye. I think it should be analyzed to see what was different about it, might be a super lash. Someone asked me if I had used that mascara they sell in the department stores that promotes growth and I asked them On What?, there was nothing there to use it on. Yes, growing hair is exciting. Just another one of those things we take for granted until we don't have it.
My sister in in Portland. Do you know Milwaukie, OR? You certainly did have an unusually hot summer out there.
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Everyminute, I somehow missed your pic. Your hair looks wonderful!!
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Marybe - yes.. I know where Milwaukie, OR is it's about 5 miles from where I live. Small world isn't it? The hottest week this summer was the week of my last Taxol tx. On the 106 degree day...something we NW'rs are not use to, they paved our street, adding to the heat. Go figure! But I'm loving our recent cooler weather. Fall is my favorite season - although this year has been truly strange, record snow in the winter and record heat in the summer. I just hope I get a little hair before the rains start. Otherwise I may need to get some warmer hats.
everyminute - darling hair!!!
Dawn- I'm waiting on those pics.
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Betsy...Welcome fellow Oregonian.
Marybe...love the supper lash. Just don't touch it.
Everyminute....thanks for sharing the photos.
I lost my lashes again after chemo and what little eyebrows I have will come out if I pull lightly on them. My eyebrows are clear and I have maybe 20 of them at best. Dr gave me a script for Latisse that I just started yesterday. I put it on the upper lid then swipe the remainder on my eyebrows or lack there of.
I'm 6 months PFC.
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Everyminute, thanks for posting the picture. You have made my day! Soon I should look normal again!!!
Lisa
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I would give anything to have your hair length Everyminute!!!
I just got back from Sally's beauty supply. I was looking for a colored mousse, the type that rinses out in the shower. I was hoping to get a reddish looking color. Nope, all they had in red was a copper penny color and I didn't like that color at all. I really thought I was gray but everyone is telling me that my hair is ash blonde (very dark blonde). So the only way to get it to stand out more is to darken it and I don't look good at all with brown hair. I tried on some brown colored wigs and they looked awful against my skin tone.
So I got frustrated and left. I am not brave enough to actually color my hair yet, at least not by myself so I am determined to wait until September when I meet up with the BCO sisters in Las Vegas and color it at that time.
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Lassix, check on line and see if they have a Look Better, Feel Good seminar in your area. They give you alot of ideas for scarves, hats, ect and a wonderful bag full of wonderful makeup and teach you how to do eye brows, etc. Good luck I hope you find a class, you will really enjoy it. I went to one when I was in the U.S. in April. Kathy
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Hi all--well I am 5 weeks out and getting the fuzz that everyone has been talking about--cant tell what color yet--eybrows are about gone--started loosing them 2 weeks after chemo ended just like eveyone else and eylashes are few and far between--I used to have long ones--oh well hopefully they will return in the same fashion !! Sick of my wigs and debating whether to spend more money on another one in a different style--really dont want to --well hang in there everyone --will check back soon--Laura
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Morning, ladies! Well, I think the curls are starting - I am getting little curls on the back of my head - the hair refuses to lay flat unless I have slept on it . . .and the top? Well, it wants to just make a mohawk - I tried this morning to flatten it one or or the other, but the way it's growing in, it's like the left side is pointing at the right and vice-versa, so the only way for it to go is UP! I'll try to get a picture this week. Everyone at work (I was off last week) has commented that it really is filling in and growing after not seeing me for a week, so I guess it is!
Lassix, Kathy is right - the Look Good Feel Better workshops by the Cancer Society are great - a real self esteem booster, during the times when we don't feel like women, ourselves or anything because you look in the mirror and see a blank canvas. They usually do them once a month - you can go online and see where they do them near you, and the goody bag is great!! All kinds of high end cosmetics, skin care products, etc. You can bring a wig if you are wearing it and they will help you style it too.
Laura, the lashes do come back - I too have very thick, long lashes and I was devastated when in June they all fell out except for one! Between the brows falling out and the lashes, I really was depressed. Keep looking with a magnifying mirror - when you see little black spots near your lash line, they are coming back! Mine are not as long yet as they used to be, but ARE as full and I can wear mascara now again and have them frame my eyes. I was so relieved when they came back . . . and they will! For the brows, you can put a dab of Nioxin follicle booster on them, it will help, or if you are using Latisse, put a little of that on them.
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chelev~ It sounds like you have the Gerber baby curl...lol... I use an aloe 98% that I got from whole foods to make it spike all over and if i don't use it my hair gathers in the middle also.
I am still filling in and I have had a ton of people comment on how nice short hair looks on me
I am thrilled to have hair back but I would really like it to be longer. 0 -
That's what it is!! I remember you saying it, just couldn't remember what you called it. I am trying different things with it, but yes, for now, it just wants to go it's own way.
I've had two different people comment that they love the short style on me - one said it looks like Mia Farrow back in the late '60s, and another said it looked like Dianne Wiest in Parenthood, from the 80's. As long as it looks like hair, I'll take it!
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Thanks Chelev--it is encouraging that they will come back -- a watched pot never boils but I look in the magnifying mirror daily ( sometimes more) --I was going to go the Look Good program during chemo but is was always on my day of chemo so couldnt go--think I will go now if i can find a time around my rads--need all the help I can get and some free products sound like fun-- hope everyone is doing well --stay strong stay well Laura
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Hey Everyone, What is the type of shampoo or scalp treatment that helps grow the hair. Hair feels like a brillo pad and am hoping that it keeps going strong. Have 3 more treatments left, so does it go on doecetaxol. I was told it might come back. Have a great hair day Dianne.
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Jaimieh... Question for you. Why do you use the aloe vera to spike your hair instead of another type of gel? Sounds like something I'd be interested in doing...0
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Laura - The lash thing is so irritating. I hated losing my eyelashes.... twice! They did grow back fairly quickly once they started though. I also had very long lashes before all this. Mine seem to be coming back now better than the first time. So just hang in there!
Chelev - I have gotten the Mia Farrow reference a couple of times as well!
Goldie - I did end up doing a relaxer on my curls. I went to the hairdresser Friday night and he convinced me. I was worried that it would cause my fine hair too much damage. However, he suggested what he called a "reverse perm". He said it is lighter than a actual relaxer. He said they use to do them alot when perms were a big thing. If the perm was too tight they would put this paste on the hair. So, it really did relax these tight pin curls I had. It is still wavy and curly in parts but the front will lay down now and it is easier to get it straighted. My hair is just growing so slowly. It is mostly 2 in but 3 in in some places. My bangs are growing sooo slow. I am still wearing this darn wig to work. I have been out and about now in the evenings and on the weekends but I just hate how I look. It will be coming off soon.
Take care all!0 -
Hi Everyone
I escaped chemo by uh... a hair (Oncotype 17) but I had some of the best salons at my disposal in NYC, standing by to help me if I did need chemo, and if I do in the future. I was surprised that there isn't a specialist for chemo hair regrowth in the hair industry, especially relating to color. As I read about my friends here growing back in, I see tons of questions about when to color and what works with color and which color are unhealthy and what happens to the texture of hair when it grows back and- well, you know, you know better than I do.
I don't know if the Look Good Feel Better folks have this stuff down either, and I know a lot of gals here are in the hair industry, salon owners, stylists and maybe colorists too. So I got with my colorist, who was teaching colorists at Bumble and Bumble, he's also the colorist for several makeover shows like She's Got the Look and Make Me A Supermodel. He really, really knows his stuff. But- this is a totally new territory. He's been doing the research, reading message boards and learning about the issues. We think this is a super opportunity to do a lot of good for everyone.
Any idea how we could get a bunch of gals (and guys) who are growing in hair and have questions, and/or want to try some stuff out to see if it works, and/or are colorists who want to work on these issues?
He was trying to explain to me for instance that when the hair is first growing in it has no melatonin from the chemo, so it has no color (?) . If you put a brown color on the hair, it is missing some of the primary colors that are assumed in the dye, so the color ends up "muddy". He theorized that first dying the hair some of the missing oranges and golds before the brown would make it look better, but its just a theory and he needs some volunteers to try it out. Best if you were in NYC and could come to the salon, but if you're game to try this wherever you are, he will work with you to sort it out over the Internet. Everyone learns, and he hopes to become an expert on the process so that he can help everyone in the future- and its good for business too! (Could be awesome!)
I was going to try to start a new thread, but I saw this one and figured this was a good place to start.
I am so happy he is doing this (and he's also working with the Look Good Feel Better people) I am going to surprise him with a web site. I just bought the name so its not up yet but give me a day and it will be: www.JosephMullenColor.com
I will link it to his facebook page, you can find him there as Joseph Mullen Colorist
If you wanna email him, PM me and I will give you his email- instead of posting it on the forum.
I am not going to favorite this thread because I know NOTHING myself about hair color and so far nothing about chemo and hair loss from chemo, and I got my own breast cancer fish to fry so to speak.
All the best to you folks- in fact, that's what i am trying to do- get you the BEST in the business, because really, Joseph is.
many hugs
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The web site is up and working- rudimentary, of course:
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Hi all. My experience with ALL the shampoos and ALL the scalp conditioners that promissed hair growth - BOGUS! I saw no difference. Many weeks ago I went back tothe same Matrix
shampoo and conditioner that I used before chemo. My experience is do';t waste your money on Nioxen or anything else. Just practice good skin (scalp) care.
Lisa
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Hey Everyone, Lisa what is good scalp care? Us there anything to use or put on it. Thanks Dianne
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Stef58 - one thing that might soften your hair is to wash it the first time with dawn dishsoap. No kidding - I am not joking. The 2nd wash - with the shampoo of your preference and the lastly condition. I am not conditioning my hair since I only have 1/2 to 1" in most places.
My hair has come back in thicker. The hair used to be baby fine and now the hair shafts are thicker. My hair felt a little bit course the other night so I went back to my pre-chemo routine of using Dawn first and my hair felt so very soft last night that I was having a hard time keeping my fingers out of it.
There are quite a few of us taking Biotin - it is a supplement in a pill form. The typical dosage is 10,000 mcg per day so look at the mcg amount when you buy it because I saw some at Target that were only 1,000 mcg which would have meant I would have had to take 10 pills per day and I am not going to do that. I get mine from a speciality health and nutrition store - same place where I got my aloe vera gel (100% natural) for my radiation and some women here are using it on their scalps to promote growth. I used it once and I didn't like the sticky factor of it so I haven't personally used it since but I could see where it would be great to use as a gel to spike up your hair!
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Lollys, I sent you a PM, Kathy
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I don't think Dawn on your hair is a good idea. The pH is way way to high. The reason it make you hair "feel" soft is the high pH is opening the cuticle of the hair shaft which is actually damaging it.
A good quality "salon" shampoo is your best bet.
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Thanks for the advice everyone. I am have some good shampoo, and conditioner, will try that. Has anyone heard of using a dandorff shamoo because of the zinc in it???. Also with the brillo will it vturn soft and the big question how fast does it grow back. I would like some hair for the holidays. You guys are great, thanks Have a great hair day, and hugs to all Dianne
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rachelbc - wow - sounds like he is going to really make an effort to try and figure out our chemo hair- fantastic!! I have noticed that different coloring products I've put on in the past 4 1/2 months all work the same way - the hair color is very muddy. What he says makes sense. I'll be in NYC Sep 23-27 for the Look Good Feel Better Ball and makeover thing, but if the makeover does not involve hair color, I would definitely love to get together with your friend! Once my duties for the contest are over (Friday afternoon until Sunday morning), I will be staying with my sis at her apartment in the city and should have some time to work with him - I will be a willing experiemental head!!
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