Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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roflmao at Bold- and right on!!!! Aloha Lori- have a wonderful time (I know you will)
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Lori - Congratulations, have a fabulous time!
Hugs to you all, Judy x
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Lori! Enjoy!!!! You will look fabulous!!! Dawn
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Happy wedding Lori!!!!
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Woo hoo - so excited to use the hair dryer this morning! I have found that it really helps smooth down the "bumpies" and "curl wannabees". Everyone keeps trying to pull up the curls and make my hair poufy, but I prefer it like my new avatar - more of a boy-style pixie, I think it's cuter. Anyway, so excited about using a hair appliance!
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Okay, and here are a couple of pictures from the LGFB Ball. Can you see how "thrilled" I am?? I was so disappointed by the makeover. . . oh well!!
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" mce_src="" alt="" border="" hspace="" vspace="" width="" height="" align="" />Hoda Kotb of the Today Show is in the center.
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Have a great time, Lori!!! I'm jealous of you going to Hawaii.
Chelev... you look fabulous!
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chelev- you come back to the city and we will show them how to really party...
Your experience reminds me of a childhood experience... when we were about 12 my best friend and I got our make up done at the make up counter. They made her look beautiful, really. We got our make up and walked home, stopping to chat under a tree. I remarked how great she looked, but there was just one thing I thought I could improve, so I got out my make up kit and started to change a little here, a little there... when I was done I had put her back the way she was before the make up. 0 -
Chelev - you look great!
Hope you all have a good weekend.
Hugs to all, Judy x
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Chelev - I honestly think you are the best looking one in the crowd! (no kidding)
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Chevlev,
What can I say that the other ladies haven't already said....you really do look beautiful! Remind me again, how many week since your last chemo? I feel like I've known you for quite awhile, since the "First Chemo Done" thread. I'm a little more than three weeks out, and I don't feel like anything is happening in the hair department! Looking at you gives me hope!
Janet
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Chelev: Awesome pics. After all that you've been through I'm sure it was nice just to dress up and be a girl!!
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Wow! Thanks, everyone!!! Makes me feel much better and now I wish I had really smiled and said the H**L with it all!! Oh well!!!
Rachel, I can't wait to come back to NY - I don't know when my next trip will be, I am angling to work the NY Boat Show in January, so I will let you know and we'll definitely get together!
Janet, I am now 5 1/2 months post chemo - last chemo was April 23, and with the three week blip with folliculitis, I'm more like 4 months with the growth, but at least it is getting thick and isn't falling out - which is a good thing! Yes, we've been on the First Chemo Done boards together for a long time.
It definitely is nice getting dressed up and playing with accessories and forgetting about everything else but going to the ball. I don't know how the society women do it in those heels - I mean, I wear heels to work, but not 4-5 inch ones, and you should have seen us all at the end of the evening, we were hobbling like we were crippled, all of us in our fancy ballgowns and spikey shoes - which were comfortable in the beginning but not for all that standing around. it was pretty funny, actually!0 -
Chelev, there is a hint of smile in that pic....you don't look grumpy....it's like a Mona Lisa smile....and very elegant. I hope you start to feel better about the pic and frame it and hang it up in your house. When I was a high school principal I always had to go to the prom to supervise. The girls would look gorgeous when they came in ... fancy updos, long growns and 4 - 5 inch heels. About half way through they all start taking their heels off and walk around in bare feet holding their shoes in their hands. It was so funny. Brides these days wear heels to march down the aisle but wear fancy white runners for the reception...they can't be seen under the long grown and this way they can dance and enjoy themselves during the party.
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Chelev--you do look wonderful!!! Ilove your dress too--
I am 9 weeks out and it seems like the growth has slowed down--needs to get thicker too-- am i being inpatient--I guess I am-- my eyebrows are back and actually will need to have them waxed that seems weird--any one have facial fuzz--light and soft but there???
i added my avatar pic to my porfile--it is with my wig--but sorta what my hair was like--at least the color is the same-- my hair is coming in very dark probably my natural color since I colored my hair most of my life I have always felt I was a blond--my natural color is mousy --anyway maybe i will leave it natural for a while--just want to see more of it
finishing up rads--have 9 more to go --
hope everyonehas a good weekend--stay strong!!
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lollys - thanks! I too had the facial hair - it eventually goes away, but I couldn't stand it and one afternoon in frustration I shaved it off. Probably not the best move, but I didn't nick myself and the hair never came back. I think it's because all of the hair follicles receive the signal to turn back on and everything starts up at once. I had my brows waxed at about 2 months post chemo after they fell out, they came back all weird and gray and clear and I couldn't tell what the shape was, so I had them waxed and it helped.
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Wow, I finally found this thread -- I'd seen Chelev, one of my April 2009 chemo group sisters, several times make reference to a "Hair Hair Hair" thread in our chemo group's thread, but never bothered to check this one because of the "Another question" tacked on the end. So, this is it huh? LOL Oh, and did I see Dawn here too? Cool! Hi! :-)
OK, to everyone who said that one's hair is a part of their identity -- YES!!!! Truer words were never spoken -- that is exactly how I felt about my hair pre-chemo. My pre-chemo hair was long (only an inch or two shy of my waist), mostly chestnut brown with maybe 2-3 greys I could see (I turned 48 in June), and slightly wavy. It was possible to render it straight with a blowdryer (except I stopped blowdrying years ago), but after I stopped blowdrying it, I discovered that combing it out with a fine tooth comb while it dried naturally made it a little less wavy, almost straight even. No, I don't much care for waves or curls, and when the mold on my head (to me it looks like there's mold growing on my head!) starts to become hair, I hope it WON'T be curly! But the main thing about my pre-chemo hair which was not just my identity but the only physical beauty I had left of what little there was, was how LONG it was! Not only have I always hated short hair (I had it once when I was 11, some kids at school put chewing gum in my hair, my mom couldn't get it out despite 3 hours of trying so she ended up giving me a really short pixie cut and I was hideous for the 3 years it took to get to my shoulders, and I wasn't pretty until it got halfway down my back 5 years post-pixie), but I didn't even like to wear my hair tied back in a pony tail -- I need it to "surround" me and frame my face to look pretty -- so I wore it long and loose.
Needless to say, the chemo hair loss thing has been serious emotional trauma for me -- not just because of the time since the pre-chemo buzz cut and being bald during the chemo, but for how long it's going to take me to feel presentable again (without a wig, that is, and although I do look good in my wigs, they're a pain in the neck). My hair always grew slowly before chemo, so I don't expect it to grow any faster now. :-(
Today I'm 10 weeks PFC (I did 6 rounds of Adriamycin/Cytoxan/Taxotere from April 9th through July 23rd), and I've been taking Tamoxifen since July 30th. Someone mentioned wondering if Tamox was slowing down her hair regrowth; I don't know if its affecting mine because like I said, my hair always grew slowly, so I don't expect anything else BUT agonizing slowness. I've been calling myself Fuzzie the Moldie since the peach fuzz started (about 6 weeks PFC I think) because to me the peach fuzz looked like mold mycelium (I'm an ex-microbiologist -- mostly worked with bacteria but also with some yeast and mold), and then when color started coming in, my immediate thought on noticing it was, "I'm sporulating!" (to identify a mold species, the first most important characteristic is the color, which comes from the spores). Anyhoo -- I presently seem to have a good deal of mold growing on the top of my head, less on the sides. There isn't enough of it to comb even -- I guess I should be "glad" I don't have the tangling issues to deal with (I used to condition the heck out of my hair pre-chemo, and as soon as I finished drying off after my shower, comb it out with the wide-tooth comb right away so it wouldn't have time to get tangled!) -- but I don't care -- I'd gladly trade the 5 minute showers I've been able to take since my pre-chemo buzz cut for the 20-25 minute ones I used to take when I had all that hair to wash and condition!
Anyhoo -- about hair products -- oh, and yeah, someone here mentioned L'Oreal buying up all the product lines they liked and being mad about it -- please don't throw anything at me, OK? When I went into a work transition of getting out of microbiology and trying to get into office work, I ended up with one last lab tech position -- at L'Oreal USA. I worked in the Compatibility lab, which was a function between the R&D and Packaging departments -- Compatibility's responsibility was to test various formulations of product with various formulations of packaging. And, the relevant part: when there was extra bulk (shampoo, conditioner, hair dye, perfume, lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, etc.), we in the lab were allowed to take it home for our own personal use. I was never much into the makeup thing, but I gladly accepted the opportunity to end up with enough shampoo and conditioner to last three years without having to buy any -- I shit you not! I really didn't have to buy hair products for three years, even though I only worked at L'Oreal for a little over a year and a half. My favorites of the shampoos and conditioners were Biolage and Redken -- they were wonderful. After I finished all those up and had to buy shampoo and conditioner again, I ended up with Pantene (my next door neighbor's niece recommended it). I liked it -- not as much as the Biolage or Redken -- but better than what I'd used prior to getting the Biolage and Redken freebies (Wella Balsam). I didn't buy Biolage or Redken because I never saw it in the supermarket health and beauty section -- I guess that means you have to buy it in a salon...which means I'll probably never buy it. I used to go to a salon for split ends trimming until the hairdresser got scissors-happy on me. After that, I only went to get the pre-chemo buzz, since, while my friend Kym can do a basic short cut, split ends and bangs trims, practically shaving someone's head is out of her league. And, presuming I live long enough, when my hair grows back enough to need split ends and bangs trims, I'll just invite Kym over for dinner (or take her out to lunch or something) and she'll be happy to trim for me again.
Sooo, since I'd stocked up on shampoo/conditioner maybe a month or two prior to my diagnosis, I'm washing my mold with the Pantene shampoo since that's what's here. Not conditioning it because it's not long enough to comb or tangle. But the conditioner is at the ready for when my Pack Rat washes his beautiful long blond hair here. ;-)
I don't know if I'm going to color my new hair -- depends how much grey there is. Right now I can't tell. I don't look at it obsessively (because I can't stand the way I look, I go out of my way to avoid the mirror as much as possible), but when I do look at it, I honestly have no idea what the color is. It seems a little bit lighter than my pre-chemo color, but I'm not really sure. Well, it doesn't matter, since I can't so much as open my apartment door (much less go out in public) bareheaded unless I live long enough for it to get to the bottom of my shoulders -- at which time I'll know if I need to color it or not. I used to color my hair when I was much younger (when I was 15-29) -- strawberry blonde. It looked great on me, but towards the end I got sick of being a "roots slave" and stopped -- I let most of it grow out, then dyed it to my natural color.. Also it was about that time when I thought that maybe if I stopped damaging my hair with ammonia-containing dye and blowdrying, it would get "healthy" enough to grow longer (while I was a bottled strawberry blonde who blow dried her hair, it only grew to halfway down my back maximum. Well I was onto something; no hair dye, no blow dry, extra condining, gentle treatment with the wide tooth comb got it to grow down to my waist! And I liked my natural chestnut brown better than the strawberry blonde after all!
Mmmm, other hair stuff: Brows and lashes -- I have mycelium eyebrows (no sporulation yet), and stubby beginnings of eyelashes. No leg hair (but that was gone way before I got breast cancer), no underarm hair, and no...."bikini" hair -- so that's what you call it in this thread huh? LOL! I was calling it "downstairs hair" in the chemo group thread -- since I don't wear bikinis, I guess that expression wouldn't have occurred to me! I don't care about the eyebrow/eyelash hair, I don't mind the lack of armpit hair, but I do wish my "bikini" hair would grow back. Like I said to the girls in my chemo group, it bothers me to look like a 6-year-old girl "down there!" (I am a 48 year old WOMAN!) So yeah, 10 weeks PFC and I guess I'm going to have to tell my Pack Rat he'll need to drum up some wild fanatasies of molesting a first grader for longer than we thought if "that" hair doesn't come back soon. There's no peach fuzz even. ;-P
Trish -- you're the one whose nurse made the totally uncalled-for insensitive remark about being "obsessed" with your hair? Well, I think my oncologist is in her league. I know he was trying to be funny, and I also know that many patients there like him for his sense of humor. I usually find him funny too, but he said a couple things to me which I did NOT find funny -- and I gave him dirty looks both times saying, "Not funny!" His comments -- this was over the course of two office visits while I was undergoing my chemo. And yes, I was wearing my "good" wig (custom wig made from real human hair; this wig is halfway down my back and very close to my pre-chemo natural color) Comment #1: "Wow, your hair''s growing back so FAST!" At that time, under the wig, I was totally hideously bald like some kind of monster larva! :-O Comment #2 (at our next appointment, yes I was still doing chemo): Your new hair looks better than your real hair did." He lucked out because i was too weakened and space-headed from the chemo to punch him out!Catch you another time -- and may you all grow the hair of your dreams!
~Lena.
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Welcome, Lena!!! Yup, this is where we complain, moan and wish for our hair to come back!! I too had an insensitive onc, who asked me, sarcastically, "Why isn't your hair growing back faster than that?" Well, how the hell should I know? Needless to say, he is my former onc, and I now have a wonderful onc who doesn't ask stupid questions.
I am getting compliments on my hair now that it's been trimmed twice (YES, twice) and has the semblance of some shape and style, but no matter what anyone says, i'm not keeping it short!!!!
Eyelashes continue to fall out - I know this because my eyes are tearing up so much my DH thinks I'm crying. I can see the stubblies behind them, so I know they are regrowing but I hope this mass exodus doesn't happen again. one or two at a time, I can handle. The entire lash line falling out again at once, not so much.
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Hiya Chelev -- good to have found you here and finally guessed that this was the thread you meant.
Y'know, I hadn't gotten compliments on my real hair (other than occasionally from my friend Kym) since I was in my 20s (and was still coloring it strawberry blonde), but since chemo, I have been getting semi-frequent hair compliments from strangers when I'm out running errands! People actually come up to me and tell me I have beautiful hair, but it's my WIG! They think it's my real hair. I say "thank you" and let them think as they will, although I roll my eyes and yearn for my real hair as it once was as soon as I'm away from them. I imagine once I have enough of my real hair back to not need to wear a wig, the compliments will stop, so maybe I should just learn to enjoy them, huh?
Question for you -- how did you find the new oncologist?
OK, gotta go, will see you all later. I'm sure I'll find something else cancer-hair related to complain, moan and groan about in the not too distant future -- or someone who complains, moans and groans about something I'm moaning, groaning and complaining about, who I can identify and sympathize with!
~Lena.
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Hey Hair Group. I am getting my hair back before the end of chemo. The white hairs are about 1/4 long and the other hair is starting to grow, but when does it thincken up. The hair is very sparse. Also does the white hair start to change color or is it always white. Happy hairs days Dianne
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Hi all, hope you are all doing ok today.
Chelev - I totally get the not wanting short hair. As a child, I always had short hair and until this year, I kept it long. When I had my hair cut before it started to fall out, everyone said it looked great - but I think that I will always associate it with being sick, so I am hoping that eventually over the next few years it will grow long again.
My lashes and brows are back. I hope that I don't lose them again - Chelev, please keep us posted on that one.
I am not sure though when I can wax my eyebrows again - does anyone know anything about that?
Hope you all have a good evening,
Judy xxx
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Dianne - the clear or gray hairs stay like that for a while and eventually you will get growth with pigment in it. It does start to thicken up, but probably not until you are a couple of months out of chemo. Some may continue to fall out - don't freak out - it does all grow back. I have very thick hair again (albeit very short hair!!) but the thickness, thankfully, came back.
Judy - I agree with you. while the super short hair is trendy and all, I do associate it with being "sick" and do not want this reminder all of my life. I think I will keep it shorter than I had, maybe more piecy and layered, but not this short. I will keep you posted - I am continuing to lose lashes - and my watering eyes are not happy. Brows seem to be holding their own. I had mine waxed and shaped as soon as they grew back in - mostly clear, and I have to say, they are still not dark now - not as dark as they were - they are kind of brown but very light, like ghost brows. I see stubbs where the lashes are coming back, but when trying to apply mascara yesterday I realized only the outer lashes are remaining on top. None on bottom. Super sucks!
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I did it...I had my coming out today...no wig!!!
I am wearing a gray hat, but you can see my short hair on the sides and in the back. The kids at school (k-5) didn't say a thing to me...can't believe it!
This feels incredible...tomorrow I will probably lose the hat...it just matched my outfit so nice today!
Chris
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Yay, Chris!!! Isn't it liberating??? I can't stand wearing a hat now . . . unless it is for sun protection.
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Thanks Chelev...it is liberating. I was so worried for nothing. I might get a few more comments when the hat comes off tomorrow...but so be it!
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Good to hear that you have reached the "coming out" stage. I hope to be there soon.
Chelev, I hope that lashes aren't too upsetting.
Have a good day all,
Judy x
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Chelev,
Wish we could have met in NY. Your hair is cute, but I know how you feel about short. I am SOO waiting for it to grow back!
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lbrewer - I agree! Next time I'm up there, I will let you and Rachel know and we can plan a little get together!
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Chelev, wow your hair has grown! I've taken a break from the boards and haven't been around for awhile. You look great!
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CHELEV- I too have the watery eyes, and now as my lashes are growing back the droplets of water get stuck in my lashes and are driving me nuts! As the tearing is getting better, i hope it will end soon!
I am now at 9 weeks post chemo, and my hair is finally coming in! It seems to be my normal dark blonde/light brown color and it is filling in. That was a long 6 weeks waiting for something other than clear fuzz to start growing! I now no longer look like a cancer paitent and more like i just joined the army! Once that color starts to grow in doesnt that just give you the biggest sigh of relief? I no longer am worried about it growing, if it takes 6 months then so be it! At least it is growing! I am just waiting for it to be long enough to toss the scarves and just throw a hat on!
You ladies are so helpful with your posts, it keeps me encouraged!!
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