Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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I love coming in here to see how you all are doing!
Lena, I can completely relate with your story...my hair is the only accessory to my body that I have ever had that made me feel presentable. I have lost 90% of my hair and will have my 3rd treatment of 6 this week. I am "supposed' to be done with the primary 6 treatments in December, and will continue with the Herceptin for 18 treatments (one year). I have three wigs, one of which was very expensive and is caucasian hair...while the wig with caucasian hair is very nice and realistic, I hate the tape. My scalp really hurts come 5 PM (I am working full time) and I can barely stand it. I bought some super soft cashmere beanies last weekend and I love those. I already hate hats, and I hate wigs more, and I haven't even started. When did you guys lose your eyelashes? Was it after your #3 or #4 chemo....or did it happen even later? My leg hair hasn't needed shaving for a few weeks, same with the underarm. The nether region is albeit sparse! To me, the hair loss is the greatest loss. I was in a meeting today with mostly men and I was actually thinking cranky negative thoughts...looking at them. Half of them are almost bald, all of them had super short cut hair and I was thinking to myself how they would have frowned upon me had I gone to this meeting bearing my ugly molted bare head. I can't look at myself in the mirror either...I try not to. My girlfriend (that is a hairdresser) suggested we give the chemo girl her own name, as when she and I saw her, we didn't recognize her as me. The hair loss is traumatic...deeply traumatic. It is going to be a VERY long year coming. But, I come back here and pray, scratch, claw, for hope that come 9 weeks, I will see sproutings of my old self resurface. I miss the girl I was...I hope she comes back. You guys keep me positive... xoxoxo
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Dear sanaisa:
I am 4 weeks out of chemo. My eyelashes and eyebrows only went after the 2nd to last Taxol treatment. Now I think I have 2 eyelashes left,(as of this morning - I haven't checked in with them this afternoon) and my brows are going as well - I expect they will completely go. But I have my peach fuzz, which is encouraging. I had to shave my legs for the first time in months this weekend.
I get what you mean about the hair. I could care less if anything from the waist down grows back. But the hair, lashes and brows - that is hard to take. And the wig - arghhh!!! I am grateful that I have a beautiful one, but I can't wait to get rid of my wig. It's just not the same. The only comfort is that it's not permanent.
Hang in there - be good to you.
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I am almost 4 months PFC and I still don't have enough hair to cover my scalp. My onc thinks the Arimidex is slowing it down. However, what has grown in is my natural very dark colour with a sprinkling of grey. I have continued to lose my eyebrows until as recently as last week so they are very sparse. The lashes are growing. Any hair below my neck is still invisible.
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Lainey - GREAT to see you on the boards again! Thanks - I always used your hair as my benchmark - if I just get to Lainey's length, it will be real hair again, and now I'm there!
Ladies with the losing brows - get thee to the store and find brow powder w/wax - Anastasia makes one, Benefit and a few others make it - with a little angled brush - really helps to create or fill in when they are sparse - I am still using it along with brow pencil. When you have the hairs growing back in on your brows that are grey or clear, they also make brow colorant like mascara - works like a charm to give color to those suckers!!!
I have about four or five lashes on each of the upper lids, but the lower ones, nothin' but little growing stubs now. I hope this is the LAST time they all fall out together.
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Thanks for the tips - I will get to the store... run not walk...
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Sanaisa,
Losing our hair was the most traumatic side effect of the cancer and unfortunately it is the one that lasts the longest. My hair started coming in between 3-4 Taxol treatment. My eyelashes and eyebrows went away about 2 weeks after last treatment. I am now almost 4 months PFC and just started going without my wig...and hats! It certainly isn't the me that I am used to, but it beats the shiny bald me.
What is on the outside does not define you...don't let your hair be your best attribute. You probably have a great personality, beautiful eyes, awesome smile, smooth complexion, etc. etc, etc. Those attributes will shine on while your hair takes a little break!
It sucks to see someone we don't recognize in the mirror, but remember...this new person is probably so much stronger than the old one...
Hugs to all,
Chris
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Don't run too fast - you don't want whatever is hanging on to fall out.
Eyelash humor, folks.0 -
Ugh. Eyelash fallout. I had my last T/C on 9/14. I read that someone said they started losing their lashes and brows about 4 weeks after last tx. Is that the usual timeframe? I keep checking my lashes to see how they are doing. Anyone ever not lose their lashes?
I've started checking my scalp for new growth. My scalp is actually sore at the hairline on my forehead. Think that is soreness indicating fallout from my last tx? Or does the scalp get sore when new hair is coming in? I can't really see any new growth - but I never shaved my head so there is some scraggle in the way. I didn't want to be totally bald if I didn't have to be so I kept the scraggle to cover the bare scalp a little bit.
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Hi Hi Hi Hair Ladies...
A couple updates- Joseph is on a 90 day "technology diet" his church is doing... no Internet at home, no TV, so if he's not around and answering questions it not for lack of love or caring. I get what they are doing but jeez 90 days over the holidays and all... and he's got so much to do here and on the chemocolor email list. Well we'll see.
One month on Tamox and so far, it is not affecting my hair growth. If anything, it seems to be growing faster. Joseph said it seemed normal, but i was in for roots in a month and usually i can go 6 weeks. (For newbies, i did not do chemo, this is just normal hair growth)
3 lessons so far I have learned from and for chemo patients regarding hair
1- Just being welcomed into a salon for hair care after chemo is incredibly important. There are special concerns and hair coloring is trickier, but even if they screw up the color, just knowing that you belong there and deserve to be treated as a beautiful woman is critical on so many levels. The staff at salons need to be educated, it helps them and their chemo clients.
2- Chemo patients are often made to feel that their reasonable concerns about their hair growing back is "vanity". This is perverse.
3- It's one thing to get over the first shock of the cancer DX. And its one more thing to face chemo, the physical discomfort (to say the least) and the hair loss. But the kicker is that after that's all over, it's like a year later, surgeries done, chemo done, cancer faced, time lost but now you suddenly look like Uncle Fester, and its going to take years to get "back". Still.
What I mean to do by stating this is to validate your concerns. You are not vain or impatient, and what you see in the mirror is not what people see when they are looking at you. Other people see you as looking MUCH better than you see yourself, because what you see is not *your* you. Everyone else gets to choose their hairstyle- and you will too.
Someone said there's a lot of posts here because you are "whiners" - if that's the criteria, then we on the Bottle o Tamoxifen must be super-whiners because we have nearly twice the posts for the same span of time.
Hair is really a big deal. Today walking to the salon to get my hair colored no one paid particular attention to me. But after a really nice blowout and super color (added a LOT of dark dark on the bottom) men were falling all over me flirting. I had a hard time buying socks because the salesmen were flirting so heavily. Walking home people were nicer to me. Come on, hair is a BFD man, everyone fusses over their hair. And the eyelashes and eyebrows- that's a big deal. Not everyone wants to be Guinan (Star Trek/Whoopie Goldberg reference).
Look we all know hair is not more important than life itself, but losing it is a big big big pain in the ass and anyone who minimizes or dismisses your concerns is either ignorant or some other defect I can't define. But it aint YOU.
Hugs beautiful ladies. Thank you for putting your health and safety first, for surviving chemo, and for hanging in there all this while afterwards.
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Rachel - well said! I could care less if people think we are whiners over here in this thread! I am here to whine for a long time until my hair looks half way decent!
I am starting Tamoxifen the end of next week - I sure hope it makes my hair grow faster! This 1/2" per month rate - well that does not apply to me. I am 4 months and 2 weeks PFC and only have maybe 1-1/2" of hair, although the positive thing is that I have tons of hair especially the very top of my scalp! It just isn't long enough!
I know people are trying to be kind telling me that I have that nice cute "short" haircut that is in style - NO....I am not cute! My hair is too short and I need to lose 20 lbs!!!! My hair is also a yucky mousy brown color when it used to be a beautiful natural blonde color!
That is my vent!
Lainey - good to see you back!
Chrisct - I noticed that some areas of my scalp are sore where my hair is growing back - pretty much the crown of my head is more sore than anything and that is where I have this "whirly" thing going on with my hair and it loves to stick out straight in that area.
I believe the eyelash/eyebrow fall out depends alot on what chemo you are getting and how your body reacts to chemo. Mine came out sometime after my 6th chemo treatment. To be honest I am not exactly sure when because I would refuse to look in a mirror and I hardly ever wore make up. It wasn't until I tried to put on mascara one day that I noticed I didn't have any eyelashes. For all I know, they could have disappeared 4 weeks earlier.
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Rachel - as usual, lady, well put!!!! I'm sure you looked gorgeous - you have a very enviable mane of hair . . . and I will soon too!!!! Tell Joseph when you see him that the color is holding fast and beautiful - still rich and dark and no hint of roots!!!
Chrisct - my initial brow and lash fallout came about 2 months post chemo - as my hair was starting to grow in and yes, the scalp does get tender in spots as it starts to grow - mine is still tenderheaded from time to time in various spots - it's normal as those follicles start pushing through the scalp. I have found that getting regular scalp massages from my DH really helps get the blood flowing and feels so darn good! Jancie is right- it really does vary from person to person and a lot depends on your tx - taxotere seems to make everything fall out!
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Hey hair group, Chelvev you said that taxotere make everything come out. I have a month new growth and still in chemo, just taxotere alone, will it make the new growth fall out. I treat it very gentley and they told me that it might come back during this treatment . The onc nurse said her's come back. But the PAsaid it would fall out I am confused about this??? Happy hair days Dianne
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Dianne - from what I have seen and my own experience, once the intial hair on your head falls out from taxotere, it can start regrowing while in treatment, but it does fall out again - not as dramatically, but it did for me. I finished tx in April and was growing hairs, but noticed that some that didn't fall out initially did fall out after tx. Then, about 2 months after that, the brows and lashes fell out. Now, this is different for everyone, but that seems to be the general pattern.
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Thank you ladies. I was afraid I was still in the fall-out phase...So maybe soreness is a good thing.
Well, I finally did it. I cut off what was left of my ponytail.
It was stupid to keep it, but it helped to give my scalp a little bit of coverage and tying it up kept it from hanging out the edges of my do-rags and turbans. Now that it's time to look for new growth, I decided to part with it. Now to wait the several years it will take to grow it back.The last time my hair was this short, I was in Kindergarten and used to put my cardigan sweater on my head to pretend I had long hair. I hope I can refrain from doing that this time around.
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If you do, please take photos!!
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Chrisct: You are soo funny and brought back memories. I remember wrapping a towel on my head so it looked like I had long hair. It actually just made me look like a nun!!
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You guys are GREAT! Making me laugh!
Chelev, you and your "don't run too fast"...so that whatever remains "hanging on" does not fall out! LOL!
chrisct: I used to do that, too! Hang the cardigan off my head to pretend I have long hair. When I was 5 years old, I had long hair and my dear grandma was my caretaker at the time. One morning she could not comb through my long locks and cut them off into the craziest pixie...I remember being horrified and going to school that day with a chopped mess. I remember putting my cardigan on my head and running around in the play-yard, pretending to have my long hair back. I forgot about that memory. So sad that now, I have even less hair than at that time!
Thank you littlered and ChrisC433...your positive affirmations are the perk I needed today. I went to work with a nicer scarf today and no-one stared or made me feel weird. Very supportive. People are telling me I look nice (I think they are being kind, but it does not matter, at least they are kind, and this is what truly matters).
Rachel, you are too funny with the Uncle Chester and Guinan reference. You got me thinking "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!"... maybe I can put some sprouts on my head and grow 'em...the newest rage in Chia Pets.
Thank you jancie, hrf and stef58 for your thoughts, too...
Laughing a LOT today... a day before chemo #3 Thanks guys!!! xoxoxo Just what I needed today, really.
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I had recently finished my chemotherapy and was depressed with my baldhead. I needed some thing to help me with fast re-growth of my hair. Perhaps, some natural product. No more Chemical, after all the poising that chemo did to my hair follicle I was desperately looking for natural herbs that would help the hair growth on my bald scalp, until my son's school teacher told me about postchemomiraclehair. It worked for me. Now, I have my hair all back and feel great.
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ok, molly292, I'll ask..... What is "postchemomiraclehair"?0
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It was picture day at our school today. I declined having my picture taken due to not wearing a wig anymore. I had 2 kids ask me why I wasn't getting it taken. I said that I was using my pic from last year and they both said...but your hair looks so nice now!
How's that for surprises!!
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ChrisC433...that is such a great story! How wonderful! You should have taken the photo...I'll bet you'll be gleaming
Hmmm...http://www.postchemomiraclehair.com/ ~ Molly292, you just signed on to the boards the day before yesterday! You are very new...how kind of you to drop in to visit us here. Welcome! When did you finish Chemo, or are you still on the therapy? You have personally used the postchemomiraclehair product? Hmmm...tell us more!?
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ChrisC- I'm gonna mouth off here and say I hope you can get your picture taken anyway- if its with the kids or for the kids. You are important to these kids, hair or no hair, fat, thin, ugly, pretty, old, young, and all you did was so that you could BE THERE and you ARE HERE and those photos of you are for those kids to remember you were there for them - forever. They love you, unconditionally.
On the hair not growing 1/2" a month, I am only guessing but since the reason why the hair falls out from chemo is said to be because chemo goes after the cells that reproduce fast, it stands to reason that the effect would stick around for a while, both on your head and fighting cancer recurrence. It'd be nice if the effects stopped on a dime, but...
I only know that my hair is growing because (surprise) I am not a natural blonde (HA HA HA HA).
SO pleased that I got it right with you gals, yeah if I have to do chemo and lose my hair I will go nucking futs. But I don't have to tell you that, right? OK so for those of you who are not Sci Fi nuts or TV sitcom nuts or infomericial nuts, here's some pics of:
Guinan:
No eyebrows, no hair, some eyelashes, and I don't think I saw that hat at the Cancer Center shopUncle Fester:
I know, this is how you see yourselves- but it is NOT how the world sees you, and it is NOT how you will see yourself years from now if you look back at pics of yourself now.
Homer Simpson Chia Head:
Meanwhile- what's the scoop on false eyelashes? I was wearing some Shu Uemura Flares a couple years ago, it was all the rage, I still have them and the glue. It was not that difficult, this was to fill in and enhance existing lashes. You just dab the end in some glue and stick 'em on your lids. What does LGFB say? I read that Michael Jackson had eyeliner tattoos, that also makes some sense.
Here's the link again for the flares:
http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/_us/_en/accessories/false-eyelashes/accent/flare-eyelashes-black.htm
http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/_us/_en/accessories/false-eyelashes/natural.aspx
These are the folks who made Madonna's lashes with the diamonds on them...
HTH
love
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Dear hrf ,
Use Search engine online "postchemomiraclehair". They have a website that you can order online. I hope you will get the same result as I got. It was very difficult time for me and I wanted to get any thing that would help me. Give a try, and please keep me posted.0 -
Rachel_BC...thanks for the funny, great pics! LOL! You are wonderful!
chelev...is this the product by Benefit? http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P1274 ... Anastasia has so many brow products, I could not figure out which one is the one you are recommending.
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Sanaisa,
I have been big fan of this site ever since I was diagnosed and had always been on quiet side, that is how I always been. I rather remain quite if have nothing good and healing to say. Recently, I find something new that helped me so I just wanted to let you all know about it.
I am still on Herceptin. I remember my doctor told me it is going to be long "haul," and he was right it had been long "haul", and I am slowly coming along. I have to tell you that now, I cannot brag enough about my hair.
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Dear Sanaisa,
I personally tried postcchemomiraclehair and it gave my hair back so quickly. It is amazing that it was invented by a woman who had gone through what you and I have gone through.
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Molly, I have been to the web site and see that the product was not even begun to be developed until 2008- at the time of the undisclosed manufacturer's undisclosed cancer "journey". The timing for you to have had DX, TX and regrowth using the product within that time frame doesn't add up. I see you have added your diagnosis, but maybe you made a typo? Here's your diagnosis line:
Diagnosis: IDC, <1cm, Stage IIb, Grade 3, 1/15 nodes, mets, ER-, HER2+
You say you have been reading this site since you were diagnosed, when was that?
More details please.
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Racel,
I guess I was not clear, as how long it has been long "haul". Since end of January 2009, I had four A/C 12 Taxol/ Herceptin and now Herceptin alone.0 -
molly292, I also looked at the website and it said hair growth would be evident in about 6 weeks. That happens for most of us anyway ..... it doesn't sound like a miracle to me. I also am looking at your stats .... you say you are stage IIb and then you say mets ....... why don't you tell us what you are really doing here?0
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Chrisct....My lashes never fell out during or after chemo, but my brows got thin. I am 13 weeks PFC now and I just got my eyebrows waxed at my salon last week, the first time in 7 months since chemo started.
Update on me....I have one radiation treatment left tomorrow! YAY! My hair is a little over an inch now. I wear my wig to work still (I am a hairstylist) and my clients ask me everyday what if my hair is growing yet or not. Soon, I will ditch the wig, but frankly, I don't look good with only one inch of hair! I will probably graduate to hats for awhile first. I use Nioxin shampoo and follicle booster everyday, and in the evening before bed, I put aloe vera gel on.
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