Hair Hair Hair - Another question
Comments
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I am on day 8 of my first chemo treatment. I was told I would lose my hair in 14 days and on Wednesday I am getting it cut short and shopping for a wig. But tonight my head is getting quite itchy. Am I going to make it to day 14? I really don't want this long hair to start falling out all over the place. Hope I can at least make it to the haircut!
Chris
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Itchiness and the feeling that you've brushed it the wrong way are signs that it will start soon. It doesn't all fall out at once. You'll see more hair in your brush and in the shower drain. At first it comes out when stressed with a comb or brush, but it becomes more spontaneous. That's the point you want it very short.
After it's buzzed, you will see little hairs that haven't come out, yet, but their roots are gone. A tacky roller for removing lint works well to clean up your head of the loose hairs.
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Hi Chris,
Like Nancy said, it won't all come out at once, and I am sure you will make it a few days until you get to the hairdresser, but it sounds like it could start soon. I found that each time I dried my hair, the towel would be full of it, so just pat it dry for a while, to make it last longer.
I lost my hair 5 months ago, but there was a little hair all over my head that never fell out, and I looked like a peach, I actually found it much easier to deal with when it finished falling out, it's either a hat or a wig and both look good, so try not to worry too much. You will be fine
Take Care, Singapore Chris
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Thank you Chris and Nancy, I get my short haircut tomorrow. The itching isn't any worse, so maybe I will make it to the weekend.
It did inspire me to get going and order some things from TLC and Headcovers last night. I hope to find a wig tomorrow also, but I don't think I will want to wear it at home all the time.
Thanks for calming me down!
Chris
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Hey Chris!
Enjoy your wig! (my husband alls me his 'trophy wife' when I wear it, but I don't wear it much at home. I have been very grateful for it though.
The sticky roller is a great tip..I was dropping more fur than my cat so it was great to run the roller over my head..often. It's funny, but once the hair is gone, you will feel much better about it all.
After I had the buzz-cut and the shave (before I started chemo) we went for a walk and I went bare-headed and just pulled my red wool hoodie up over my head when it got cold. When I got home and took it off, my husband nearly peed himself laughing. My head was covered with a perfectly even outer skin of red fluff! That's when I discovered the usefulness of the sticky roller!
Stay strong. And don't spend all your hard-earned cash on cancer head-gear. The time just flies. Besides, you'll need it for the expensive makeup when the lashes and brows go.......g-r-r-r-r
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Chris, I hope you are like Kerry and feel better once the hair is all gone. I just want to say that if you end up having a harder time with being bald, that's normal and ok too. Everyone is different and no one knows how she is going to react until she's there.
If you like wearing hats, take a look at the "hat with hair' partial wigs at Headcovers. I discovered that I didn't like wearing my nice wigs -- I just didn't feel comfortable -- but the half-wig and hat look was very natural for me. I wore scarves and soft cotton caps around the house.
How is the regrowth going, everyone? At the risk of repeating myself, I just have to say -- for me anyway, everything in life is easier with hair. I feel like me again.
Stay well my friends!
Lauren
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I still have one more Taxol to go on Oct 1........but my regrowth started about a week or so ago.......started out very sparse......but is quickly filling in........no colour to speak of.....so still a while before I can go bare.......but I can't wait.........would love to be going topless by Christmas........got myself a great multi with lots of biotin......and am shampooing with a stimulating shampoo that my stylist gave me......Happy hair growing!
Cheers
Jax
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Lauren - 4 months after chemo and I love my short curly hair! It is about 1.5 inches long. I had straight hair prior to chemo. I have received so many compliments and people telling me that I should keep my hair this short and how great the color is (white, brown and red!). I love touching it because it is so soft.
I agree with you - I feel like I have taken a huge step away from bc and getting back to my old self.
Everybody hang in there - losing your hair and then waiting for it to regrow is one of the most difficult things to deal with - but it does come back.
Deb
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Hey Gramadeb! Well done! How long after chemo did 'real' hair start to grow? I've had baby fluff almost all the way through but it feels a bit more wiry lately. I am dreading wearing a wig through our summer here. I have my LAST CHEMO today, so I guess I still have a few more brows and lashes to lose (or what's left of them). The brow loss has caused me the most distress: it's a real Cancer -Girl look!
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kerry-lamb - I also had soft fuzz all over my head during chemo - it was very thin. My hair started filling in about 2-3 weeks after chemo. It was slow at first - back filled in quickly, then the sides, then one side of the top of my head. Yes, I looked really funny with hair on half of my head. I stopped wearing scarves (never wore my wig) about 7 weeks after chemo. My hair was about 1/2 inch long and I was very comfortable letting everyone see my very short hair. I made a comment to my co-worker that I probably still looked like a cancer patient with my really short hair and she said ' no, now you are a cancer survivor"! My hair started getting curly about 8 weeks after chemo.
I lost my brows about 5 weeks after chemo. I lost half on each eye - only the brows by my nose stayed so I looked very weird. I now have all my brows but the new ones are so light you cannot see them so I still look weird if I don't use brow powder. I lost my lashes about 6 weeks after chemo, but they grew back very quickly.
When your new hair starts growing it will be very soft. I found myself always touching it - felt so could to feel hair on my head again. It may come in white or gray also. I looked like a cotton ball at first. Then the color started coming in. Still have lots of gray/white but I like it.
Hope your last chemo went well. Now you can look forward to new hair growing!
Take care
Deb
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That is excellent! The last poisoning was GREAT and now I just want hair! You've made me believe it will be quick. ThankYou!
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Hi! I had my first Chemo almost 2 weeks ago. I take TCH. When does my hair start falling out? Thanks, Deedee
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Kerry, while on my chemo break, I found it took about 5 weeks before my hair started to come back, albeit slowly at first. but by the time I had finished my surgery, recuperated, and started my post surgery chemo, it was about nine weeks and I had hair that was 3/4" long.
I've finished the post-surgery chemo five weeks ago, and right on time my hair is sprouting. Still a little thin, but if it comes in like last time, I will have a nice, but short, head of hair around Halloween.
Deedee, the earliest to expect to lose your hair is about 14 days after chemo starts. Everyone says, "Well, my hair feels fine...not coming loose." But when your scalp starts to tingle, itch, or feel like you've brushed your hair the wrong way, that's the sign that it will start to happen.
At first, it will be just seeing more hairs in your brush, or in the shower drain. But within a day or two of that, it will easily come out if you run your fingers through your hair, or grab a section and gently pull. After that, It becomes more spontaneous. You'll find lots of hair on your pillow in the morning or on your shoulders during the day.
That's the point that most women buzz it down close and don a wig or scarf. Cleaning off the short stubble is easier than dealing with gobs of longer hair.
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Hi Kerry and grama,
Loved reading your posts.....I'm almost 6 months from my last chemo (or poisoning as Kerry calls it). I have a full head of curly hair, which everyone loves and keeps telling me to keep it that way. I just say to them .....I'm growing it, if you like short hair so much cut yours lol. But ladies I do know what you are saying about moving on after bc. I just started back to my fitness center and actually did 4 classes this week. I find I have more energy now and am feeling pretty much back to normal. I still am taking it slow with the exercise, but it really feels good to be me again. All the best to all, those who are finished and to those who are not....there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, just keep going
Lucy.
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Ta Lucy! This is the place that got my head together! Now...to get my hair together....
I was stunned and amazed last night to see that I have a REAL 5 o'clock shadow on the left side of my head! Less eyelashes, but. A shadow! and it's dark (in amongst all the light baby-fluff) I'm sure last Friday's (final) poisoning will halt it, but hey! It's great!
I ordered a new wig last Friday as well (may have told y'all) ..something a bit cooler for our summer here. It was nice to do it at the 'end'..the choosing of the one at the beginning was the most harrowing thing I've done..apart from tell my Dad about my BC. Oh..I forgot..I lied about most of it
..so yes, the wig choosing wins the Harrowing competition. 0 -
OK, here's aquestion to those whose hair has been coming back for a while now. I have sparse white hairs about 1/4" long all over, and am just starting to sprout the "five o'clock shadow" Kerry speaks of. Obvously the white hairs are going to be a bit longer than the darker ones just coming in.
Did anyone have a similar growth pattern, and did you cut the longer hairs back to even them up with the shorter hair? Or did you just let it all grow in, however? If so, what did it look like? Right now, I have a mad scientist thing going, everything doing it's own thing...no order.
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Last chemo was August 13 (Taxol).
Nancy -- somehow, it is all just working out. Blonde/white/grey first, then some darker ones, and more recently (last few days) darker hair has gained the advantage. BWG, however, doesn't appear to be growing (nor does it appear to be falling out, either). It's looking okay, though my hand can feel that there are two levels and two types of hair happening.
It all feels like cat fur, to be honest.
The eyelashes are back, though still very short.
The eyebrows are growing back from the inside (near the nose) out. So I have half eyebrows on each side.
If I wasn't starting radiation tomorrow, I'd be taking Biotin (a B vitamin available at any drugstore). A lot of people (though not everyone) respond to it with hair and nail growth.
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I'm still having rads so I'll have to hold off on the Biotin. When I end mid-October, I'll start some supplements and target things like hair growth and bone integrity.
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I'm a hairdresser and had my best friend who I am fortunate to work with shave my head Friday afternoon. I am on Abraxane, Cytoxan and Herceptin. I take the Abraxane weekly and the other 2 along with the Abraxane every 3 weeks. My hair started coming "loose" about 2 weeks after the first full boat load. After the second full load, it picked up speed and was annoying. I bought several inexpensive wigs before all this of varying shapes and colors with a couple that resemble my hair so my husband doesn't freak. He is very conservative and has a hard time with all this anyway, so I try to "protect" him here and there from the reality. I have to say that it hasn't bothered me nearly what I expected and is just another road on this "trip". To the girlz whose hair came in curly... be prepared to eventually have your own texture back in a year or so. Most of the time it won't stay curly, but I am hoping I'll get a chance to try the curlz out too when mine starts coming back. I've always said that if curly haired people could trade with us straight haired people, they would never get their curlz back... and they would want them! =^)
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NancyD -for me it seemed that the dark hairs caught up to the white hairs. The only place I trimmed "longer hairs" was on my sides - they continued to grow through chemo so they were about 1/2 inch longer all the time so I finally cut them the same length as the rest.
looahvul - I heard that my curls will eventually leave - but I am loving it while I have them!
Deb
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Nancy, I didn't trim anything. I won't let anything resembling a pair of scissors get anywhere near my head for a good long while! I think that some of the white fuzzy stuff may have fallen out, or maybe that's the source of the frosted look I have now in the front part of my head. Anyway, it looks remarkably even and intentional now -- my neck is getting a bit fuzzy but I won't shave it, I'm just letting it grow out.
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looahvul, I'm one of the people who had curly/wavy hair before all this. Since I was a teen, I've done everything I could to get it straight. I still prefer it straight (thank-you whoever developed the current ceramic flat irons!). I hope mine does an "about face" and comes in as straight as a stick. Unfortunately, I can see little twists and bends to the hairs that are coming in now...a sure sign that they will be curly.
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NancyD.... darlin'.... you just don't know how lucky you are... There are SO many women who will pay for curlz (ie; chemical perms) and NOT that many that will go through a chemical straightener. In other words... if we could only trade with you!!!! =^) BTW, I use a SEDU 1" flat iron from www.folica.com.... best straightenin AND curling iron I've ever had! I have a niece with curly hair that comes in any time she is home from college to have me straighten it.... =^(
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Hi there, I am new to the site. BRCA1 + - 40 years old. Finished chemo (AC/T) August 6/08. My hair is still thin, but I have about 1/4 - 1/2" growth almost all of it is very soft (like a cat's hair - was the perfect description!). Lost some of the eyelashes and eyebrows too. Can't take any of the hormonal treatments. By reading this thread I have realized that I am not the only one to go through this. Has anyone tried the Biotin and how has it worked???
Thanks
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I finished my last chemo (T/C) on June 5. Maybe it's just a bad case of impatience, but my hair seems to be coming in so slow! I have about 1 inch of straight, fine hair pretty much all over. But it's thicker in the back, more sparse and fine toward the front/sides.
I took my son to the hair salon for a trim last night. I've known the stylists there for years and they've been very compassionate throughout my whole BC ordeal. Anyhow, I asked them to take a look at my sorry little head. They said it looked pretty good. I think they were probably just being nice, but I'll take what I can get.
When they first buzzed it off for me at the beginning of chemo, the stylist said that after the hair started coming back it's usually best to trim it off again (after it gets about and inch or 2 long) to get rid of the "chemo hair" that initially comes in. But after looking at my head last night, she said we might not need to do that. I mentioned that I was taking Biotin and she thought that may have helped reduce the "chemo hair" thing. So I would say the Biotin doesn't seem to be making my hair grow any faster but it may be helping with the texture.I've also been using Nioxin shampoo and conditioner. Not sure if that's doing anything either. But I'll keep using it just in case. My hair before chemo was fine and thin, with just a little bit of wave. I'm hoping between the Biotin and the Nioxin that something might help my hair come in a little thicker. Well...one can dream anyway. But at this point, I'll just be happy to have anything that's presentable in public. I like my wig ok, but it sure will be nice to put it away.
Sue K.
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Thanks for your info Nancy Dee. My hair is just now starting to fall out. I'm ready for my 2nd chemo Monday. Sure I'll get a buzz and I have my wig. Thanks again. Deedee
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Hi All! I stumbled upon this thread and thought I'd join in! I finished Chemo on 1/24/08 and now have about 3 inches of hair! Of course it is so curly that it looks much shorter. I call myself the poodle now! Nancy D, I too had curly hair and had the delusion that it would be straight, especially because at first, it was straight and looked kind of chic. Well it is now curlier than it ever was! But everyone loves it. I'm sure you'll understand when I say that I am not so sure I like it, I always wanted straight hair too. The grass is always greener on the other side of the street! But you know I have hair again! yeah!!
I started to go with out my wigs in public, about 8 weeks after my last chemo! I was still quite bald looking, but a good friend had her head shaved as a fund raiser to support childrens cancer, and she went topless. So I said what the heck!
Those of you just about to lose hair, please have it cut prior to the actual loss. I did not, because my doctor said I would not lose my hair. It was a real shock, when I had that awful itch, and knew it had to be washed and would proabably all come out. It was terrible. I looked like a fall out victim. I pulled out clumps in the shower, but not all of it came out. My hubby then buzzed my head, and I shaved it! So if you have long hair, get it cut! it will be ffar less traumatic.
Well, good luck to all!
Lou
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Hello everyone.. I want to say how much I appreciate eveyone experiences. I had my first chemo on sept 17. Yesterday I notice that my hair is thining when I comb it. My question is have anyone use Sea Breeze to sooth the ache on the scalp? Right now I taking a patch test to the scalp to see if it sooth my scalp.Soon I will get my friend to shave my hair. Or do anyone have something better? Thank for listen
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Hi vonnie! I ended up buzzing my hair with a hair cutting party that my boys participated in. I had long hair and didn't want to go through the trauma of having little bits falling out. Anyways, the nurses that visited me recommended mineral oil to be rubbed on your head. Do it at night and put a light cap on to protect your pillow. It worked for me as I found that some of the short hairs felt like little needles being poked in my skull when I moved my head on something.
Hope this helps
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Scifantasy, about Biotin:
I read someone's post about it and started taking it about a week after my last tx, which was July 22. Could only get it in 300mcg tablets, so have been taking between 4 and 6 of them a day.
Well, I finally have a discernable hairline! Hair is coming in very unevenly, but it IS coming! Can't say whether or not the Biotin has helped, but I shall continue taking it, as I'm also on Femara, which can cause hair thinning.
If you do start taking Biotin, try to find out the recommended daily dose. Someone had suggested around 2000 mgs/day. Good luck!
Linda (fellow Cdn)
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