Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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yeah i don't see the old me in the mirror that is for sure but a new me but, underneath the hats and wigs and big earrings and tons of makeup, it's still my face under there, my mind, my thoughts. It's odd the one part of me i thought was good were my boobs, i always struggled with very thin hair. I had hilighted it way too much and it was very damaged. so i looked at losing my hair as a do over. I hope to take better care of it this time and see if i can make it better than before eventually.
I have been watching a lot of America's Top Model with Tyra Banks and they cut a lot of the models hair super short like ours. I really don't like it on me and neither do the models many times. But modeling couture, being a super model is not just about being pretty, or having pretty hair and neither am.
I am trying to embrace the me underneath it all. I have been having an identity crisis for a few years now and i hope when this is all over I will learn who i really am.
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Carrol, I think you are on to something. I was so worried that I was going to really dislike the way I look without all my floppy long hair always in my face. It is like I'm seeing in 360 for the first time without it. I think it's a crying shame that society doesn't think self-possession in a woman is sexy. Sure, I get tons of compliments from women, but I am glad I'm not out trying to date right now. I feel pretty sure this is not a look men would take to. And it's sad. I think I really am better in a number of ways.
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Carrol2- your hair looks like it is coming in thick and wavy. My hair was short and fine before BC, I hope it grows back thicker, and I would not mind curls too. Has anyone tryed any of the leave in conditioner with color from Aveda? I used there products (which are natural) before bc, I have some conditioner left, I hope in a few months I can try it.
Thanks to all who are posting pictures, us bald chicks really need all the hope we can get. I finish chemo April 28, I want to at least see a shadow by Memorial Day?? Think this is to hopeful?
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Christine... I finish chemo on May 10 and between 3rd and 4th treatment my hair did grow... some of it. I have about an inch on crown (started with 1/8 inch), 1/2 inch in back and sides... and stubble everywhere else ( I can see it in most areas and only feel it in others) I think it helps to uncover at home and let it breathe... and I do wash my scalp... not sure it that helps, but it makes me feel good... and I massage it a lot.
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bdavis, I thought I saw some growth between cycles 2-3, but nothing now. I am doing TAC, interesting I get just a little stubble on my legs, just enough that I can feel and need to shave if I go for a massage. I go wigless and hatless at home. I have some sparse stuble that never fell out with chemo. I am washing with baby shampoo or my spouses head and shoulders, heard is was good for scalp. Have you started on the Biotin for growth. I plan to get some this week since I am nearing the end of chemo.
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carberry: I did Henna at just 9 weeks pfc. I'd be happy to answer questions for you or point you in the right direction. Have you ever done Henna before? I've used it for a few years now. Henna worked fine for me after chemo, but it did take a little while longer to leave in. Henna is permanent... however, it is much better for your hair than chemical dye. It strengthens and conditions. Henna will leave a red cast, so you may want to get Indigo to counter the red. Both Henna and Indigo are highly antioxidant. It's been almost two weeks since I dyed with Henna and the color is staying just fine. It's growing fast and getting thicker. Oh, that's another thing... Henna thickens your hair.
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I went topless today. I'm almost 13 weeks from last chemo. Everytime I saw my reflection all I could think was "get your hair colored". So tomorrow I'm calling my hair dresser and having it done. My friend says I look like a jewelry designer. I was wearng my Harely jacket so that added to the "look"
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lago,
Congrats on your topless day> Tell your hair dresser it's an emergency. We want pictures asap! Today I was talking with my husband about going "topless" this summer, funny this means different things to people outside the BC girls.
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lago motorcycle jacket? I am picturing a biker chick with this look lol. Def wanna see pics after you get color. I am going to try to color mine later in the week if i feel ok from my first fill on wednesday.0
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Yup, leather Harley Jacket my husband bought me back in the late 90's. The one my mom had been tellilng me I'm too old to wear since I was 38. When I get color I'll post. Not sure when I can get in. I think Easter is this coming weekend.
The hair wouldn't be so bad if it was actually hair instead of fur. My chemo binder said nothing about getting fur.
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lago,
I love chicago!!! I grew up in st.louis. I want to come visit !
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hdangelbaby Wait till at least late May. Last Sunday it was 86 but today it was in the 40's. Tonight they said snow that will accumulate. If you come I'd love to I'll meet you. I met Carrol when she was in town a few months ago. It was so much fun. There was another gal in town from Ohio in February. Arranged a dinner where a few other Chicagoland gals & myself met this Ohio gal. You can see the picture of us on this page: linky Note the pirates on the left, hairy gals one the right.0
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Christine.. No I have not bought Biotin... that's a supplement??
and the hair I do have is not thick... so to be clear... if the 1 inch hair I have grew, it would be thin, very thin... but I can feel stubble between the hair as well... if I am brave I will photograph what I have ... not that won't work..just tried with my cell phone and I just look bald... it is very light in color.
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I think I am gonna have a girl my mom goes to church with give me my first haircut next weekend. I don't really want to go to a salon yet. Don't really feel comfortable with no wig yet. BUT....my husband said "go get your cut, if it will make you shut-up about it." It sounds really harsh, and he really isn't mean, he's just sick of my daily bitching about it. Anyway, I just think I will feel better if my hair has some sort of shape to it. When we go out, I feel pretty good, but I wonder if others no it's a wig. I told my husband I feel like the movie "The Crying Game" I look all pretty with my wig, jewelry, and foobs, but then I take the foobs out, the wig off and throw my pajamas on and I am back to looking like a chubby little boy again.
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hopeful... I know what you mean... When I go to work, I have my beautiful wig, nice clothes, makeup and recent tan (from vacation) and I get the "if you didn't tell me its a wig, I'd never know" or "you look GREAT" and then as I am about the climb into bed, wigless, makeup less, over weight and tired, I think " hmmm, not a pretty picture." its weird... I get more compliments on my wig... and I work in a school and the kids don't know and are telling me all the time how silky my hair looks and love the do... I just say thank you.
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bdavis- I am impressed on the kids complimenting you. You must be a really good teacher. I get the same compliments. I keep thinking when I actually have enough hair, I will have actually put alot of effort into it to make it look as cute as my wig. This is gonna sound awful, but this past Christmas, my mom and I were at a craft show and some lady stopped me to ask about my hair...(wig) She said she always wanted that haircut, so I took my wig off and said, "here you go!" After she picked her mouth up off of the floor, she had a good laugh. I am not usually that confident without the wig, but she appreciated the humor.
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i rarely laugh out loud on these forums, but you got me... that is funny.
I actually have two wigs, my first is much better, but I got a second shorter one for when I went to St John... I just couldn't imagine wearing a long synthetic wig on the plane and out to dinner... plus it has bangs wich I know at some point I will want... Both are lace front and so I can pull the front back, but when my hair starts to grow, it will show through the lace, so thats when the bangs will be handy... I was also thinking about my thinning brows... It isn't that noticable because I am blond and my brows are light, but I know they are thinning
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cc4npg thanks for info on the henna. I ordered it on a whim and then was second guessing my decision, but now I will feel better about trying it. I too look in the mirror and only see the gray. I started taking Biotin before surgery (had to stop one wk before surgery) not sure if it works but my hair is growing so I will keep taking, also got the biotin shampoo so double whammy!0
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I am going topless the first of June for sure.
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carberry: Each person is different as to how quickly hair grows back. I take 15000 mg of biotin a day. I've taken biotin for the last few years, and we definitely noticed it growing quicker. Within the last two weeks, since I used the Henna, I have about 1/4" of new growth so it's growing quickly. There are also additional hair follicles beginning to surface, so it's going to be pretty thick. Where did you get your Henna from, is it in a box or straight body art quality Henna? How many weeks pfc are you? I use a two step process to get my results. Here are pictures before and after Henna. I have two albums, one for general hair growth, and one for my first Henna dying after chemo. I will be posting a couple of additional pictures later today to show exactly how long my hair was prior to this whole ordeal. It was hard to find one, because I didn't usually have anyone take just a picture of my hair length, so it took some digging!
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Hey ladies I lurk on this topic and wanted to say Hi. I have tried to post pics here and and to technologically challenged to do it. My avatar is about 6 months post chemo and just before I had it dyed and trimmed I will try to change my avatar to my new color soon. I was looking through a catalog called Duluth Trading. They have out door work clothing for women. They also have a line of head coverings. They call them "Buffs" They seem to be good for wicking away sweat and you can do different things with them. I just my buy one as I keep thinking I may still need sun protection when I am outside.
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cc4npg I am 8 wks pfc and my hair looks like your first pic here, love all your other pics, glad someone is keeping track with pics to give us something to go by. My henna just came today, it is ina jar (powder form) I got the chestnut medium brown. Got it from puritan pride online where iI get my supplements You are supposed to mix with boiling water to a paste and apply, it says to mix with coffee if there is lots of gray to cover. I am worried about it getting more on my skin than hair since I dont have much. Will probably stare at the jar for awhile before using since I am not really quite ready to go topless yet.....but as soon as it gets warm enough the wig stays home!0
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Cc4npg: good to see your smiley face. Great progess! We're going topless soon.
Carberry: I am going to start using purtain pride once I use up the stash of vitamins I currently have.
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carberry: So you have Rainbow Henna? Like I said, I use a two step process with Light Mountain Color the Gray products, but the body art quality henna is recommended by most. Rainbow is supposed to be very good too. You can probably find Light Mountain at your local health food store (call to see). If you have a lot of gray, I would suggest a two step process. The two step process is basically this... the first step contains 100% Henna only, which leaves gray/white hair orange. Step two contains your indigo or cassia or whatever color you want to tone the red down. So, if your hair is more than 10% gray, I'd suggest using a step one of pure henna. Here are some tips: use ONLY distilled water; do NOT use anything metal unless you want green hair; if using coffee, double the amt of coffee to make it really strong. You can add just about anything to henna! But be careful, sometimes less is more. I only use very strong coffee, and add espresso instant coffee to my second step to achieve my color. Also, bear in mind you might want to do a spot test to see how long you want to leave the henna on. Some people leave it on for an hour, some for 6 hours. Some use heat like a hair dryer to get the color to set quicker, some don't. Heat can bring out more of a red color. Use plastic gloves, take off rings. Have old towels handy. Get plastic hair caps or plastic wrap. Prior to using Henna, wash your hair but do NOT use conditioner. You may use baking soda or a little conditioner after dying to remove all of henna. Don't rewash your hair though and it's best not to use conditioner. The color of Henna will change over 72 hours as it oxidizes. PM me if you have questions. The link below will take you to a page of real people's pictures and their recipes.
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ccnpg thanks for the link, it made for some good nighttime reading. The website was really good info and loved seeing actual results. Everything you told me was listed on the insert that came with the henna. ( yes rainbow) didnt realize it was gonna be such a process...but hey I dont really have anything else to do. might have to get the indigo like you said, I dont look good with red tones. Thanks for all the info. Is this the way you colored your hair prior to cancer? If I can get it right, it may be my new plan to avoid chemicals.
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I just read that some people's hair falls out about 8 weeks after chemo???
god i hope not! anyone else hear this?
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13 weeks and my hair on my head had been growing the entire time. Now my eyelashes and eyebrows were another story.
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carberry: Yes, I used Henna prior to my dx. I started using Henna about 3 1/2 years ago, when I noticed I was losing what I considered a lot of hair when I showered. It was more than usual, but then I'd just had a baby too. I was amazed at how much fuller my hair was... it added a lot of thickness to it, and the shine was incredible! Try not to be too afraid to try it, but realize that you will most likely have some kind of red, even if very little. My hair, for instance, does have some red tones in the sun versus in the house. With Henna, every time you dye it you may get a slight variation, especially when you buy another box. Mine is pretty much the same color each time, but there have been a couple of times where there was less indigo than henna and boy, was it RED. I will try to get some pictures showing the different outcomes. I think I'm going to start using the body art quality instead of the boxed kind. The body art quality is more likely to be fresh and have less pieces of stem, is less gritty, and is much smoother/easier to remove. Prior to cancer, my hair was very long and I could not do the Henna by myself. When hair is long, you have to have a helper because you want to get it on thick... more is better with Henna... just put it on thick, cover every strand, pack it down, wrap your head up in plastic wrap, and then you can even put on a hat or wrap an old scarf around to keep in the natural heat. It has no chemicals so it won't hurt you. The only thing to remember is, the longer it's on, the more color you'll get. I'd love to see your pictures after you do it!0
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Just came from my 3 month oncology appointment. She said she thinks my hair is growing slightly faster than most. I figured I was average from the pics i have seen here.
I also went to Target and got these like scarf headbands. They are little scarves that have elastic on the back. I tried them on in the store and i think they make more look a little more feminine, maybe younger or funkier. They are only 7.99 at target so I got a bunch of them. I ams till wearing my hats because it's cold but i think these will be good for when the weather gets warmer.
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Let me tell you all a funny story. I am 7 weeks PFC, had exchange surgery last week (boobs look and feel great) and have been taking 5000 mcg of Biotin a day. Not sure if the hair on my head is growing any faster, but I have to tell you I look like a pre-pubescent Santa Claus. The facial hair is fine and light like it always was, but maybe I just don't remember having hair! My lashes have been growing back, and they look pretty decent. My brows are growing like wildfire now, but the hair itself is still light. The hair on my head is between 3/4 and 1", mostly brown, but I will be coloring it this weekend. I have a bike trip next weekend and I was hoping for longer hair. Maybe the color will give it that appearance. I got Natural Instincts that washes out, because I'm afraid of freakish dark hair. One of the brands I looked at said not to use it if you had a tattoo (more allergic reactions), what a riot!
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