Hair Hair Hair - Another question
Comments
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tisthyme - I am not anywhere near going topless. You all are giving me hope that I will be there one day soon. I find myself talking to may hair encouraging it to grow..call me crazy!! I do wear just a ball cap now around the neighborhood on my walks because the wig is too hot. I am getting surpised looks/questions from neighbors that didn't know about my BC over the winter. I love this hair thread..stalk it constantly for support!
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Maggie, auntinance and tisthyme...congrats! I imagine it will be so liberating when I can finally join you. I'm starting to get some color (other than white) coming in and I'm hoping it won't be long now. I too am "over it"!
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I am so amazed at you ladies who are ditching your hats/scarves/wigs so soon after chemo. My head is not a very pretty shape, AND my hair is doing the chia pet thing. I feel like I'm growing steel wool instead of hair...
I'm hoping that it will calm down within the next couple of months.0 -
Mizmarie, I am just done with the coverings. My hair is all of maybe a quarter inch long, so a more polite person would probably not parade it around as her new hair do, but I just can't make myself care deeply enough to cover it up. Most people have actually been very sweet. A few people stare, shrug!
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MizMarie...did not say that my hair looked good--HAHA...mine too looks like a chia pet but I just do not care anymore what others think.
Maggie
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Mags, exactly! LOL I have to say though, that after a lifetime of fretting over minor points of appearance, it is liberating not to give a flying to this extent.
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Mags.. I totally agree with what you said.. Here is hoping our chia pet hair will sprout faster as the sun stays out longer..
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Mine also looks like a chia pet. I just wish it was more evened out then I'll ditch the scarves. Right now it's still quite patchy.
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I never wore a wig or scarf. I refused to be uncomfortable for others (strangers) comfort. From reading all of your posts, I feel fortunate that I didn't go through wearing wigs, etc... It seems so much more traumatizing than owning baldness. I'll admit that there were times that I felt a bit insecure but once I was out and about, it quickly dissipated.
What I really want to say is that I'm sooooo happy every time I read a comment from someone saying how liberating or empowering it feels to "go topless". I've had that feeling since I shaved my head and I am so happy to read of another wonderful woman getting the same feeling.
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to post on these threads. I lurked for a loooooong time before I first posted. Then I realized how much this site has helped and supported me and I want to give back what I got.
So I salute ALL of you....topless or not. I just want each and every one of us to feel good in our own bodies, with or without hair.0 -
I have a question for the wig wearers out there. How easy or hard was it to make the transition and say "enough!" I don't care what people think! I feel like I'm wearing this thing to make other people comfortable around me. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice wig, but it's cut in a chin length bob, medium brown with lovely muted redish and gold streaks. My new and much appreciated hair growth is 11 weeks PFC and looks a lot like the awesome photo posted by tisthyme. It's also very gray with silver sparkles! So the difference is dramatic. I don't wear the wig at all around home or around town, but I do wear it for work. I'm actually dreading the day I go topless in a professional setting. I actually think I look cute, but I think my anxiety stems from a coworker who saw my hair while I was making some adjustments in the ladies room. She made a comment that I should be ready to ditch the wig in another couple of MONTHS. Months? I was thinking weeks. It really shook me up when she said that. Especially since she's also a BC survivor.
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GR4C1E.. Only you know when it is time to ditch the wig.. I went from wig to cap and now topless.. If I knew it would feel this good to got topless I wold have done it earlier.. Don't do it for others.. do it for yourself
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Tomorrow I'm going "topless" in a public place for the first time! My hair is about 1/4" and has been coming back in for over a month now - even though I have 3 more weekly taxol treatments to go. It will be a while before I ditch the wig at my office, too dressy and stuffy.
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Ossa, love your hair do. I'm rocking the same style as we speak. I think it's actually fascinating that strangers are very kind and accepting of my appearance and people I know can be insensitive. You're absolutely right, it is up to me. I have an appt with my oncologist next week. Before the ladies room incident, I was planning on asking him when I could possibly use a non-amonia rinse and beef up the color a bit. I like the silver bits and I think a darker salt and pepper look would make me feel a little more confident. I'm giving it two weeks tops, and I'm ditching the wig. Besides, having hair is not a job requirement and I have more hair than most of the men I work with!
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GR4C1E... Elaine2/ Woohoo for going topless. Let the wind blow thrugh your hair.. (You won't have a hair out of place
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Elaine2Tervs, topless in public is surprisingly a piece if cake! I've actually surprised myself and been completely comfortable with it. It was easy for me once I realized that strangers don't have a "before" picture of me in their heads. I've never been one for big dangly earrings, but they really do look good with super short hair!
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geegster not everyone has a nice shaped head. If mine looked like yours I wouldn't have thought twice about going bald, well maybe because I did chemo October-January. It might have been a bit chilly. I was topless by April. I wore scarves (wig twice).
It might be a bit easier for those of us to transition from scarves to wigs. When you wear scarves people usually but 2 and 2 together… granted there were a few folks that thought the scarf thing was my new look… speaking of which
Today we went shopping for my husband. He has been going to the same sales guy since the late 90's. Anyway I know this guy saw me once in my "scarf." Today he sees me with my short hair and tells me how great it looks, has never seen me in shorter hair. He has no idea I went through treatment.
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My post wasn't meant to offend. If it did, I sincerely apologize.
My main point being that I am so happy when other women feel the "liberation" that comes with going "topless" for the first time, whether immediately or after wearing a covering for a spell.0 -
GR4C1E, I wore a wig that was so close to my former style many people who knew I was going thru chemo didn't realize it was a wig. Still, I finished chemo in June and wore the wig during the hot summer months and combined with hot flashes, I was often a bit miserable.
I also felt that I didn't want to make others around me, loved ones and people I knew, uncomfortable. I asked my DH and DS if they minded if I went topless around the house. Of course, they were completely fine with it. Then the beginning of August, a bunch of family members and I were going to Lake Erie for the weekend. No way could I go to the beach wearing a wig. I told my sister ahead of time that I was going topless. I mean, with the wig, you can almost be in denial what a person's going through. So going topless was a bit of stark reality. And I didn't want her to feel badly or anything.
That went well and then I never wore the wig again. I started back to work (at a school) at the end of August without it. Pretty short, got a few comments, but everyone's so busy they really didn't have time to dwell. So I might suggest when you do go to work topless, try it after you've have a few extra days off, or after a short vacation or when it's going to be so busy you aren't going to be the center of attention. Try not to give your co-workers comment too much thought.
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geegster I'm not offended by your nicely shaped head!
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I'm one of those whose bald head was pretty unsightly (to me anyway). Shape is ok but I discovered I had all of these weird bumps and dents after the hair was gone. I was pretty disappointed because I had decided early on that I wasn't going to do the hat and wig thing. What I discovered was that your head gets pretty cold without hair! I did go topless around my family quite a bit. I was mostly worried about my young nieces and nephews and wondered how much to explain or quite what to say. Surprisingly, they were the ones who never even questioned it or gave it a second thought.
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I salute all of you brave ladies who go topless! I am pretty sure that I would never have the courage to do that, but I do go out quite a bit in scarves and hats but always wear a wig to work and school.
Since this is my second bout with cancer, the first one being when I was much younger, I feel I've matured enough to not care as much what other people think. The last time I was never without my wig. I usually wear a scarf or turban to bed, but found that there was always a knot somewhere pressing into my neck. So I asked my husband if it would freak him out if I went "without" to bed. He said no and I must say I am never more comfortable than I am in bed at night completely topless.
Have any of you started to grow back your hair mid-treatment? The last time I had chemo, I believe that my hair started to grow back somewhere around my last treatment. This time I lost most, but not all of my hair and the hair that is remaining looks like it needs a haircut! Since that hair is growing, I wonder whether the remaining hair will start to grow in sooner as well. I am halfway through 6 sessions of T/C.
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Gracie - I went topless to work 4 months pfc. We met friends for dinner on Sunday, me without my wig, and she encouraged me to ditch the wig at work. When I look back at my pics, I had very little hair.
I wore the wig til Thursday of that week, announced I would be topless on Friday, and had my hair dyed with an organic color Thursday night. Since it was January, if my neck got cold, I wore a scarf, and I bought a cute gray beanie cap with a flower on it! You have any of those cute light-weight scaves? Point being, we are bothered more than others by it. If you think you are ready, then you are! There's always gonna be some well-meaner who says the totally wrong thing.
I showed up bald at halloween as Charlie Brown and got alot of attention. Some people were pretty freaked out about my baldness and were giving me their phone numbers and lots of hugs, but by that time I was a month pfc--over it! But it was totally worth it to get my chubby hubby in a Snoopy costume...
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Joan - yes, my hair started growing back around Taxol #7 of 12 (had 4 AC first). Now, I'm 7 1/2 weeks pfc and have a lot more than I thought I would at this point, but it will be a loooong time before i feel ok without a wig. I just bought 2 shorter styles I"m hoping will be cooler for summer.
I'm still so distraught over my hair, and feel like a big cry baby. I envision wearing wigs through the fall.
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lago: I saw your timeline pics very early on in my treatment. They are, in part, what gave me the courage to own my bald/fuzzy. You are beautiful in every photo. I would look at them when feeling down and they would remind me that it is, indeed, possible to be pretty during treatment.
PS: my avatar had good hand placement! I've got quite a few funky moles up there! They look more like "islands" than cute round moles! Hee!0 -
Oh geegster (blushing) so sweet of you to say. Still love your perfectly shaped head.
What people sometimes forget is beauty isn't in our hair. My husband always loved my smile. As you can see it never changed… kinda creepy the smile really never changed. I swear I didn't pick t he best smile and paste it into every photo. You seem to have a similar smile!
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I'm 6 weeks pfc and I just wear hats not a wig. I'm not ready to go topless yet, but I did take my hat off briefly today so my coworkers could see how much my hair was growing. Nobody shrieked in horror. LOL. Still without hair and if I don't do my eyebrows I feel like I look like an albino conehead. I'm just hoping I have enough hair by summer to go topless. It's too cold most of the time right now to go without a hat.
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Deb, you should be ready by summertime... depending your comfort level. I went topless (and never looked back) around 12 weeks PFC.
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my new avatar is me, in one of my wigs.. looks like i'll be wearing them for awhile, so for me, its' like "coming out" my hair WAS red all my life, so anyone who knows good places to find bight auburn, or even mixed wigs, im on the hunt.. one dear friend from here,has given me hair for under a hat, and for my bday, i got anew red one.. i've got to get a trim, then i'll post it..
while you all get the chance to rock the short hair, bc of thyroid issues, i had a short time to do my own hair.. im still hoping to get another chance at it, but the wigs are going to have to be "it" for now..
i keep coming here, you all give me the motivation to do the biotin, minoxidol, etc.. "just in case".... im still Lurking!!!..3jays
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Great pic 3jaysmom!
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You look great 3jaysmom
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