Hair Hair Hair - Another question
Comments
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Frankenboobs, so sorry for the loss of your dad, I know how hard that is, I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer.
Thank you for posting your pictures, I just finished chemo a little over a week ago, seeing your year progress is very inspiring. Right now I am constantly looking for any hair growth.
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Frankenboobs: love your name. That's what I call my new "breast", my Frankenboob. So sorry about your crappy year. So much loss... (((HUGS)))
Hikergal: looks great!
So I went to see my friend who owns a salon at her request to shave my neck and "clean my up". Turns out I had move hair the she though so she trimmed up everything below and around my ears with the clippers. My first hairScut!! It's growing super fast. I'm 12 weeks PFC now.
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juneaubug, you are rockin' the new do! Love it!
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Juneaubug, i soooo love your hair! Im 14 weeks pfc myself and my hair's a beloved mess. Maybe i will make that trip to the hairdresser now after seeing your pics.
Frankenboobs and hikergal, too!0 -
Juneaubugg...you look great. I'm 11 weeks PFC and my hair is thin every where! I'm taking Biotin and my hair is growing quickly all over my body, but very slow on my head.
Frankenboob...You look great...I'm very sorry to hear the loss of your Father.
My avatar picture is current.
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This is me right now (and my silly daughter). Hoping I'm not one of the 6% who never regrow hair! I'll take the poodle-do if I have too!
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frankenboob - nice to see you here again. Looking great! Sorry to hear about your dad - breaks my heart.
shore - RE: Pony tail - at 1 year I was able to put most of my hair up in a small pony tail - then use a pretty clip to make it look like an updo! Good luck!
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Love all the pictures! My hair is growing it, but just doesn't seem to be getting much longer, my bang area is still super short. But I have hair and gave my wigs to my friend who was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. Glad to pass them on to someone else who needs them.
Hope everyone is having a lovely evening!
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thank you, divine, shannie, and butterfly... i'm sorry about your loss too.
juneaubug, your hair looks great! you have a little stylin' thing going on already! good for you!
rainmaze, it's hard to tell from the little pic but it looks like you have growth! as for that 6% thing, i didn't know the number was so high. i'm glad i didn't know that when i was waitingwaitingwaiting for hair!
mamav, thank you!
onvacation, a hairdresser told me that the back and sides tend to grow a little faster than the top and bangs do. i panicked when she mentioned trimming off the curly ends because i was still in that "every mm counts!" phase, but once she trimmed everything up and neatened the whole mess up, it all balanced out, however, even now the bangs seem shorter than the rest and there's a bizarre little fringe along the front of my hairline... a line of hair right across the front that is now only about an inch long. i don't know if that's normal or why it would grow so much slower than the rest of my hair though. prior to chemo i had waist length hair and i don't recall every noticing anything like that.
i'm waiting for the day when i can make a decent ponytail...
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RainMaze the 3-6% chemo induced alopecia is associated with Taxotere. Also the more treatments the greater the risk and the risk increases if it was given with another chemo agent simultaneously. At least this is the info a got from a friend who has some of this Taxotere induced alopecia (she's not completely bald but she did have a lot of hair to start with).
Again this is very rare and they think it's 3-6%. They are still studying it.
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Rainmaze, I was paranoid that I would fall into the 6% that did not grow back hair. I began taking a hair, skin, and nail supplement sold at Costco 3 weeks PFC and my hair is growing back nicely. It contains 5,000 mcg of biotin and lots of other goodies. I also began using Nature's Gate shampoo and conditioner at the same time. My hair is coming in super thick on the top and back. It is still thin on sides but hopefully that fills in!
My new issue is that I believe that I have a capsular contracture with right exchange.
Has anyone seen a good spot on this DB about that? Want to know if there are good alternatives besides going back in surgically.0 -
BTW I forgot to mention I had 6 rounds of Taxotere… and I got my full head of hair back. Just as thick as before, even on Anastrozole. I do take Biotin & women's Minoxidil (1X daily) but I was using both years before chemo.
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I don't understand why oncologists are not recommending using the Cold Caps as a preventative... They certainly do help.. Between losing your hair, your eyelashes.. your eyebrows, you feel like an alien and I cannot understand why doctors would not want to encourage people to feel better about themselves.. Especially with the 6% that develop Alopecia from Taxotere... That's not funny.
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Frankenboobs - I feel for you! 2012 was a helluva year here too: we had a long overdue memorial for our Dad in September, then 6 weeks later our Mom passed away...so 2013 looks much brighter!
You are a beautiful lady & your hair looks like it grew incredibly fast! I'm at 36 wks PFC now & will not have anywhere near that length by one year - it's thick THICK all over but especially on top & I'm probably going to keep it short since it's so easy to style. My chemo curls have already relaxed considerably (boo!) & it appears my usual poker straight will be back soon, but that's fine. You have to keep reminding yourself to put it all in perspective.
mermaid - good point on the cold caps not being recommended more. Seems most helpful info comes from places like this forum & you then have to advocate for yourself to the medical caregivers to take full advantage - if only the whole person could be treated & more allocated to cause/prevention...it's just so frustrating.
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I know everyone is different in how fast the hair grows and how brave they are to reveal thier semi bald heads, but I was trying to get an idea at what point I might be able to ditch this wig. At what point did you guys go without anything on your head? I'm 8 weeks PFC and it's growing...I just want something to look forward to! I just want enough hair where you can't see my scalp anymore. Like Juneaubugg...I think I could bare my head with that amount of hair...looks fantastic by the way! So it's taken her 12 weeks to get to that point. Can anyone else tell me how long it took them since we are all different? Then maybe I can have a ballpark type range.
By the way I love looking at all the pictures you guys post on here. It's so wonderful to see those pictures from barely any hair to full heads of hair. It keeps those of us just starting out hopeful that one day we will have a ponytail, but right now I'd really love it if my bangs would just fall into my line of sight. I've never been a patient person and man this takes all the patience in the world...watching hair grow.
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Question for everyone because I'm curious and the Internet isn't helpful:
I've had chemo twice, 1998 and now. In 1998 I had AC and it took about 6 or 7 months for my hair to look as beautiful as juneaubugg's. My oncologist was starting to worry. I didn't mind showing my bald head, it just didn't seem all that important.
Does having chemo twice make it more likely that I will be the 6%?
Iago, I did 4 rounds of taxotere. I hope my hair looks as great as yours soon!!
I can handle the baldness, I just want to be prepared!
If anyone has any info, please let me know. I'm finished with chemo so now hair and getting back in shape are my new obsessions!0 -
I went permanantly "topless" after 2 1/2 months PFC. My hair is very curly now, but it looks like a cute, short haircut.
Frankenboob and Juneau: Your hair looks great!
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Does anyone on here who is a couple years out have a positive story about brows and lashes? In particular, any ladies out there who took ACT that only had their lashes/brows disappear once. (did NOT have their brows and lashes fall out in the common 2 or 3 cycle pattern).
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I ditched my wig 4 months PFC. It was still way shorter than I was comfortable with, but it was so thick, the wig no longer fit securely.
I had curly hair before, and it came back super-duper thick, curly and frizzy. The texture was something like sheep's wool, and my stylist calls it "ethnic hair". I waited a full year before I had it cut, and even then I allowed only the tiniest amount of length to be taken. But as it has grown, my hair mostly got bigger, instead of longer. I had it thinned quite a bit, which helped. This past week, I went in for a keratin straightening treatment and I am so happy with the results. I finally look like my old self again! Money well spent....
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Slksmom - I did 4 rounds of TC and only lost mine once. I'm 11 months PFC now. My brows are a little thinner than they used to be, but the full shape is there. I just tweeze less, which actually worked out well!
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sonson: I'm current 12weeks and 2 days ;-) PFC. I ditched my hat (no wig or scarves for me, to uncomfortable) at around 7-8 weeks PFC. I didn't care anymore. With the hot flashes I was having! I didn't even really realize how REALLY Thin it was until now as it gets thicker.
As for my brows and lashes; I'm using Brain Joseph's and they are both quite thick now. I hope I don't lose them again (although I never list ALL my brows so I had a guideline to draw them on with).0 -
I finished chemo July 5th and radiation Sept 7th, went without my wig mid November. That is when I had full scalp coverage but still very short hair. I think by then I just didn't care! It is still short, but so happy that I'm no longer wearing my wig.
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Slksmom- I did AC x 4 and then 12 weekly taxol with herceptin (with herceptin continuing for the year). My brows and lashes never fell out completely. They thinned, and were at their worst toward the end of taxol and a few weeks after. But they never went thru that grow back/fall out multiple times thing. I used Brian Joseph Lash & Brow gel and I think it helped.
ETA: its been almost 1every year since my last chemo & brows and lashes are thicker than ever.0 -
Sonson my hair grew pretty fast although I was still on Herceptin so a bit slower at the time. I went topless at 13 weeks. I'm still wearing my hair uber short. No pony tail for me. Here is my hair transition linky
mermaid_1010 I think there are several reasons why cold caps are not recommended. They are $$$ and a realy PITA to deal with. Can you imagine if everyone came in with dry ice in coolers with cold caps and how that would get in the way. It seems the chemo nurses are so busy and cold caps would just add more confusion if everyone was doing it. I would hope in the future cold caps and cold gloves/socks would be available to those that do the chemos (taxotere) that could cause permanent damage. (I had the bad nail lifting issue and my nails ever fully recovered).
RainMaze I did 6 rounds of taxotere with Carboplatin and my hair came back fine. I read about this 3-6% right after my first TX. I assumed it would happen to me because I was already getting some receding before diagnosis. But it all came back, including a lot of the places it receded. Don't assume it will happen to you. Doing only 4 rounds makes it less likely from what I was told from my friend who has done a lot of research.
SLKsMom I was on a different chemo but mine did thin during tx. Then fell out 5 weeks PFC. Came in great then thinned but I think that was from Anastrozole. I have been painting women's Minoxidil on them 1X a day and they are a little bit better and are not shedding anymore.
BTW you ladies with hair pictures are looking awesome.
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I was topless by my 10th week PFC since it hit 100 degrees that week :-) Certainly didn't have much hair...but boy was I comfortable. This picture was about 12 weeks..me and my daughter
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Here's a photo of me this past Christmas Eve, 2012. That's about a year and a half pfc. I have trimmed just a tiny bit of my hair/bangs since June but not gone to the salon.
Here's a timeline of me from when I started going topless. When we went on vacation, I started going without my wig. It was easier to be around many people who didn't know me and try out the super short 'do. Not one person looked at me funny, so I wasn't self conscious of it much at all. I never wore the wig after that. I work at a school and had the summer off, which was when I started going topless, and when we returned to work at the end of summer, everyone took my short hair in stride.
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the divinemrsm, thank you for posting the pictures. I am almost 2 weeks PFC and really am not seeing any growth yet to speak of. All of you that have posted pictures are giving me hope. I used to have very long, thick, and very curly hair and being bald has been a real challenge for me. I cannot wait to have enough hair to go topless, living in Florida, the wigs, hats and scarves are so hot...yesterday it was close to 85 degrees.
AEM47, you and your daughter look beautiful!
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butterfly14 you are still in the chemo cycle in the first 3 weeks PFC. Then it still takes some time because the hair that starts growing is under the scalp. In my case I do think some of my hair started growing back before chemo ended. It all has to do with the hair growth cycles
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Iago: thank you, that was very reassuring! I know I just need to be patient.
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lago, Thank you. I had a little growth, more like stubble before I ended the taxol, and that is all that I still have. I am taking the biotin daily and hoping that some hair starts growing soon. This must be my lesson on patience.
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