Hair Hair Hair - Another question
Comments
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I have been worried about going into spring and summer with the wig and hats too. I don't like the scarves as they just stick on my bristles! And then there are the hot flashes! I have been having them for ten years and thought maybe chemo would lessen them. It has, but not completely. I think I will be ditching the hats and scarves as soon as i don't look like a cancer patient. Listen to me, talking all brave!!
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Mysunshine - You look spectacular! Your skin tone is beautiful with the gray. Your hair is longer than I even plan to grow mine!
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Mysunshine, you are so pretty! And that does not look like chemo hair at all!
TheyCallMe, are you a Vanderbilt alum?
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Shopgal2 - anyone who reacts like that isn't worth your time! That's just plain cruel. She better hope like hell this never happens to her! I think our hair shows how strong we are because we lived through cancer. You all know that's not at all easy. I do have my self concscious days too. I told my husband that I want to wear a sign that says, This hairdo isn't a choice. It's the chemo. If I were you, I'd try to think of your hair as a badge of honor and you're going to go in there showing everybody what a badass you are for surviving this hell! Even if they never find out what you've been through, if they are going to say or think mean things about your hair, they're showing their true ugly colors. Even before I had cancer, when I'd see women, esp younger women, with grey what-looks-like-a-buzz-cut hair, I automatically thought cancer AND how I wish I had the balls to be that brave! Also, remember people don't analyze us as much as we analyze ourselves.
You're beautiful because you're a living breathing human being who just went through the worst hell!
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I've been mostly going hatless at work and around town, and am getting used to the idea...for the most part I've only getting positive comments, along the lines of 'oh, your hair looks really cute', or no comments at all (which is also fine). I did have one co-worker say, "I like your hair style...is it intentional?" which I found a little bit intrusive not to mention odd, since she works on the same floor as I do and certainly has seen me in hats and scarves for several months (though we don't work together closely). Maybe she was just feeling nervous, because when I answered, 'unfortunately, no' she said something about how she was about to undergo something similar...I have always liked the woman, so going to reach out to her (the moment in which she said all this didn't feel like the right time to talk, since there were lots of other people around at the time).
Sort of long story to follow: For some reason, though, I STILL have an aversion to going into my favorite grocery store hatless....the aversion was so bad during active chemo that I had hubby do all the grocery shopping even though I really like to grocery shop. Mostly, I worried that I couldn't avoid my favorite checker, and I didn't want to tell her I had bc or for her to realize it: she is the sort who would make a fuss and look at me with pity and tears in her eyes. It just seemed like an effort to have to deal with that.
So, I started doing the shopping (in my hat) again about a month ago, but I would actually go into the store and figure out if she was working before starting my shopping. (I fully admit that this is weird).
Anyway, last week I did the shopping, didn't see her, but sure enough she started checking just as I went up to check out. However, it was pouring rain out, so wearing a rain hat was perfectly natural. She commented that she hadn't seen me in a while; told her I'd been busy...had a nice chat.
Come back this week in same hat, but the rain isn't coming until tomorrow and it felt a bit weird to wear it. I wore it anyway. So, at the door, there are two women talking, one clearly had lost her hair to chemo: I'd say she was probably no more than 4 or 5 weeks PFC,and going hatless and seemed perfectly comfortable. I didn't say anything, but did think to myself that she was a lot braver than me!
Anyway, I do the shopping, ready to check out, sure enough, favorite checker is the only one without a line. She starts checking me out, we are having a pleasant chat (as we often do/did before chemo, and by the way, one of the things that makes her a favorite is that she can check faster than anyone else there while still carrying on a happy conversation in which she remembers details about stuff we talked about months ago!). But then, she asks me if I know XX, a woman who works for my employer..and then starts talking about how she saw XX earlier in the day and she is 'fighting breast cancer' (I hate those words, btw. It isn't a fair fight!) and was wearing a wig, and hadn't been in the store in a while and she knew something must have been wrong when she didn't see her and.. etc etc...
Was she trying to tell me she knew what was up with me while being polite? Or just completely clueless? and frankly, did the Universe really have to put a damper on what had been a lovely day up until that point, by reminding me that bc is all around us: not once, but twice in one shopping trip?
Sigh. Either way, I am happy that I am leaving town Saturday of next week for various work and fun trips and hubby will have to do his own shopping for a while. Perhaps by the time I get back my hair 'cut' really will look intentional.
Octogirl
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I have had a couple of the student teachers at work compliment my super short pixie, saying they love it but are too chicken to cut it that short...I just say Thank you. The first time a co-worker told her the real reason and it made the kid feel super bad. I told her it was great, and thanked her again for the compliment. Now I just say Thanks a little louder so it ends the conversation about it....or offer help with the copy machines since they rarely work:)
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anyone notice thicker eyebrows coming in?
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my brows have grown in super fast, just in the past week! Yay!!!
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Octogirl: Not weird at all. I think she doesn't know.
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Hello Hair, Hair, Hair ladies. Predictably, I'm browsing this forum now that my chemo has come to an end and I'm ready to see HAIR! :0
My last treatment was 2/10 and I'm noticing scraggly, short hair coming in, but nothing consistent and my eyebrows and eyelashes aren't showing any improvement yet. Soon?
I'm so ready to ditch the wig... it itches!
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welcome gakristi! You are at the stage where I found patience to be very difficult...it does come back, but it did take me longer than I thought it should!
Hugs
Octogirl
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gakristi...Welcome! Sorry you are joining us. My hair started about a month pfc. It started to really thicken and grow about 12 was pfc. As far as eyebrows and lashes mine have not returned, last chemo 7/13/15. I did not wear wigs but I got rid of my hats at New Year....18 weeks pfc.
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My brows and lashes came in very suddenly--I swear it was overnight (even though it couldn't have been), about 12 weeks PFC. Throwing away that brow pencil was liberating!
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Peachy2 - no on Vanderbilt. I grew up in the Midwest and went to school in Minnesota.
Everyone's hair is looking great! I'm 7 months PFC and have a haircut tonight! I actually get "hat head" again!
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Hat head and bad hair days are great!
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Kate my lashes and brows seemed to come back overnight as well so I understand completely. I'm currently at the stage of feeling like I need a cut but thinking my stylist might think I'm crazy for walking in with just this much hair. LOL, no actually she's a good friend so I'm sure she would know just what to do. I have discovered that it's best to wash it in the morning instead of at night because I cannot get rid of the bedhead otherwise.
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All during chemo I kept playing India.Arie's song "I am not my hair". I had it on repeat in my car. I drive a convertible and there was a day where I had the top down, this song on full blast and singing at the top of my lungs. I didn't even care who saw/heard me.
Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy
Took away her crown and glory
She promised God if she was to survive
She would enjoy everyday of her life ooh
On national television
Her diamond eyes are sparkling
Bald headed like a full moon shining
Singing out to the whole wide world like HEY...0 -
We have an anthem! Thank you One Bad Boob!
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No eye brows yet...but my fingernails are long enough, with no chemo nails left, to polish! Only took 8 months!
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Hi everyone,
I've just started lurking in this topic because I'm one of the many who recently finished chemo and am waiting impatiently for my hair to grow back. My last infusion was at the end of January, so about 7 weeks PFC. I had my husband shave off my chemo regrowth (weird, translucent, very scraggly, sparse stuff) for the last time about a week ago and decided to just let whatever grow, grow. I'm cautiously optimistic because the stubble coming in feels and looks different. Mind you, it's only a trace of 5 o'clock shadow right now, but it seems to have color and isn't so patchy and rough-looking. Could this be...hair? We shall see!
One_Bad_Boob: I also wanted to say that I had never heard that India Arie song and I'm so psyched that such a great song that mentions chemo hair loss exists! Thank you for posting that!
tjh: Your nails look so pretty! I'm really looking forward to when mine look that nice again. Also: what a cool ring!
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That song is fantastic. Thank you for posting it here!
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Very cool song, I had no idea it was out there either. Thanks for posting!
I keep reading that a lot of you are shaving your first regrowth hair. I have not done that, I am scared to, thinking it won't come back. It is like scraggly peach fuzz right now, but it is growing. I am almost 5 weeks PFC, so I don't have any real coverage but I like I said, scared to go back to nothing.
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these seem cute
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i buzzed my hair to 1/4 inch about 6 weeks pfc to trim of the random long hairs. Then at 9 weeks i buzzed to 3/8 inch. I'm going to go to a half inch next and will keep doing that until all the patches fill in. When i buzz it is trimming of the white chemo ends and peach fuzz type hair. My problem area is the hairline at the back of my neck. It just doesn't seem to be filing in.
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One Bad Boob, - Thanks for sharing that song!
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mvspaulding: I understand the fear of shaving off the regrowth. It's hard to get rid of the little hair growth we have! I struggled with that, too, but the scraggly regrowth stuff was so annoying to me that I wanted it gone. But I was just reading twiggyOR's post about letting things grow and just buzzing off the ends--which gets rids of the chemo regrowth stuff without resorting to shaving down to bare skin. That seems like a great way to go.
twiggyOR, I've read in earlier posts on this board that hair grows in pretty unevenly, so hopefully the neck hairline area will catch up eventually! I have the same issue but with the very crown of my head, and my forehead hairline. The stubble on the rest of my head is longer and thicker, and there's barely anything right above my forehead. But from what I've read, that area can be slower to fill in.
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for all you on TC, exactly how long from start to finish have your treatments taken?
Thanks
Vicki
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Awesome song! Thanks for posting that, OneBadBoob.
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I was on T/C. 4 treatments, each 3 weeks apart. So, really, side effect time included for me.....12 weeks
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I did 4 T/C 3 weeks apart as well. I understand the fear of shaving what little hair we get back. I left mine go until it was a little over an inch. The I had it trimmed. It looked a lot less like chemo hair and more like a super short haircut. After it grew out to an out 2 inches I had it shaped again.
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