Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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Hey, so nice to see everyone again....Well, my hair is about 3/4 of an inch or so. The tips are the soft white peach fuzz stuff but then it turned to normal and dark hair. Right now you can call me half and half. Texture and color. Speaking of color I'm chomping at the bit to put blond in again. But at this point I'll probably look like a new born chicken so I'll wait .
Well, I'm encouraged about the curl, so It may be coming after all yet.
My eyebrows are all in. When I stroke my finger over then I feel thickness although they look blond and not so thick. Like Nancy said, it's almost like over night and they are there. Eyelashes are half the length they were but are growing fast as well. (If only the head would take a hint).
My dh said I shouldn't expect the curl the minute the hair grows because I'd have a Brillo pad.
Good point. Take care guys, Artsee
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Hi All,
Glad to hear about the happy growing.
Rock - as the others have said, the brows come really quickly. Mine were gone one minute, back the next: almost immediately after chemo (perhaps 2 weeks?).
I actually had a "cut" the other day. It was a pathetic excuse of a cut - just a shimmy really, to get rid of those weird longer strands that made me look like a frantic chicken. I have a very short "do" now. I've been going out a bit with no cap ... though it still feels strange. This is me now, at 11 weeks. What d'ya think? Should I be ok running around like this? I'm about to start teaching at a very conservative north eastern university (known for being straight-laced).
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Deen - I am 10 weeks out from last chemo and have been going without a scarf or headcovering for one week now -my hair is about the same length as yours. It has been very comfortable for me. My daughters and I went out for dinner on Sat and the waitress told me - "your hair cut is very cute and trendy - but I wouldn't have the guts to shave my head like that"! My daughters started chuckling to themselves. I wanted to tell the waitress that I didn't have the guts either but had no choice - but instead of embarrasing her I just said "just trying something new!"
My hair is still a mix of dark brown and gray on sides and back and mostly gray on top. It is getting very thick ( I have always had very thick hair). The back is starting to get wavy. My eyebrows are in but are so light you cannot see them. Eyelashes are slowly returning - at least for now.
Take care
Deb
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Say Deb...Are you on any of the Hormone inhibitors? If so , which one? I wonder if they keep the hair from getting full.
Deen...your hair looks nice. It almost looks like it want to stand up. Mine is not ready to stand up ...even with gel. Darn. If I could do that and get that look, maybe I'd go out without a cover up.
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Deen.......I say go for it.....you look great!.....I am very envious........I know I will be itching to go topless.....to me you look ready........with your pretty face......you probably could have gone topless blad!
Cheers
Jax
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Hi Artsee - no AIs yet. Will start Arimidex in a few weeks. My onc doesn't believe in rads and AI's at the same time because she said if I have se it is too hard to rule out which one is causing the problem.
Before chemo my hair was so thick, coarse and heavy I couldn't do much with it. My stylist always told me that she didn't know anyone with hair as thick as mine - so I probably just have lots of hair follicles!
Take care
Deb
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Deen -- My pro-bald-bald stance aside, should you feel comfortable with your look? Hellyeah! It looks good!
My eyebrows are aligning themselves to spell "thanks"... I appreciate the optimism!
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I read about Biotin on the Hormone Therapy thread (I think) back before I started chemo, and started taking it then. It's not kept me from losing my hair, of course, but did want to report that my dh started taking it at the same time for his 'thinning' problem, and his hair has started to come back in where it had 'thinned' completely, and is thickening where it had only thinned. I think there may be something to this! Hope springs eternal, placebo or not!!
Sherri
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I started using Biotin 5000mcg over a month ago. I have 17 left in a bottle of 60 capsules and there were days when I did not take it Am not good with popping pills hence my problem with tamoxifen when I start it.
My last tx was end of April and I knew first week of June I still did not have hair. It is first week of Aug and I have about 3/4 inch of hair all over.
I always have been straight haired and dark brown in color - almost black if you look from afar.
My hair is still straight and I started my hair re-growth with black stubbles right away, not light colored at all.
My AC dose was reduced 25% on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th tx. Don't know if that matters with my hair growth.
I did ask oncologist if Biotin was something he recommended to speed up hair growth. He said no but did not say as well not to take it.
I figured he did not want to keep my hopes up in case my hair did not grow back fast enough as I want it to.
I will keep taking it until I finish what is left in the container.
I did not loose brows and lashes but feel as if my lashes are longer and thicker.
I think it was worth the try.
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Speaking of lashes and growth treatments, there is a glaucoma med that has the curious side effect of causing the lashes to grow excessively long. A woman who works for me has to take it for her glaucoma, and her lashes look like daddy-longlegs...no kidding, it's weird! I think a mascara company tried to market it a while ago but had to take it off the shelf because it does have other side effects.
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So a coworker/friend brought in a bunch of styling gels/pastes that she had lying around the house. I just used something called "styling glue" all over my maybe-half-inch-of-hair. One coworker claims it looks like I have more hair because it's "textured" but another one says it looks the same. Mostly it just feels like I have a head full of glue - yuck.
I'm not complaining though, at least I have enough to experiment with, right? And brown seems to be becoming the dominant color, although there is still a lot more gray than I had before and a considerable amount of blond. Weird.
Lauren fuzzy gluehead
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i still don't have any eyebrows one year after treatment. my hair is still stick straight, no curl...not even any bending!!
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The glaucoma drug that causes lash growth is called lumigan. Allergan is starting clinical trials to get FDA approval for lash growth (was in the Wall Street Journal a month ago or so). A doc can give you an rx for lumigan, but beware that it hasn't really been tested yet in healthy eyes (without glaucoma) and there are possible side effects (blue iris for one). A cosmetic company was selling a product that contained a similar active ingredient, but Allergan sued them and it was taken off the market (it's since come back with a completely different ingredient and unclear if it even works).
For eyebrow growth, you can try Rogaine applied with a q-tip. Takes a few months to see if it works and if it does you just keep up with it....
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On the hopeful side, I just saw a friend who finished her chemo (ACT) in February and she now has a curly jaw-length bob....and look how great Robin Roberts looks on Good Morning America every morning (she finished her chemo early Spring).
Hope (and hopefully hair) springs eternal!
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bump.
how's everyone doing?
D.
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I'm waiting for my second "fall"...any day now as I'm 9 days out from my first adjuvant chemo dose. But on the bright side, there's enough regrowth that I went around doing my errands this weekend without a wig or hat—except when I was out in the sun. That's a given whether I have hair or not. So, even though I tried to not get too attached to it, I will miss it when it goes.
Brows are totally back; lashes are coming in but are still too short to curl or douse with mascara.
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I have my last Taxol on Wednesday. A few days ago, I noticed some new eyebrow hairs growing. Also, I never lost all of my hair; my scalp has been about 30% stubble ever since I took the Road to Bald in May. Now a lot of hair has sprouted which is about 3/4" long and yeah, it looks ridiculous.
Having some hair left on the head while on A/C+T does NOT mean the chemo didn't work very well, right? Right? RIGHT?! SOMEONE TELL ME THE CHEMO PROB WORKED EVEN THOUGH I STILL HAVE SOME HAIR LEFT ***Slap!**** Excuse me. Please pardon the freak-out.
Anyway, there are some little eyebrow hairs that weren't there a week ago.
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Rock, I would be willing to bet that it does NOT mean that the chemo didn't work. But ask your onco next time if you are really worried.
You can expect those eyebrows to sprout like crazy in the next few weeks. At least, that's what happened to me -- about 5 weeks after chemo I was totally shaggy-looking, although some of them came in gray/white so they looked lighter. I had them waxed at 8 weeks post-chemo. Since then they have filled in just right, no more gray, thick where they are supposed to be, but not a lot of strays above my eyelids like I used to get. It's kind of odd but I'm not complaining.
Deen, I've been meaning to post and say that you look GREAT! Of course we don't want to look like this, but as long as we have to, it's nice to know that we can carry it off. I am 3 months post chemo and I have a serious rug on my head -- my son still calls me "furry." I'll post another pic sometime soon.
Happy hair growing everyone! If there are any hair gods up there they've got to be on our side....
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Oh, totally OK to have some hair regrowth while on chemo. I think it's the initial shock of the poison that hits the hair roots and kills them off that causes the big drop. But like a lot of things, our bodies regroup and bounce back.
My leg hair was the first to come back while I was still on my neo-adjuvant chemo. And the eyebrow and lashes didn't drop off until that was over. Head hair seems to have a slower growth rate than other body hair, but that's so it stays around longer and provides more protection. So, for it to restart from the very bottom of the root shaft, grow all the way up and show on our heads, takes longer than say, our measley eyebrows which grow and drop off regularly, or we'd look like strange creatures with them hanging down over our eyes (OK, some old men look that way, but they've got it coming our of their ears and noses, too).
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rockthebald - I don't think it means chemo didn't work - just shows how folks react differently. I shaved my head when my hair first started falling out. Sides and back kept growing during chemo - hair on top would grow between treatments and then fall out. I had to trim my sides last week because they were about 1/2 inch longer than my new growth. I never completely lost all of my hair anywhere - had to shave my legs during chemo etc.
My eyebrows got thin and are now growing back but are so light you cannot see them. Lashes didn't start falling out till about 6 weeks after last chemo. They are now growing back and filling in.
My hair is filling in pretty nicely and now is starting to get some curl. It is multiple colors - weird. And the top is all growing to the right - making a natural part on the left side of my head. I always parted my hair on the right before chemo. No matter what I do, I cannot get that hair to go any other direction!
Deb
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So good to hear that everyone is doing well.
Rock, congrats on the last Taxol. As others have said (and as I had it from the onco's mouth), hair growth in between means nothing.
Nancy - how many treatments do you have now?
Lauren - furry ...ha! That's exactly what I feel like. Thanks for the positive encouragement. I'm going topless all the time now and, although I'm a little self-concious, I feel ok about it. Would love to see a new pic of you soon.
And Deb - I never realized why I part my hair the way I did. Now I can see the way my hair grows, i know. It's kinda cool.
D.
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Artsee - where are you and what is your hair doing?
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Tell me it's not so Gramadeb! I was so looking forward to not having to shave my legs during chemo, which I just started last week, that I haven't bought any nrew razors in a looooong time! I thought that was my one benefit for going through chemo! But no, I'm still going to have to shave my legs while I have a bald head! Please say it ain't so!!!!!
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I have read this thread and it brings back al
ot of memories....I am almost 2 1/2 years post chemo and have had several haircuts since my long curly locks fell out in December 06. Here are a few pics to give everyone some encouragement that it will come back although I felt like it was like waiting for a kettle to boil.
3 months post chemo 
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Hi Deen,
My last chemo was on April 10, and I quit wearing the wig about 3 months after that. My hair is coming back thicker, wavy and jet black!!! I love it. I've been using Nioxin # 2 after chemo, and I think it's working.
There's definitely hair after chemo!!!!
Mwa,
Aurora
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I am 2 years post chemo but wanted to give you ladies some inspiration that the hair will come back and be even curlier than before but perhaps wont stay curly indefinitely. Mine was curly and long to start off with, now 2 years out of chemo it is still even curlier then before.
Michele
#1 - 1 month prior to end of taxol.
# 2 - 2 months post treatment
#3 - 6 months post treatment
#4 - 1 year post treatment
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Deen,
ONE TO GO!!!!
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Well, I have my LAST chemo treatment on 8/21. Since I started Taxol, my hair started growing, but after my 2nd treatment of Taxol, some of my hair fell out, and my eyebrows thinned out quite a bit too! My mom thinks my eyelashes thinned out too. Everyone says it looks like I'm getting a lot of white hair now, but that doesn't bother me, because my hair is growing back! It's maybe 1/4 inch right now, but I'm okay with that! I do hope my hair comes back curly, not wavy like it was before! I'll be really happy once I'm done with that last treatment, but I have to say, I'm not looking forward to six weeks of radiation!
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Thanks for all the hopeful "it will grow" posts and I love the pictures, Deen and Curlylocks. I'm 7 weeks post tx. Last week I sprouted chin hairs - not the place I wanted to first see them but it's something. There are some eyebrows sprouting now. I've always had some hair on my head since I first had it buzzed although very sparse. It's the gray that bothers me. It's no surprise that it's gray as I've been coloring for 10 or 12 years and had plenty of roots every 4 weeks but I don't like seeing my whole head that color - or lack of. Is it possible to color hair that's so short- 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch? Actually, today, I found some long hairs - maybe one whole inch. This is going to get messy. I should be happy there's something on my head but the gray makes me feel even older than I am.
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Wow, we are so different! Here's my hair update:
I'm 10 weeks past my last (4th) dose of Taxotere & Cytoxan. Unlike some of you, with 4 treatments of TC I lost all my scalp hair; all my leg hair; all my armpit hair; all the hair in my "nether regions"; all the hair on my arms; and all my eyelashes. My eyebrows are about 2/3 gone.
Some of that hair loss wasn't complete until about 2 weeks ago. For instance, I still had a few arm hairs left then, but they pulled out very easily and are all gone now. The same was true for my eyelashes--they started to come out about 5 wks after my last tx, and I was losing the last of them just last week.
I know I lost every bit of my scalp hair because I didn't shave my head. As my hair started to come out, I trimmed it short. I ended up with a thin fringe of hair that was about 1 inch long. Most was gone by tx #3, but the remaining hair continued to pull out. Now, I have a "5 o'clock shadow" of short fuzz that's maybe 1/8 inch long. Any of the original hair that is still there is really obvious. I counted maybe 8 or 10 individual hairs that were from before chemo. Everything else went MIA.
I can see that my arm hair is re-growing. My leg hair must be re-growing because I can feel a tiny bit of stubble that wasn't there a week ago and still isn't enough to shave. My under-arm hair seems to be coming back, too, but it is sparse and very fine. I haven't shaved my legs or under-arms in about 18 weeks.
The rate of re-growth of my scalp hair is nowhere near the 1/2 inch per month that is supposedly "average" for normal hair growth. Obviously, those poor hair follicles aren't feeling normal yet.
otter
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