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Comments

  • rachface23
    rachface23 Member Posts: 2
    edited September 2018

    also, I really enjoy being peoples before, immediately after and months/years after hair pics too!

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited September 2018

    Rachface

    Yes I grew head hair on Taxol after A/C. I didn’t lose eyebrows and lashes until later in my Taxol treatment and lost more after Taxol was finished.

    You should continue to grow head hair on Taxol and you won’t necessarily lose lashes and brows. Everyone is different.

    Hoping you hang on to your brows and lashes!

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 256
    edited October 2018

    Okay I'm almost at 7 weeks after TC and am a little nervous about how slow my hair is growing. I can still see my scalp and its mostly just downey fluff.

  • Flynn
    Flynn Member Posts: 208
    edited October 2018

    I took this pic just about 8 weeks after I finished Taxol & Carboplatin. This about the time I stopped covering my head in public.

    image

  • Flynn
    Flynn Member Posts: 208
    edited October 2018

    I took this current one to show my curls to my sister

    image


  • ingerp
    ingerp Member Posts: 1,515
    edited October 2018

    I’ve posted this elsewhere, but this is from today (end of rads) and I’ll be nine weeks PFC tomorrow. I wish my hair were darker—I’ve decided to stop the headgear next week. I have a business trip coming up and I just don’t feel like dealing with it. (I’m hoping it’s close enough to Halloween that people think I’m dressing as Uncle Fester.)

    image

  • vl22
    vl22 Member Posts: 471
    edited October 2018

    Flynn - wow - great growth! My hair is so curly that I go out of the house most days looking like I just rolled out of bed. I just don’t have the patience or know how to deal with it! At least once a day my sons or my husband look at me and say” you’re hair is crazy.” (Said with love of course!)

    Some days I wish I had my long ponytail back, but most days I just don’t care. It is what it is.

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 256
    edited October 2018

    I'm 7 weeks out and have less than most. I've been online trying to figure out what to expect time wise and the one thing that seems to not be mentioned is that the timelines are ball park figures and that it varies a bit from person to person....at least that idea is keeping me from freaking out. I expected at this point to not be able to see my scalp but at this rate I expect I have a few more weeks of looking like a baby monkey.

  • bellasmomtoo
    bellasmomtoo Member Posts: 93
    edited October 2018

    rachaelcarter: You aren't alone. It took over 2 months PFC before I saw any hair growth. And it was 8 months PFC before I felt comfortable going out in public w/o any head covering. Others start growing hair while still on chemo, but like you said, it varies from person to person.

  • maggie2
    maggie2 Member Posts: 240
    edited October 2018

    Ingerp, beautiful picture and congrats on ringing that bell! We are both on the April Chemo thread so I’m aware of your struggles with hair growth. I think you look great and should go “topless”, to quote one of our April buddies, if you desire

  • Wink22
    Wink22 Member Posts: 23
    edited October 2018

    imageThis is me at 10 weeks PFC....I am one of the ones that is taking a long time to grow anything:) I had some growth right after chemo ended, but it all fell out around 6 weeks PFC (with all of my lashes plus a lot of my eyebrows!) and has now just started growing in again. It is grey and fuzzy. I am so over beanies/hats. Everyone's looking great...it's hard to be patient though!! Wink

  • ingerp
    ingerp Member Posts: 1,515
    edited October 2018

    Maggie I’m gearing up for going topless a week from today. Wink hang in there!

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 256
    edited October 2018

    Wink22: I'm at 7 weeks and think I'm on your schedule. Just this week the last single hair eyebrow row that allowed me to barely fake it.has fallen out and a pencil has become absolutely necessary. Washing, conditioning and treating with Nioxin #6 just to keep my scalp as happy as possible.

  • Flynn
    Flynn Member Posts: 208
    edited October 2018

    There really is a huge variance in how people's hair comes back. For those of you who continue to lose hair after treatment ends, I think you could count from the end of the hair loss forward. By the time I finished, there was not an eyelash or hair left, so I started progressing from that point. I also think hormonal therapy can impact tho I don't speak from personal experience. I found stopping wearing the caps awkward for a couple days and then very liberating. GL to all of you!

    VL22, thanks for your kind words! Last time I got my hair cut the stylist played up the curls and my husband asked me if I got a perm😂. I do miss being able to pull my hair back when I work out but I'm getting used to my new look.

    Also congrats on ringing the bell Ingerp!

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    Hello everyone

    I’m glad to see this thread come back to life! Hair, hair, hair! What a sensitive topic that affects on every level. Well at least me I know for sure. I obsess over its health and length every day.

    I’m 10 months pFC, the photo I’m posting is at about nine months and change. I lost every hair on my head and every lash and brow on Taxol. I actually lost lashes twice! That was fun. They are still wonky, like grew in all straight and all over the place. I had a long talk with my dermatologist about all this hair growth stuff and she explained it’s the shape of how the hair follicles decide to open that determines how your hair grows back!image

    VL22 I never had curly hair and I don’t have a clue what to do with this either??? I’m terrified to let anyone touch it with a scissor, I want my long locks back. Of course that will take me many years I suppose. I can’t even get the bangs to go straight. So my head is in a perpetual headband. Some people say why don’t you hit it with a keratin treatment, but I’ve known people that have damaged their hair badly with those things. I’m not putting any chemicals on my head, well except the mild dye I do myself! Anyone with chemo curl advice I would appreciate it so much!

    Congrats InGerp! Nice waves Flynn, beautiful. Wink you just had MAJOR surgery that alone can challenge hair growth, hope you are healing well!

  • ingerp
    ingerp Member Posts: 1,515
    edited October 2018

    CBK—I think your hair is making some kind of statement. :-) Don’t a lot of women get curls at first but then something like their normal hair grows back? If the curls are driving you crazy have you considered going super short? Maybe wait to grow it out until it starts to come in a little straighter? I’ve seen so many pics of women who are early in their hair re-growth and they look *adorable* with the short hair. And I think a lot of them like the no-muss no-fuss aspect so much that they plan to keep it short, at least for a while.

    Thanks for all the congratulations, ladies. I think it hasn’t really hit but will start to as I go through next week without having to make that daily trip. . . (And somehow I don’t think I did a good enough job of saying goodbye to the techs. I knew I’d get weepy if I took the time to thank them and hug ev so I rang that sucker and hurried on out of there. Oh well—I hope they understand.)

  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 3,293
    edited October 2018

    CBK - I think your hair is *amazing*. It's just stunningly gorgeous.

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 256
    edited October 2018

    CBK - It's funny I wore my hair super short for years before DX but in this new growth stage I get wanting to just grow a mane. I keep noticing older women with longer hair and am considering a long braid. I'm soooo far away from that right now. The red curls are spectacular. If you keep growing it and it straightens out at the roots and has curls at the ends it will be gorgeous..

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    InGerp- I cant carry off short hair like you! Btw it looks great!! I’m like 10 months PFC I would think it would be calming down by now!

    Moth- sweet of you to say, color is a little darker than I like but I don’t want to lift the color too much and damage it. My hair was like repelling color when I first started coloring it. I was spending a fortune at my colorist and coming home with a bad like rust tone color mixed with mousy brown. So one day my friend and I attacked it together and started to really nail the color down in the copper family I always was! For about 5 percent of the price with a mild color I bought from Whole Foods!

    Rachael- Did your chemo regime leave you with any hair? I’ve never been able to carry off short hair, so young or old it’s always been medium to long! People buy those ponytail wig attachments all the time! I think when the weather starts to get really cold here I may be back to sporting my wigs. Really confuse the hell outta people!

  • rachelcarter35
    rachelcarter35 Member Posts: 256
    edited October 2018

    Every hair gone. Brows and lashes going now. I'm 7 weeks out from chemo and am growing slower than average. I had surgery with general anesthesia 4 weeks after chemo and started Tamoxifen 5 weeks after chemo so lots of factors messing with it. I can still see my scalp and it's really downy. I had incredibly thick dense hair so we'll see. No bald spots so I don't think I'm one of the 4% who doesn't get it back after Taxotere. At least I'm hoping - God willing. It's nice to see something and it's getting a little thicker each day. Go back to work tomarrow.

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    Oh Rachel I’m sorry! I had my ooph 6 weeks after PFC and 4 months later another big surgery and then another surgery a week ago!

    Someone called me Humpty Dumpty right before my last surgery; I didn’t take too kindly to that after all I’ve been through and how hard I’ve fought. Especially with this damn ooph and Arimidex!!

    You are super early out of chemo! That’s great you have that growth all over!!!🙌. Mine started in back with very little in front and took a bit to play catch-up! Yup that Downy fuzz!

    And I lost most of my brows and lashes post final Taxol. And every single one. Oh wait no,one eyebrow held out!! One. It was grey and curly. 😡

    Good luck for your return to work!!!

  • mudd
    mudd Member Posts: 27
    edited October 2018

    There is hope out there for hair coming back. I was totally bald during chemo and starting this April my hair started coming in black and white and now I have a head full of curly curly curls. My question is what happens with the color. As soon as my doctor said I could use color, I used my normal light brown and the color is horrific - like thin brown gold broth. I'm waiting for it to rinse out since I used a temporary color. How do you know what to use to get it back to a normal brown? I feel so superficial worrying about my hair color but it distracts me from worrying about the bigger picture.

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    OK Mudd look at this “professional “ dye job 6 months. pfcimage

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    you have to hit it multiple times. This is my virgin hair PfC 51/2 months. image

  • mudd
    mudd Member Posts: 27
    edited October 2018

    Thanks! My hair s very similar. What kind of hair dye did you use and if you don’t mind what color. I always used light or medium brown and after using light brown with disastrous results I have no idea what color range to go to

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    Mudd-

    i went from this to total red head!

    I used naturtints from Whole Foods. Amazing product as long as you don’t want to lift more than two levels lighter!!



  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    That's the color and box Mudd! It's available on Amazon too! Good luck and lmk if it works for you!!image

  • mudd
    mudd Member Posts: 27
    edited October 2018

    Thanks so much!! It looks like the color is pretty close to the box. They sell that in the vitamin shop near me. Definitely going to get it but might go a shade darker. I appreciate your post.

  • mudd
    mudd Member Posts: 27
    edited October 2018

    Thanks so much for posting that. I really appreciate it. They sell that in the vitamin shop near me and I'm definitely going to try it.

  • cbk
    cbk Member Posts: 323
    edited October 2018

    Mudd

    Yeah that’s right I forgot I’ve bought there as well. FYI if you are looking to maintain that fiery red look I use Aveda Madder Root conditioner too! Love that stuff! Good luck!

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