Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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I am 2 weeks post last Taxol today. My scalp still shows through very much and just above my forehead it shines through too much. I am still wearing my scarves and wig, even at home
I have already buzzed the hair to 6mm, I did it after about 7th Taxol (I am not sure). Now I am buzzing the part in front of my ears every few days, otherwise it would show under my wig.
Kayak. thank you for the tip regarding the skin powder. I will try to find something similar here.
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Fairchild
That was incredibly thoughtful and helpful. I had my first haircut about a month ago and I was like wth is my hairdresser doing? He blew my hair straight to cut it!! So I guess he knows what he’s doing with curls. I’m learning to love my curls because they have relaxed slightly and I’m learning to work with them. I hope they don’t leave me!! Mine aren’t frizzy.
Do you ever blow dry with diffuser? If so do you have any recommendations on a good one? My hairdresser told me to let airdry and they shape curls with a few strategically placed rolls with the ceramic round brush and blow dryer!
Wishing you some newfound chemocurls!! 🙏🤗
Jaboo-
That’s just crazy how much growth you have 🙌 !!! I can’t believe that, what is your secret? Get a stocking cap for your wig, don’t cut your beautiful new hair! I’m so happy for you , it’s amazing !!
Thanks for sharing everyone!
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Those that had just Herceptin, Perjeta and Taxotere....how long did it take for your hair to go? I had AC five years ago and it just took 2 weeks. I had my first HPT on November 29th.
Thank you
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CBK, I'm glad the info was helpful! Honestly, I don't know about diffusers, because I wear my hair in a kind of a short pixie. It really is dry by the time I get to work!
Txsurvivor1 That's my regimen, plus carboplatin. My hair came out about 10 days after my first chemo. Take care!
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CBK thanks!! I am surprised too... I don't know any secret to make the hair grow, the only thing I was doing while on Taxol was massaging my head very diligently in the shower (though not on the day of tx and 2 days afterwards) and putting some kind of ointment on my scalp after the shower (I bought it from my friend who is a head dresser, it was not too expensive and has a nice scent). A week after the last Taxol I started with biotin supplement, which was a week ago 🙂
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Hi everyone,
My hair is thinning and I do not want to use regular hair color anymore. Does anyone use natural henna? My hair is already colored with more than 50% gray and I would like to find a brand of henna that works over colored hair. Thanks for your help.
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new2bc
You know a few years ago when my hair was thinning I used henna over color and it was a disaster. Started breaking and turned this terrible dark color. My hair is a copper red. My hairdresser told me never to use henna again because it can really damage hair. I don’t know if that’s what did it or not, but I always had thick full hair and itwas ruined.
I use ammonia fee color now and I think it’s super mild on my hair.
Henna I used was Surya.
Good luck!!🍀
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Dear CBK,
Thanks for responding so quickly. I really appreciate that you shared your experience with me. I think Henna may be good for noncolored hair with not too many grays. I will buy ammonia free haircolor. Thanks again.
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new2bc
I use naturtints, love the product. It’s kind to my new chemo curls and covers grey well. Available at Whole Foods, vitamin shoppe and Amazon. It’s better than the professional dye my hairdresser was using for years and charging me a fortune for.
Good luck.
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So I am 14 months post treatment, and I just found out my hair will not be growing back. I have some thin hair around my face, but from the back I am basically bald. I have grown out the front hairs to the point were I can almost get away with combing it over, but it is so thin that it really does not work. I'm here wondering if anyone has had any luck with hair regrowth treatments of any kind. I've been taking Biotin for a year but I don't think it does anything. I know I can wear wigs, but I really hated my wig during treatment. I also lost my eyebrows post chemo and have been drawing them on with mild success but it's the hair on my head I just can't seem to live without. I had super thick, super healthy, hair before cancer. It was easily my best feature, so this is hitting me really hard. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
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elootz - I hope someone gives a good answer to your question - my prechemo hair was my best feature also. I had AC/T and went bald of course. It very slowly grew back very thin but I could deal with it. Now after a year on letrozole, my hair is thinning again and I can see it may go bald in front at a minimum -- maybe all over. I don't want to go back to wigs. I am even thinking of stopping the hormone therapy all together. I will be 74 next month. I have an appt with my MO this Friday and I am going to ask for the best info he has on what my mets risk is if I stop. From what I can tell from online bc calculators, my risk would go up only 1%. Would be so great if "they" would figure out why some get this loss and other don't so a remedy might prevent it. Hair loss does hit hard. Polly
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elootz and Polly - look at the thread on here called Thinning Hair (& start reading from the middle of page 5). A few of the gals on there have had some success using a laser helmet. One of the gals who had success, advocated to get us a discount. Besides that, there is a money-back guarantee if one feels that there has been no hair growth after 6 months of use (though I'm not sure if that is also valid if one buys it with our discount...maybe it is). For a number of us who are barely 3 months in or less, it is too early to tell if it is working or not (though I think the texture of my hair has improved and maybe there is less fallout - both of which are early positive signs, prior to growth). You can see the product on https://www.irestorelaser.com/ It is a 25 minute treatment, every other day. You can message the company on their website or call and speak to them. You might also want to post any questions about this product on the Thinning Hair thread.
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Kayak2 - Thanks for that suggestion. I have read that thread in the past about the helmets. I will go back and read recent posts. Sounds too good to be true though. If it works, seems like every man in American with thinning hair would own one and news stories about it would be on the front page of every newspaper. Just saying. Polly
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Thanks Kayak2. I'll check out the suggested thread.
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I don’t come in here very often anymore, but when I was waiting for my hair to come back I found this thread so reassuring. I’m 15.5 months post infusion chemo. This is my hair now. It used to be longer, straight and colored every 5 weeks to hide grays. Now it’s shorter, wavy and I haven’t colored since last summer.
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Flynn--I love when you guys check back in! Your hair looks wonderful. Might I ask if you had any chemo curl when it first grew back in? I'm about seven months PFC and my hair has come back well but definitely curly. I keep cutting it off because I can't stand looking like a poodle. I'm hoping it'll calm down a little by the time I'm a year out--I'd love to get some length back but not until it's straighter.
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I'm 11 months PFC and 2 months post final Herceptin. My hair started growing out during Taxol & Herceptin. My natural hair was baby fine & stick straight. This is shampooed & just allowed to air dry. I never got the really curly chemo curls, but it's definitely much wavier & has a bit more body than before. I hope it stays like this, as it previously took a lot of time with curling iron & styling products to achieve anything like this before. I colored with a henna/indigo blend last fall. That's the only kind of coloring I've used on my hair for at least the past 5 yrs.
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Flynn and Tabz-Wow! Beautiful curls and color! You look like clairol models!
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Thanks for posting an update, Flynn and Tabz - it gives me hope. Like Ingerp, I currently look like a gray poodle and it's so discouraging. I'm 7 mos. PFC and I seem to be at a standstill with short, VERY curly hair that's not getting any longer and has a mind of its own. It's hard to look professional for work and some days I almost put a scarf back on. Of course, I'm glad to have hair of any sort and my heart goes out to those that aren't getting their hair back at all.
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This photo is 15 months PFC and 2 haircuts later. Chemo curls are still here... my hairdresser calms me with the “ natural hair is very in”. Haha. Going to think about a Keratin treatment this summer, although I’m scared to damage the hair I have. Anyone have thoughts on keratin? My hair guy says it won’t damage and eventually my curls will come back.
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CBK that is some head of hair! I know several women who regularly get the Keratin treatment but I get not wanting to mess with <relatively> new hair. If you google it, it does sound like damage is possible. What was your hair like before?
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thanks ladies!
Ingerp, my hair didn’t come back in that tight of curl. At first, it was frizzy but that was because I was styling it like straight hair. Once I bought a diffuser and some new product it started looking better. As it’s getting longer, it’s less curly but I think it’s from the weight of the hair vs returning to straight (so far). Who knows how it’ll look in a year. Good luck taming the poodle curls- maybe your stylist would have a suggestion?
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I'm just about a year out from when my hair started to come back and also have curls like CBK but my hair is thinner and I'm finding that as it grows the part closest to my scalp is getting straighter so the curls are "falling apart" if that makes sense so instead of being full and bouncy, it's standing straight up with curls at the end. I had it cut short about 4 months ago and don't want to cut it again only to have the same thing happen. Any suggestions? Thanks and hope everyone is doing well.
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I'm dealing with it by keeping it super short. In fact, I had most of it cut off on Friday and on Sunday got out my clippers and took a bunch more off the top. It's probably 1/2" all over. I haven't had a regular hair person in a while (my last one moved away :-( ) but I'm *hoping* one of these days someone who knows hair will tell me the new growth is straightening out. mudd--honestly if it were me I'd cut all the curls off and hope it continues to grow in straighter.
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Ingerp
My hair was straight with a very slight annoying wave to it and long. 🤬 I had ringlets as a child but nothing like this. Not remotely. This is just thick and curly. My hairdresser knows curly hair well and thinks my curls are here to stay but I think it’s still early to say!
I would think it would be super odd for my hair to be that different from my original hair forever.
Mudd I think you need to use a lot of product in curly hair. I mean if you got real curl... you can’t fight it. I sometimes use steam rollers on mine to get looser curls...great because they don’t damage the hair and you might like the volume it gives you.
I use a lot and I mean a lot of natural oils on my hair and a good curl product. Do my castor oil treatments once a week and a another deep conditioning treatment. Only wash with a clarifying shampoo max once a week; otherwise cowash or just use conditioner to wash it. Can’t wash real curly hair a lot. Never brush unless it’s wet.
Curly hair is a lot of work ... so is it waiting for your hair to grow back. Miss my long locks. But hey we are growing right??
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CBK, your stylist is correct, Keratin doesn’t damage the hair. The only damage that could happen is if the flat iron used to seal in the keratin is too hot and burns the hair but most any stylist knows that. I’m a stylist and also lost my hair to chemo and keratin has made the growing in process so much easier. I use Keratin Complex Express Blowout keratin treatment, it lasts me about 10 weeks or more and I can still wear my hair wavy/curly if I want to but when I do want to wear it straight it is so easy to just blow dry and it’s smooth soft and shiny. I used them for years on clients and myself so I knew it would be a great choice for my growing out process. It slowly wash’s out of the hair so there is no awkward grow out from the treatments either.
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Thanks TWillis for the information. My hair guy hasn’t been pushing it for my hair but suggested maybe I would like to try it out this summer. Sounds lovely the product as you describe.
I just knew someone a few years ago whose hair was “fried” from a keratin treatment. Guess they had some real novice working with their hair.
I really wouldn’t mind the curls, if I had some length to this lid. I guess this is a much longer process than I anticipated. And I thought I would lose the chemo curls by now; they are stronger than ever!
Do you have any timeframe that many women lose the curl? Do some never return to their previous hair pattern? Really seems so insignificant in the scheme of things with all we’ve been thru. But looking forward to some longer locks is something that I just can’t get off my mind!
Thank you for your thoughtful reply!
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CBK, it really seems to vary, it seems that most people's curls seem to relax as the hair gets longer and heavier. I'm sure there are some that keep it but I here more that don't. Mine is softening up a bit as it gets closer to my shoulders. I had loose curls prior though. Don't confuse a Keratin Treatment with a Keratin straightening, the true straighteners can be more harsh for sure. Like the old school Brazilian straighting treatments. Most any treatment that lasts several weeks to 3 months or so should be in within the smoothing threatment range and there is absolutely nothing in it to damage the hair. It actually makes it feel great. Summer is a great time to try it, especially if it's humid where you live. I have clients that say they would skip a car payment than do without them lol.
It’s been a much longer process than I thought as well, I just now feel like my hair looks more like a Bob than a round ball on my head. I think that’s because my curls just dropped a bit. I have from the beginning though kept the back cut more blunt to keep some sort of shape to it so I didn’t grow a mullet lol.
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TWillis
Yesssss the very attractive mullet, that was what I was starting to achieve before my last cut! 🤣Yes my hair guy, keeps cutting the back slightly and then shapes the rest; trims very very little. I think it's common that the back of my former cue- ball head starting growing in hair first, so front needs to catch-up!
Whoa....didn't know the keratin treatment was gonna be a car payment! Honestly I don't care anymore. We give new meaning to “ you only live once"!
Thanks for all your info, one last question for you? Do you think castor oil turns hair a darker color in your experience, and how do you feel about micellar water products for chemo curls between washes? Whoops that was two!
Thanks for all your input. 🤗
KC
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CBK, it’s not as much as a car payment, I was exaggerating lol. I have no idea about castor oil and as far as micellar water, I’m not sure what you mean. Like just running that through your hair instead of shampooing and conditioning? My routine was shampooing and conditioning 2-3 times a week. If you feel like you could skip one of those shampoos then you could just condition. If you need to reactivate the curl or dampen them you could use a leave in conditioning spray. When my curls were in full force I used Redken’s Frizz Dismiss, the line hasshampoo, conditioner, and leave in spray or cream. It controlled my curls and kept them soft and manageable.
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