Hair Hair Hair - Another question
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MountainMia- I love your attitude!!😁 I had my hair buzzed off 3 days after my 2nd AC and I sat in the chair with my girls by my side and we all cried, I came home and shaved off the rest. I tell people chemo didn't take my hair, I did and chemo is just making it come back alot slower than I'd like. Im with you with the eye brows and lashes and looking sick, that was my biggest worry with those going, I never wanted to look sick and be pitied.
I call my head my que ball with peach fuzz, because I'm really pale, and I go without a covering 95%of the time. Partially because the hot flashes and the warm weather are too much and the other reason is because I'm proud, kinda, of the peach fuzz look because it shows I have fought a hard battle and at this point I'm beating cancer and it's not beating me.
All you'll ladies are so strong!! The hair is a hard issue to handle but just remember it will come back and it will be a sign that this seriously crappy card we've all been dealt didn't beat us, we beat it!!
~Katie 💗
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I went bald pretty much all the time, except when I was cold. I did get a couple wigs but have only worn them a handful of times. They're fun but itchy and uncomfortable. I didn't mind people knowing I had cancer. I'm a teller - I've told everyone (they're probably sick of hearing about it).
The growing out has been in some ways harder than being bald. I've seriously thought about shaving it several times. I don't like the color it's growing in, curly pixies are hard to manage & I feel like a grandma with an old lady "shampoo and set" hairstyle. It's ridiculous. Also there are sections that are curly, sections that are wavy and a chunk that is dead straight! I try to laugh about it but it's a pita0 -
Moth
I feel pretty lost how to grow mine in as well. I’m in a really bizarro stage since the weight of my hair is weighing down the crown. I don’t know if it’s straightening out or is it just being weighted by the length now... Ha what length?
I been in communication with my hairdresser and he’s like just let that top grow now... easy for him to say. I leave it back on headband most of the time.
Or pin the top back... not a good look! Everyday it’s doing something new!
Here we go 17 months PFC with 2 haircuts in between.
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CBK WOOOOWW!!! It is an incredible amount of curls! You are beautiful so you can play with it! Just have to use your imagination or ask to mr. Google for some ideas. Don't go against it, enjoy it! Some women have to pay to look like you. Hugs
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CBK. A bob (carre) for example, would look great on you
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CBK, your hair is gorgeous!!! You look like a Clairol Ad!
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CBK - I don't know if you are used to working with curly hair, if so then you can disregard this advice. I have naturally curly hair. Rules that I have learned over the years are. Don't ever brush or comb it if it is dry. I only comb my hair after I wash and condition it. While it is still wet I mix leave in conditioner and some gel in my hand (for chin length hair I use a half dollar amount of both) and then work it into my hair. I let it dry naturally. I don't know if this will work on chemo curls but it might be worth a try
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This is 10 months PFC. One attempt at hair color (in December; that was the color that turned super yellow if you remember me whining about it on this thread. This is how it looks after 5 months of hitting it daily with purple shampoo & conditioner). It's not been cut yet.
This is if I do nothing to it. If I put in curly styling spray, I get a stronger curl with some ringlets forming. I'm going in tomorrow and will ask for a bunch of cool blond highlights and a trim in the back around the hairline and a bit around the ears.
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Great hair, moth. How does it compare to your pre-chemo?
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Moth, I like your hair, why you want to cut it?
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I'm so jealous of all the hair pics! The chemo curls may not be what you are accustomed to, but I'd be thrilled with such thick hair!
For those of you using IRestore, did you find that at 6 months it was the best it was going to be? or did your hair get better with continued use?
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MountainMia - I had fine thin hair. It used to be dead straight but during the last few years it started getting a tiny bit of a wave to it which I think was related to hormonal changes.
Yndorian - I'm actually really torn about trimming it. I definitely want to fix the color as I have a lot of roots and I don't like brassiness of this blonde but I might ask them to not cut it. Or maybe just trim a few strays? I don't know. It does sort of look like a curly mullet from the front because I have a very big forehead and the top is growing out very slowly. I actually made an appointment 2 weeks ago and cancelled it because I chickened out of the cut. I'm strangely emotionally attached to this hair now. I didn't cry about the thought of losing my hair at the beginning or when it fell out but now ... But I think I want to grow it into a chin length bob and all the advice is to put in a 'line' essentially around the back from ear to ear and wait for the long hair to catch up to it? Or should i grow out in layers? I don't know!!!!!
I'm so indecisive (& this is exactly why I cancelled that appointment 2 weeks ago! I hate going to the salon without a clear idea of what I want because then I'm never happy with what I get..) If anyone has advice or wants to vote on trim or not, feel free to do so in the next 24h!
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Yes, I would ask for a trim around the back. I prefer the liveliness of natural color, so I would have a professional coloring back to my natural color. If it were my hair.
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Yndorian/ rwns You guys are so sweet. I’ve been called little orphan Annie for the past year so that’s been taking a toll! I mean maybe I do look like that but do you have to say it?? I’m trying to grow my hair back long! That’s a super gorgeous look though, Yndorian...flashback to the eighties.
DogMomRunner- No I never had curl.. light wave. I know I’m not supposed to brush or comb... but I do use a pick. I use oil with curl creme but I’ll keep trying new things as you suggest. Thank you!
Moth- I think from the side you look like you are doing a great job with your hair! I doesn’t look like a mullet to me. You do have to keep trimming the back so you don’t end up with a mullet.
My hair guy suggested I find a hairstyle I’m working toward and show him so he could advise me what to do. So I hit Pinterest and gave him the grown out style I’m looking for. So now I wait to get through “the bush stage”.
Personally from the side I think it looks very cool, dark roots and all!
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Oy—moth I had a nice long response but lost it. Bottom line—yes, get a trim, even if only a little. I like your color!! If your hair is long enough for full foil then congrats!! I made an appt with a new person for late June and was told my hair probably won’t be long enough for highlights so I’ll get a single, all-over color. Never done that!
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Ingerp, there are options if your hair isn’t long enough to foil. You shouldn’t have to do something you’re not sure about. First, how long is your hair? I can foil clients with hair as short as 3 inches, if your hair is that long there should not be a problem. Sorry if I missed a previous post that has your hair length. Moth’s hair in the above photo is plenty long enough to foil, and super cute I have to say. Also, when mine was too short to get into a foil, especially since I was doing it myself, I would just “paint” or balayage some lightener through the top and front. I’ll try and attach a photo. This would need to be done by a stylist knowledgeable with that technique. It’s an easier growout and leads upkeep as well. I always tell clients that move or friends that don’t know a stylist in their area to stop people and ask where they get their hair done if they like that persons hair. Even if it’s not exactly what you want you can still find a great stylist that way.
Anyway, here are a few photos taken about a month apart when my hair started to grow and before I could foil it. My hair is naturally a medium brown so I would have never been able to get a blonde shade with color, it had to be a lightener(bleach). No way around that unfortunately unless you don’t mind having a lot of warmth left in the hair.
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TWills—the post I lost said my hair will probably be about 2-2.5” when I go to the new hair person. Definitely not as long as moth’s. At this point I’m not sure I care too much. I just want to come out lighter than when I go in. I know it’s going to be quite a while before I have hair even close to what I had pre-chemo.
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you guys, I've chickened out and cancelled the appointment
I just couldn't decide what to do and I figured that in this case (& unlike with most breast cancer stuff, ha) the safest thing is to do nothing. It doesn't help that I do not have a stylist I really trust so I would have been taking an additional chance on someone new. I took the time today to put curl product on it and scrunch it and I'm trying to like how it turned out.
I guess sooner or later I will end up getting a trim but I'll just kick that can down the road a bit further
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Ingerp, gotcha. Just be aware going lighter with color typically stays within the warm to very warm shades. Basically color just isn’t strong enough to break through all of the underlying warmth in the hair. Unless you are naturally blonde.As long as the stylist lets you know the limits of what they are doing or product they are using you should know if you’re comfortable or not.
I wish I could help everyone in this situation, I remember all to well how I felt.
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oh TWills that would be so cool! We'd all get our hair done by a super pro who really GETS IT
"where IS clearwater? is it absolutely too far to go for a haircut?" she wondered....
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TWills— i know where Clearwater is and it’s not too far when I’m down there( DH grew up there and we now own the family home)! Only problem is I’m only a week pfc so no hair to cut
Thank you all for sharing your pics as the growing back in part is stressing me... what’s it going to look like, will I like it, how quickly will it grow!0 -
Moth, yes, I do “get it” and would love to make anyone feel better about the growing out process. Clearwater is west of Tampa and North of St Pete, basically the west coast of Florida.
Mncteach, come see me when you’re here! I’d love to meet you and even if your hair isn’t long enough we could just chat about it until it is. I’m in a salon in Palm Harbor(N Clearwater). Just let me know:)
It grows back! Maybe differently but it does. Although some regimens do really affect that, I have a youngclient that has a beautiful hair piece that is semipermanent, meaning she has it glued on the top of her head by a hair replacement specialist. She has it removed and reapplied every 6 weeks. It’s real hair, long and even I wouldn’t know if I didn’t do her hair. She comes in twice a week for shampoo blowouts. Anyway, there are options for every situation.
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Moth, what has worked for me during the grow out process was only having the back cut. I felt like if I kept that neat and blunt that it made me feel like I had a shape and a style to it. The back of the head seems to grow the fastest on most people and I did not like the feeling of having a “mullet” so I had it trimmed very often. Google that if you don’t know what a mullet is lol. Like every 2 weeks at one point, and then the rest kinda caught up and I had a shape. Btw, I had to find a new stylist to do that because I couldnt cut the back being it was so short, I had only just moved down here when I was diagnosed and knew no one!
The other thing I did to consume my time was skincare, I had never really focused on that for myself. I figured with the hair out of the way for the time being I should take advantage of the extra time I had on my hands and the easy access lol. Chemo did a number on my skin and I really had to do things differently, it was therapeutic:)
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TWills—my hair color lady (who I am not going back to—yet) told me I was her only client that was actually blond. I didn’t know before then that she was only using highlights, not color (if that makes sense?). I’ll post a pic below from Friday—my last Herceptin. It looks awfully dark to me, except for the weird white fringe.
And moth—I do hear ya re: trusting someone new. I’m kind of not caring too much, though—I know my hair is going to look foreign to me until it gets significantly longer. I was going to wait to do anything about the color until I got more length but it was a comment on another thread that got me thinking. That I just don’t recognize the woman in the mirror. Warm, cool, brassy—I really don’t care. I just want it a little (or lot!) lighter.
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TWillis, how long did it take for your hair to grow back? Is the texture now what it was pre chemo?
I've sprouted hair since ending AC. I've done 4 taxols so far and have about a half inch of soft fine blonde hair. MO said it's not permanent but may not not fall out. Just not what I'll wind up with. Pre chemo I was very wavy and kept layers to prevent frizz head. I'm not looking forward to chemo curl but would honestly welcome a full head of any hair eventually 😉
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TWillis
I can’t see your hair progression photos... maybe because I’m on my phone?
My PS and I were discussing how chemo ages the skin. Ugh! You mention you focused on that. Any tips for us on that? I have found myself buying outrageous amounts of hair and facial products in this transition. In the search for the fountain of youth.
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DawnS, mine didn't start growing until a month after Taxol. I think the taxol was worse on my hair than AC was for me. I'm not sure what's going on with the photos, they were there and then they weren't. Maybe I'll try again.
As far as skin CBK, I really thought I had found the only good thing about chemo(except for it possibly killing rouge cancer cells) because my skin looked great, until it didn't! I started aging a lot about half way through chemo. I just researched a lot and mostly hydrated my skin. Then I slowly started adding new things to my regimen. I wish I had started RetinA during but i didn't. That has made the biggest difference and I just started it in Jan and only use it once or twice a week, it take days a while to work up. The other thing is a peptide called Matrixyl, I get it from a company called The Ordinary. They are very reasonable and the products are very “active". The website is a bit confusing so I just had to take my time and do the research to find exactly what my skin needed. They have a regimen guide
For some reason the photos won’t attach. I’ve done it before so I don’t know.
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regarding skin care routines - I posted on this thread in Dec about how I had great skin on chemo and then I suddenly aged about 5 years in 3 months PFC https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topics/780601?page=2#idx_41
I'm still using Paula's Choice & I've been meticulous with serums and retinol and things are a bit better but nothing like it was before
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I remember reading that Moth, I felt validated because I couldn't make since of what I experienced. I've read great things about some of the Paula's choice products. My skin is actually better than before, smoothness, clarity, pore size, and sun spots are all better. Elasticity not so much, that's what I'm hoping to improve over time. I also gained weight during chemo and that didn't help at all with that. The shit we go through!! Cruel and unusualpunishment!!
I remember very clearly several treatments into chemo, I was home alone and passed a mirror, I stopped in my tracks and backed up to take another look. Big mistake! I was The Grinch, I actually looked like The Grinch. I had about 36 hairs left on top of my head which I had shaved down to a stylish inch long, no boobs and I had gained a lot of weight in my belly. I stood there laughing and crying at the same time. I looked ridicules, I mean, how much more unfiminine could I look?! Well, shortly after that I started loosing fingernails and toenails. But my skin looked great at that point lol
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TWills your attitude will get you through all of this.
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