Cold Caps Users Past and Present, to Save Hair
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I used Dignicap since my place had it. It works, I saved probably about 70% of my hair, and it all grew back. I was on Taxotere so my big fear was permanent hair loss.
If you do Dignicap don't be afraid to comb you hair, I learned that the hard way. If you don't comb once a day it gets ratty and makes the loss even bigger. Also, while they say no harsh chemicals that doesn't mean leave in conditioners, you can use the natural (no parabims/no sulfates). Just don't use the leave in conditioner on treatment day.
Good Luck!
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@jwhite80, welcome again to the community! As you can already see, you're sure to get great support here!
While you wait for some more experience and advice from others here, we wanted to point you to a couple of links that you might find helpful:
We hope this helps! Please come back and let us know what you've decided and how you're fareing through chemo. We look forward to supporting you!
—The Mods
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I also used Dignicap - mostly because that was what my cancer center had. I wasn’t as lucky as Morrigan, I probably lost 50% of mine - almost all on top so I don’t think the cap ever fit correctly. But I too was worried about permanent hair lost since that is a possible side effect of taxotere. My hair all grew back - ironically it is thicker now then before I was diagnosed. It was somewhat of a pain, and not particularly cheap, but I would do it again if I had to. Good luck!
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Any advice for how to deal with hair now different lengths as the new hair comes in for someone who wants to keep a long-ish length hairstyle? I used Dignicap 7/2023 - 11/2023 and like you @janiehs lost about 50% and mostly around the top of the back area where I think the fit was not ideal. Now it’s regrowing and so far the hair seems to be like my old hair - thick and straight. My hair that didn’t fall out is a few inches past my shoulders and the regrowth is about an inch long. It looks kind of crazy.
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aborayis - your regrowth sounds a lot like mine. My hair was well below my shoulders when I cold capped and then I ended up with almost none on top and long fringe all the way around. It absolutely looked crazy. I wore a wig for awhile but once the new hairs got to be a couple of inches long, I gave up and cut the fringe short so I sort of had a pixie cut look. Interestingly, I actually kind of liked the short look on me (my hair has been long since I was 12 - I am now 70), but I let it grow out again. It took about 2 years for the top to completely catch up to the bottom layers but I now have hair half way down my back again.
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Hi! I started treatment 12/26/23 using the Dignicap. Treatment plan was ACT but I had a severe reaction with Taxol on my second infusion, so I switched to Abraxane with Cytoxan for my final two infusions. I have one infusion left to complete treatment and want to look into products to help with hair regrowth for scalp, eyelashes and eyebrows. Any recommendations? I've lost about 60% of my hair I would guess, no bald spots just thinning so far but I had very thick hair to start with.
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Hi and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on getting to the end of your treatment!
This thread might help if you want to do a bunch of reading: 😊
Everyone is different. My hair was thin to begin with, so a year later, I am still struggling to get it to grow back. I finally have enough to 'comb over' the bare spots. Some people seem to have it grow back so quickly that I am jealous! 😊 It seems many people (me included) take Biotin to attempt to help. I am also using Rosemary Oil twice a week and limit my hair washing to those days. The brand I use is Mielle, but there are several out there. Does it work? Who knows….since they say it takes about 6 months to notice, it's kind of hard to tell. At least it gave me something not too difficult to try.
Good luck to you!
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I am cold capping with Dignicap and doing 4x TC. During week three of my first cycle, I started shedding a huge amount. Just finished second infusion yesterday. My hair is thick and I now have a few very thin/balding patches along where my part is. Any advice on what I can do to care for my hair to slow the shedding? And any suggestions on how I cover the balding patches? I'm thinking about a silk scarf as a headband but don't want to make the shedding worse.
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Hi @lbn2222 !
Congratulations on getting half way through TC! I also did 4xTC. My experience was that the first shedding that you experienced also was the worst and it did taper off after that. I don't think you will make the shedding any worse by using a headcover when you are out and about. I did that and when at home I had no cover. One thing is to not wash your hair more than once or twice a week. Also, they recommend that you use a wide comb and only comb it once a day and only when it is dry. I had an entire wardrobe of headcoverings…..but ended up mostly using really wide headbands. As my hair started to recover, the headbands I used got narrower. I am now just over a year past chemo and FINALLY have enough hair to cover all the bald spots. Hang in there! You will get through it all.
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Toppik is remarkable for covering patches:)
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hi @lily0420
Been a while since your last post on Feb 2023
Was wondering if the penguin cold calling worked for you? Were you able to maintain most of your hair?
I am set to start 4x TC on 9/30 and will be doing Penguin cold calling as well.
would love to know of you found success with it as it does seem very promising!0 -
Hi @jwhite80 which cold calling system did you end up going with?
Hope your treatment went well and you were able to conserve most your hair0
