Post chemo hair styles.
Comments
-
Margun, I had a few white eyebrows but my hair came back in dark brown and really healthy.
Sending all of us good hair vibes!
0 -
My hair is an unholy mess. It was cute at the pixie stage but I'm past that, kind of sporting a 60s Paul McCartney look. I gel it and put a little metal barrette in to keep the bangs out of my face. I like to think that makes it look messy-cute. If I don't tame it with some gel and a barrette, I have the haircut of one of those middle aged moms who has given up on being sexually attractive ever again.
0 -
Thanks for that, Shetland. I'm really curious to see what I look like after my appt on the 23rd. This is a new hair person for me--I had a fun conversation with a stranger in a parking lot (asking directions for a small eyebrow shop I'd never been to) and I don't remember how it turned to hair but she was a BC survivor and recommended this woman. I was seeing two different women who operated out of their homes--the one who used to cut my hair moved away and my color lady was really good but just personally a little weird and got weirder every time I saw her (but she was cheap!). I feel like I owe it to myself to spend a chunk of money on my hair (although money can't buy patience
).hapa--I'm afraid I'm now one of those ladies.
0 -
My hair was super kinky curly prior to chemo. Everyone says maybe it will come back straight, but I think it will be like having a Brillo pad on top of my head. :
0 -
hapa, LOL:
"I have the haircut of one of those middle aged moms who has given up on being sexually attractive ever again."
--me too!! I decided I am having a bad hair year....
0 -
Mia, I do not have the name because it was an online promotion and came from China!
0 -
santabarbarian, no problem! I'm going to Ulta today and will see if someone there can help me.
0 -
MountainMia Anastasia of Beverly Hills is a good line & they have good stencils (petite arch looks pretty normal to me).
0 -
hapa:
Hah! That's exactly where my hair is! My friend thinks I should dye it blue but I would like to keep my employment options a little more open.
0 -
WC- i do not how many weeks you are post chemo but a nurs told me that you can dye your hair without problem any time if you use natural product such as henna which comes in different colours including brow
0 -
Margun:
I am almost 10 months PFC but that's good info to know! I was thinking maybe an auburn but my family thinks I should go blond. I was blond when I was younger and I guess they still think of me as the blond one even though my natural hair color now is the flattest shade of medium brown.
0 -
Curious about the order of hair loss. What hair did you lose first, middle and last. I just completed my third weekly taxol w/ herceptin. The hair on my legs is gone. What can I anticipate will be next? Arm? Pubic? Eyelashes?
0 -
teaka, I don't know if there is a predictable order. I didn't lose my eyelashes and brows until 2-3 weeks after my 4th and final chemo of AC. While those were falling out, my pubic hair (which had thinned a bit previously) also mostly came out, as did my nose hairs. I still have fine arm hairs, not much different than ever.
0 -
Teaka, it's different with everyone! I lost my hair pretty quickly after starting Taxotere and Carboplatin but it started growing back right away--not REAL hair, mind you, just enough to make me look like a Dr. Suess character, so I shaved now and then until about a month before ending chemo--not sure I would do that again but it just looked awful.
Almost nine months after chemo ended, I have just over an inch of hair--not a lot for nine months of time by anyone's measure of hair growth rates. I look remarkably like Dash from the Incredibles (hence my avatar). I learned on the Triple Positive thread recently that Herceptin can slow hair growth, so I'm presuming that's what's going on. Well, it's that or the fact that I broke the rules and used natural hair color after about three months when I was ready to ditch the wig (even though my new hair was only millimeters long). If you've "always" been blonde (naturally or man-made), it was unacceptable to me to walk out of the house without blonde hair 😊! My MO's Nurse Practitioner wasn't too happy with me, saying I could be ruining my hair follicles, but let me just tell you, she didn't seem too worried about my hair follicles before! I really don't think my slow hair growth has anything to do with my having used natural hair color, but I thought I'd mention it if it's helpful information to someone else.
My ongoing issue is that I keep losing eyelashes--I'm on my fourth cycle of losing them, particularly on my left eye in one 3 mm area. I was grateful to have been prepared for that because someone here warned it might happen. Thank you to any and all who warned me!
0 -
Brest- what natural hair colouring did you use? What are you using for eyelashes
0 -
This is what I used: Naturtint. I bought mine through Amazon but I know it's also available at natural food stores like Whole Foods.
As a note, my mother had breast cancer twenty-five years ago and was as close to Stage IV as one could be (based on her high number of positive nodes, and the number of nodes affected staging at that time)--she is very much alive and never had a recurrence, by the way, as an encouragement to anyone reading who's feeling discouraged. At that time, apparently doctors were not worried about your hair follicles because they didn't tell my mother she shouldn't dye her baby new hair. She asked me to help her because she'd never dyed her hair, and I thought using a more natural product would be safer, so I used the product linked above. That probably emboldened me to dye my hair so early. Call me a rebel.
I have read elsewhere here that some women find their new hair does not accept dye well or consistently, but I did not have that experience.
0 -
Breezy-thanks for sharing your mom's inspiring story. Was she her2 positive as well. I am triple positive and I really need some inspiration.
Naturatint is as safer as or safer than Henna?
0 -
Margun, I actually met the inventor/creator of Naturtint 25 years ago when I was looking into it for my mother. She happened to be speaking at a Whole Foods store near me when I was researching it. I remember understanding that it's as safe or safer as Henna but the bonus is that it has the full variety of hair colors. One of my friends who is Japanese has used it on her jet black hair as she's started getting white hair emerging.
They weren't even testing for HER2 all those years ago because Herceptin was still in development. Mom was ER-/PR- but we will never know about the HER2 status. When I told my MO about the number of nodes my mother had AFTER neoadjuvant chemo (she did another full round of chemo after surgery), he told me she is a walking miracle. She did not believe she would live but she was very wrong!
0 -
Ladies: After hearing you talk about mullet haircut, I had to google it ... OMG, I'm definitely starting to have one! I think it would take years to appear normal again ... I don't want to cut it... I hate pixies... but what else can I do? 😪😪😪
0 -
Despite cold capping, I started to lose the hair on the top of my head first. I startes to lose my eyebrows/eyelashes last. I couldn't tell you about leg or arm hair because I had almost none to begin with.
0 -
I am two years out from finishing chemo. Finally 🙌 after two years my hair is back to how it used to be bbc (before breast cancer). As soon as I could I colored my hair. It was maybe half an inch and my colorist used a very gentle color on it initially and we worked our way up to beach blond and highlights which is harsher chemicals. And I had to cut it to get it to grow back to how it used to be. I was afraid to have it cut but once I did I felt so much better once it had some sort of style. And I knew I wanted it to grow out to a bob so my stylist would have to cut it every 8 weeks as the top had to catch up to the sides. She was really great and it took a lot of patience on my part but every cut we got a little closer. Now it's a little thinner than it used to be and I chalk that up to the AI's but I'm happy with it overall. Have patience and don't be afraid to have it cut. Here's a photo of my various stages the past two years. . First photo is 3 months post last chemo and when I colored it for first time. Second photo is at six months and after first haircut. Third photo is at 9 months and fourth photo is one year after I finished chemo and when it was cut to one length to resemble some sort of bob and I could see it taking shape.
0 -
Leesa--thanks for posting these. I love to see the progress that everyone is making and an approximate time frame. Still working on my patience. . . ;-)
0 -
I’m six months from chemo,TCHP, so my hair is coming back really slowly probably only half inch, I’d like to dye it what should I use?
0 -
Thank you for the responses. I guess I'll be surprised by whatever happens - whenever it happens. Beesy_The_Other_One I'll be checking Naturtint out.
0 -
6 weeks pfc and I'm still bald on my head. But my eyelashes and brows have started growing in again!! as has that one very special hair that grows under my right nostril!
0 -
Adding photo(s) hopefully
Pre cancer, may 2017, May 2018, Dec 2018
Second photo if I can is views taken today, 20 months post last chemo Update- just realized that Im 32 months PFC, not 20
WC3 - to your original question, don't be afraid to get haircuts as you work toward the length you want. A good haircut will help you avoid the mullet (if that's what you want to avoid).
My last chemo was 1/3/2017. My hair had fallen out the week of 11/14/2016, two weeks after my first chemo. Eyebrows thinned but never wholly disappeared. Same for eyelashes. Pubic hair totally disappeared. By mid-May 2017 I had a full head of short hair. As it grew the curls came in. Color transformed from gray to my more natural mouse brown with gray. Over the past year plus the curls have relaxed but are still around. I have straight spots, waves and curls. Every hair cut is an adventure for my hairstylist. So 20 months post final chemo, my hair is curlier than pre cancer. I wore it short and had waves pre cancer.
0 -
Sounds like we're on basically the same schedule, Runcrb. Hair fell out early October 2016, and finished chemo Feb. 21, 2017. I didn't go completely bald. I had it trimmed down to about an 1/8 inch, but never had the shiny head and wispy hairs others have had. Ditto on my eyelashes and brows.
Mine grew back as weird, curly chemo hair, so I made it into weird, curly, purple chemo hair. I have lost much of the curl, (like you, it's mostly wavy now) but I still have the purple. It makes me smile every time I see it in the mirror. I'll probably keep it until it stops making me smile.
I'm hoping I can keep the chemo wave, but that's not looking likely. Oh well. Back to straight, limp hair. Could be worse.
Trish
0 -
It has grown out on the top a little more and is starting to look better
0 -
@Runcrb, your hair looks fantastic!
0 -
Hello everyone, love reading the comments and seeing the pictures!! I'm 3.5 months PFC and I'm rocking a platinum blonde pixie which I really like. My pre chemo hair was thin, and fine but o had a good amount of it according to hair stylists..i beg to differ though. Im looking forward to the chemo curls but at the rate my hair is growing I don't think that will happen for quite awhile.. I'm about 1/2 inch at my longest..
I hope everyone has a good week!!
~Katie 💗
0
