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Anyone used anything that helps with chemo hair loss?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Dec 18, 2023 | Replies (53)Comment receiving replies
I has no desire to add any medications to my life so I accepted what was happening with chemo. I started chemo August 3, 2021. My first hair loss was August 18, which I only remembered because it was six months from my birthday. By September, it was gone. I tried wigs but didn't like them and used baseball caps when I went out. I never could tie a scarf. I posted on Facebook about the experience and had many positive comments from others who wondered what it was like. In January I premiered my new "biker chic" look buzz cut as an emcee at our Chamber of Commerce annual banquet. It came back, probably by May, I don't remember: very curly and light gray. (I had previsouly been spending $250 every two months for highlights & $60 a month for cut in between.) At first I didn't like curls or gray but I love them now and get a trim monthly from a barber for $30. I get so many compliments which at first I declined but now I'm thrilled. If you can find a way to accept the loss, be a proud, gutsy woman and accept what will surely be compliments, I'd encourage that. Hair loss did not bring the fear and pain I had expected.
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I agree with corcoranjf. Anyway, most people do not like their hair in the first place (until they lose it!!!). Just go out and do the things you love and can physically handle. Be happy! Don't worry about your hair - it will catch up with you at some point! Concentrate on your well-being and focus more on your nutrition and exercise. Just keep up your hair appointments to trim off the fuzzy stuff and have a cut that your hair can grow "into". Anyway, that is my two cents from having chemo related hair loss...and finding that it was worth my ongoing 22-years of breast cancer-free survival = to ignore the hair-loss and get on with living which is why I went through my heady medical treatment in the first place! Onward!
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Hi @corcoranjf, I’m with you there! When I was facing chemo, I knew I’d be losing my long hair so I preemptively had it buzz cut in the hospital by the beautician who runs the wig shop! It was actually a fun experience. My daughter had come for 2 weeks to give her dad and I moral support while I was in the hospital for 5 weeks. So she was with me when I ‘took control’.
We’ve been led to believe that our crowning glory is our hair. The prospect of losing it over the years as I grew older and with my hair naturally thinning filled me with thoughts of ‘what will I do’ then? Like it’s something shameful to lose my hair.
Well, wow, getting the buzz cut was so liberating! My daughter and I giggled over my new look and 2 young chemo nurses came into the room and told me I look pretty bad-ass. Highest compliment from someone 40 years younger! One of them told me I looked like the hot chick from Deadpool and printed out the photo to put on my hospital room wall. 😎
I was without hair for over a year, having lost it 3 more times with chemo, and then a bone marrow transplant took a toll. But I really came to love the ease of just washing my head with a washcloth in the shower and dabbing dry! I rarely wore head covering except when it was cold outside. I owned that look! There is no shame in not having sporting a full head of hair! ☺️
When the hair finally started to make a permanent reappearance, I bore a strong resemblance to Christopher Walken. I adore him so that wasn’t the worst person to emulate. 😂. The hair did return thicker and wavier than I’ve ever had before, which is cool, but now it’s back to high maintenance with a curling iron and scissors! I keep it short myself. I really love that liberated feeling! We can be bald, bold and beautiful!