Hair Hair Hair - Another question

stlcardsfan

For me, last chemo 4/28/10.  I started taking Biotin a few days later. By early late May, early June I started seeing some growth. When I went in for surgery 6/21/10, my scalp was covered with very short stubble. By September it was about 1 inch long. I went back to work with a cap and wore it for a few months. By November, I ditched the caps too.

Just came up on one year PFC, Hair is almost 5 inches on top and wavy, curly mess, but I love it. Only one mini trim so far. Have colored a few times at home. Should also mention was on Herceptin till 12/15/10. It did not seem to slow my hair growth at all.

Christine47 - happy hair regrowth! 

christine47

Cardnals fan--thanks for your timeline.  I am so excited/nervous about getting my hair back.  I am taking the biotin.  I also finished 4-28-11.  I want some hair action by Memorial Day, just because evidence of regrowth will give me more to celebrate.  I want enough hair to be hatless when I have exchange surgery at the end of summer.  I hope I follow your lead, maybe since your last chemo date was the same as mine that will happen.  I am crazy, always looking for little signs of hope.

hdangelbaby

stlcardsfan,

I'm from st louis!!!! lived there till 2001! where ya at??? I was from Ferguson/Florisant area till 1992 then we moved to DeSoto ( jefferson county) till i left in 2001.

slcst12

LtotheK:
Thanks for posting your pic...I think you're gorgeous

Christine:
Thanks for asking the question. I am 2 weeks PFC today like you. Today would have been a chemo day for me, and right about now, my body is wondering where it's bi-weekly dose of toxic chemical sludge is (lol)

Can't wait to get some hair back.

Cardinals Fan:
Thanks for posting. Like Christine, my last chemo was 28-April (but 2011) so I will live vicariously through your 2010 dates! I hope to have 5 inches at the 1 year mark! It will be strange to have short hair. My hair hasn't been short for a while (before it all fell out, that is!)

All:
I'm off to the spa tonight. Massage, facial and mani-pedi.

I'm curious to see how they will react to me not having any hair. My nails survived chemo thankfully so I don't feel that the $ is wasted on getting them done. I'm more nervous about the facial and how that will be handled with me being bald.

Then Sunday my baby boy turns 2. Lots going on!

LtotheK

slcst12--that is really sweet of you, thanks.  No matter what anyone says, no matter how strong we are, BC is such a huge hit to our sense of selves.  I've lost knowing what I look like anymore.  I get better as time goes on, but I feel like I've been living like a bald cyborg, a spokesmodel for the disease.  Very weird headspace!

saralmom

LtotheK - your hair looks alot like mine - and I love the comparison to cotton candy.  That's what it feels like!

Beautiful pic! 

christine47

slcst12--Congrats on your little one turning 2, such a sweet age.  My boys are 12 and 14 and still sweet.  Hope you enjoyed your spa treatments.  I have been getting regular massages thru treatment.  My massage therapist rubs my bald head, so relaxing, and no hair to mess up.  I had labs today, assuming my white count is normal, I am going to get pedicure this weekend.  I have saved so much on my hair in the last 5 months, I deserve the treats. 

Be sure to post as soon as you see that hair.  Love you comment on the toxic sludge, sure my body is not missing this.

stlcardsfan

hdangelbaby - Hi there. I live in West County - Chesterfield/Wildwood area. Have been here since May 2004. Before that was Western Suburbs of Chicago - Glen Ellyn, Batavia, Geneva, North Aurora, and Sugar Grove. All about 30 to 45 minutes West of downtown Chicago.

When I joined this forum I had the hardest time coming up with a screen name. So, since I work downtown right by Busch Stadium were the St Louis Cardinals play, I figured why not use that. Plus, I am after all a baseball fan!

Christine47 - I did the same thing. About 4 to 5 weeks after my last Chemo I figured maybe something would be up there. I would look every day very carefully for evidence of regrowth. I mean, the more you check the faster it grows right?!  

What started first was sparse, and then the stubble popped thru. I could tell immediately the difference when I would rub my head. I to wanted something up there when I went in for my surgery. I wore my pink STL Cards ball cap up until they wheeled me in to the OR. They had the cap ready in the recovery room. I wore it as they wheeled me to my room for the night.

My work ID badge shows me with long shoulder length hair. Daily reminder of what I used to look like. But, quite a few people at work have commented on how much they like my shorter do - I am of course, growing it out back to how it was.  

JulieH

Don't know if anyone else has heard of this, but a friend of mine from college who went through BC a few years back said that when her hair came back it, too, was gray.  BUT she said within a couple of years it had gone back to brown.  I hadn't heard anyone say that before.  Maybe there's hope?

sandymess

Well, I've got that weird, fluffy facial hair growing too. And I'm not using Biotin! I'm thinking it's another gift from chemo?

hmh23

IowaSue;  Your Mother's Day photo is gorgeous.  I also will have a DIEP but not until August 1st.  You are in my thoughts and prayers.  You are at the beginning of the end and doesn't it feel GREAT!  Keep us posted on your progress.

I just posted my new 'DO'...well actually the back view which as you can all see is extremely curly.  I've never had curly hair in my life, not even a kink so this is really weird.

Heather

IowaSue45

LtotheK -you have lots of hair, you look great.

someone asked me if I have considered keeping it short, and yes I have

alexanjb

I had the weird white facial fuzz too.  I woke up with it one morning and totally did a double take in the mirror.   My (head) hair started coming back before I was done with the Taxol.  It grew back soft, curly, and salt and pepper color.  I am told it is quite striking.  I haven't had it styled yet but it looks like I have!  I don't know if it will stay this way.  I have heard people say that it goes back to "normal" after a while.  I don't feel like processing it in any way.  I haven't even used a blow dryer on it.  Helluva way to get good hair for the first time in my life!

lago

OK here's another transition photo. At the end is before my BMX, then I cut it short the day it started tof all out. Then the wig. After that it's all growth with the first photo on the left from yesterday. If you open your browser window wider the images will get bigger and you can read the date stamp. My fur, I mean hair has been colored twice now.

linky 

sewingnut

Lago, Your hair is awesome but your smile seems to light up the room :0)

lago

Thanks. First thing my husband noticed was my smile… at least that's what he told me.

My parents paid a lot of money for that smile. I had braces twice! I was told I got my teeth fixed instead of a family trip (for 5) to expo '67 in Japan. Granted I would have loved to have gone to Japan but I'm glad they decided to fix my teeth.

AimeeMac

lago, thanks for the updated photos. I am still about where you are at photo 1, but it's good to see the difference a couple of months makes! I am going to Vegas the last weekend of August, and hope I have enough hair to finally go topless, since it will be over 100 degrees there!

nikola

lago, I like your hair color. Post chemo hair color looks like pre chemo. Your hairstyle from Oct 2010 suit you well.

EmilyInOntario

I'm ready to start watching my hair grow now!! I finished my last dose of taxotere yesterday. When would be the earliest I could see any signs of growth? Even a little tiny but of stubble would be so exciting!

Ann97

Emily, the tiny bit of stubble usually shows around 5 weeks post final chemo. My head got really itchy and my eyebrows fell out at about that time so I would take those as signs that the hair is coming!

hdangelbaby

hey all! my avatar is just updated this pic is taken today, the last one was taken the 1st of may! my hair is coming in thicker! and my eyebrows have grown back! yay! I am now 7 weeks PFC!

saralmom

lago - your hair is looking great!  And by the way, great wig!

carberry

Lago  I dont know if I am more amzed at how great you look or your ability to post such great pics and links!  My hair is just where yours is, but looks like your top is filling in better than mine.  I am still seeing scalp on top.

crazy4carrots

lago -- Your photos are beautiful and so is your smile!  But Expo '67 was in Montreal! (I remember it well)

hdangelbaby

lago, you look mah-ve-lous!! from beginning to end!!!!

citykitty

Hi all -- I've just been poring over the past several pages of this thread.  Thanks to those of you who have been posting pictures of your hair progress -- it's so encouraging!

I completed Taxol & Herceptin x 12 on March 25, so I'm 7 weeks PFC.  Within the past two weeks I've gone from almost-invisible fuzz of about 1/8 inch (which is what I had throughout chemo) to about 1/4 inch of dark hair (soft as fur, Lago is right!).  My eyebrow hairs made a mass exodus around week 5 PFC, but now are coming back almost as quickly as they disappeared.  I used an eyebrow pencil for maybe two weeks in between.  My lashes disappeared right behind the brows and are also starting to come back. 

I found early on I was definitely a wig person, not a scarf and hat person.  I had to shop around, but it was worth it to find a wig that made me feel more like myself, especially at work.  I finally worked up the nerve to go commando, or topless, just a couple of weeks ago -- just before my hair started growing back in! 

It is a little weird with friends from my running group, who see me without the wig when we're running, but with the wig on other occasions!  People, especially newcomers to the group, who have seen me one way, don't recognize me the other way.  Then I have to go into the whole explanation all over again.  I've almost given up explaining except to say with a smile, "We met the other night.  I had hair then."

Today a photographer friend took a few shots of DH and me, some bald and some with my wig.  I hope a few of the photos turn out OK.  I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to capture this part of the journey in photos.  What we're going through feels like an eternity now, waiting for the hair to grow back.  I'm hoping to have a decent-looking short hairdo by this fall when we have a big trip to Europe planned, but who knows.  I expect it will be a couple of years before I'll feel anything like my normal, longer-haired self.  I look forward to a day when being bald is part of my distant past!

LisaMomOfFour

I am 5 weeks PFC.   Finally, finally I have a little stubble... looks like five oclock shadow.  Thank goodness, I am hoping to ditch the wig when we go on vacation in July. 

lago

again thanks everyone for the compliments. I actually posted more for others to see the progression. Karen's is great but sometimes it helps to have the face there too.

lindasa I've actually been to the site in Montreal but that's what I remember my dad saying year after year. We could drive to Montreal from MA… I know my mouth cost more than that. Of course now with the price of gas my mouth would be the bargain. Maybe I just mixed things up.

cityKat you are on the exact same schedule I was on. Eyebrows fell out after 5 weeks but were coming in at the same time. Eyelashes were slow but still coming in. Right now mine are still shorter than they should be but I know they will get longer.

Carberry my top was thin for a bit but it does fill in. I always had a lot of hair. I do feel the hair shaft is thinner so that might be why you think it's thin on top. It helps to use a tripod and timer when taking photos of yourself. I also design websites so this tech part is a no brainer for me. Oh and I do have photoshop so I can push the contrast and brighten up the photo in most cases. I'll admit in most of the photos I whiten the teeth and whites of eyes a little bit. I do have pretty white teeth but do this to photos and everyone will look great. In real life get yourself some crest white strips. You'll look much younger.

What is a little creepy is the smile is exactly the same in every photo. My husband noticed this in our wedding album years ago too.

LisaMomOfFour I really ddin't pay attention to my hair growth till about 6 week PFC.Now that I look at that March 4th photo I realize I was getting pretty fast hair growth at about 6.5 weeks.

hdangelbaby  You look great. I think your hair is growing faster than mine did.

Saramom the wig really didn't fit right. Sat way too low and forward on my head. I think it was too big. I wore it twice. Once the day of that photo and the night before. That's it.

BTW I did update the photos for those of you who looked earlier. Just added a scarf shot and a hair thinning short.

hdangelbaby

i think my hair is growing faster, i'm 7 weeks out and i have my eyebrows back!! maybe it's the fact im sicilian, and lord knows italians have lots of hair! it's like in our blood to have hair!

Carrol2

Lago you are looking great!