Hair Hair Hair - Another question

AimeeMac

Carrol2,

What an amazing journey to see how much you've progressed - you look not only beautiful, but so very happy!

MistyinPR

I DID IT. I went topless this evening. I am 15 weeks PFC and my hair is simiilar to Carrol's at the same time except blonde and white. I am 60 days on anastrozole and having tremendous problems with the heat ( and I live in Puerto Rico where there is always heat). Tonight we went to a dinner party (informal barbecue but eating inside) where there were about 10 friends. All of them know I have cancer and all of them know I wear a wig. I showed up with the wig on, but there was no air conditioning and the hot flashes were unbearable so I went to the bathroom, removed the wig and rejoined the party. Because they are all friends, no one blinked and just accepted me as I was. It felt so D**N good to take that wig off. LOL

Carrol2

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I was feeling kind of funny about how I looked, I knew i could count on your guys if I went fishing for compliments lol.  I still have that one little thin spot on the top in the back. I am going to have to trim the bottom in the back soon or I will have a mullet and we cannot have that.

Lago my blonde pics are in a wig and looking funny from chemo so maybe that is why i am looking better as a brunette. 

AimeeMac I am learning that if you smile on the outside it bleeds into the inside.  

Ok this is weird. My new boss yesterday said I remind her of Betty Boop. Maybe my high voice I dunno. I told her she was Penelope Pitstop lol. 

marjie

MistyinPR - that's a HUGE step, way to go!!!

Carrol2 - you look awesome. I LOVE IT

christine47

Carrol2, you look great, as always! 

My hair is slow, about like Carrol's 10 week shot and I am at 12 weeks. (Carrol, I use you and Lago as the standards).

Congrats Misty on going topless. Tomorrow I am going to dinner with a group of ladies I used to work with and have not seen in about one year.  I am planning on wearing a cute baseball cap since it is a casual evening, makes me feel younger than the wig, not to mention the unbearable heat.  Seems like the further I get away from chemo, the more I could care less what other people think.  I guess I am getting my confidence back.

MistyinPR

Thaks Marjie and Christine. It felt so good and surprisingly so Normal.

LisaGH

Great pics Carrol2- very encouraging to see you & Lago.

I went out walking in my neighborhood topless again- saw lots of neighbors- like others here- no one said anything (they all know about cancer/chemo). Not brave enough for work topless- but scarves are ok. 

Dragonfly- I am w/ you- looking forward to more hair!

Hope I'll get braver. It's hot in Georgia.

Have fun Christine47 in your ballcap w/ your friends. Baseball caps are something I like too.

Love everyone's pictures.  

lago

Carrol too funny about the betty boop. I'm sure it has a lot to do with your voice. You do have a sweet voice.

LisaGH and christine47 glad my images helped.

Carrol2

OK changed all my avatars to a pic of me with my new hair and got rid of the wig pic. That felt good, to put that behind me. 

sewingnut

Carrol2,

New pic is really nice.  You look so much younger and happier in the new pic.

Carrol2

sewingnut yeah my old avatar wasn't a great pic and I was right in the middle of chemo, my eyes were tearing non stop. So yeah happy to be past that for sure. Plus I had jsut gotten home from the Look Good Feel Better class and had my new makeup on in this pic.

thegood5

carrol2, like I said before, you look beautiful!  Love Love Love the hair!

Carrol2

Thanks thegood5

achpurple

Carol:  Hair looks great!  Aren't those "Look Good, Feel Better" classes great - I sort of wish I had waited until I was getting hair back to do my class, but I did mine right after I shaved mine off.

thegood5

i had the worst experience in that class.  the girl was about 25 and brought along her bratty 5 yr. old son.  We started a half hour late because she was late, had a lot of the wrong kits and didn't have wigs or scarves along.  She paid more attention to her son than us.  No one got anything out of it.  We also were done a half hour early.  We knew how it was supposed to be done because we watched the video in the beginning, and on a scale of 1-10, she gets a 0!  They had enought complaints about her that the ACS called us all for our opinion and offered us another class.  The free makeup was great, but I was there more for the experience and getting to know others.  She didn't even have us go around and introduce ourselves and we didn't find out her name until the end.  One woman even got up and left because it was so bad.  But I have heard how great those classes are, we just happened to get a dud.

DivineMrsM

Carrol2:  beautiful hair and terrific smile!

lago

thegood5 sorry you had such a bad experience. I went  twice (of course 2nd time I didn't get makeup). It was excellent both times. I swear the make up session is why I look better now after chemo than before. I'm using the same colors but I put things on a little differently because of the class. First time was 5 days before 1st tx. 2nd time I was bald. I went the 2nd time because this gal I had met before wanted me to come again. I forgot when I met her. I think waiting for some test.

There are several in Chicago. I went to the one at my treatment center  but there are actually 2 others that are closer. You might see if there's another location.

marjie

Just got back from my second haircut PFC.  I'm sure some of the other customers at the salon think I'm nuts, but when your hair is shorter, IMO you need to keep it trimmed up and neat.  I wanted some of the thickness on the top thinned out a bit too.

rachel5738

Hi everyone---Just catching up on this thread and posting a picture of my hair at 8 months PFC. Just to give those slow-hair growers some support--I finished chemo at end of Nov 2010 and my hair didn't start growing until mid-January...even though many had some sprouting while still on Taxotere. I have had one trim and am due for another soon as it is getting a little unruly. I have noticed that it is more frizzy now than before...maybe the heat. I actually used one of my chemo scarves yesterday--keep sun off head and hide my messy hair!

 

Carrol2

Rachel you look great. Lucky you that your hair is straight! I am about a month further along than you and the curls are a challenge

JeanneR

Carrol: Your avatar looks fantastic...I have been following you all along and you have been an inspiration....

Huskerkkc

thegood5...I didn't have a good experience with the Look Good class either. Except my instructor was in her 60's, a member of Toastmaster's, and seemed most interested in telling stories. We watched the video, got a bag of makeup, but no wigs and no time spent on how to apply the makeup. we also did not introduce ourselves until I asked if we could at the end. I was very disappointed. But have heard so many that found it to be so helpful.

carberry

carol2  i love your hair short and dark, and I am inspired that you have bangs.  I cant wait for bangs.  I am using a product that is supposed to give you curls, mine is so straight!

Rachel  your hair is also very cute...maybe we were all meant to have short hair and never realized it.  I have people tell me how cute my (haircut) is, and they dont know I have cancer, sooooo I wonder? hmmm  how bad was I looking before?

Jen1832

Carol2 and Rachel - your styles are so flattering! Carol2 your darker hair is a nice contrast to your coloring.



I also had a terrible experience with the look good feel better program. We did not get scarves or wigs, nor did the instructor have any scarves to even show us how to tie them. All.of my eye makeup and lip colors were orange or green and all of products in the kit were expired. I threw the whole kit away.



I am 5 weeks pfc and my hair is growing. Did any of you who have hair remember your scalp itching when it started too really grow?

Carrol2

thanks Jeanne carberry and Jen nice to hear the compliments and really nice to give hope to anyone else waiting patiently for their hair to grow.

 sorry to hear the bad experiences with LGFB our class was spent with a demonstration on one person of all the makeup as we all watched and sat in front of mirrors and applied it ourselves, and at the end she just gave us some quick tips on hats and scarves. We did not get any free hats scarves or wigs although you can get them from ACS. There are lots of free hats and things you can get free i think there is a thread here called Freebies that lists websites where they will send them to you.

I am somewhat financially challenged right now. So many people and organizations have helped me through this.  I am so grateful and hope to be able to give back in some way when I am all done with this.

ladym13

Carrol and Rachel looking GREAT!

ksmatthews

Carol and Rachel looking good!  I cant wait!

Cathy_C

I know you are all on the upside of your hair returning, but since you all have experience I have a question for anyone willing to answer. I started losing my hair on day 13 post 1st DD AC and today is day 15 (day 1 post 2nd DD AC) and my hair is really coming out now. I did cut it short prior about 7 inches long, but now I am at a frustration point as to whether I get it buzzed or just cut to about an inch. I read on one of the boards I follow that someone buzzed and they had the little hairs like when you get a hair cut all over (in the ear's). Any suggestions? 

pejkug3

I cut mine off with scissors really short - I never shaved my head.  But I never went 100% bald either.

lago

I cut is short as seen in the 2nd picture from the right but never buzzed. I think my husband got a kick out of watching the transition. He kept saying no need to buzz it. Granted I think I looked more sickly with the strands but it wasn't like I was walking around topless in the late fall-winter.