Hair Hair Hair - Another question

jbokland

the first sign my hair was going, I threw a party that night and had my stylist shave me down in front of everyone .  I used it as a fund raiser for my local beast cancer org. ( I am now a board member).  We raised over $500.00 and it was empowering to do something positive with the enevitable!

Lisaj514

jb, you are amazing. When given lemons...make lemonade! Awesome lady! Look at that smile. I want to be in your head for just one day lol!

lago

BosumBlues ask what product she uses to control it. I have a friend who  has that hair naturally. Looks awesome but she did say when we were in high school they didn't have good products. Now they do. It controls the frizz so you can get that nice springy curl we all love. (BTW as you can see my hair is as straight as dry pasta)

Lorbgoo

beautiful. I want those chemo curls too!

MinusTwo

Me too - Right now I have waves going everywhere in 1-1/2" hair so there's hope.  Thanks for sharing Bosum. 

HollyHope

She's beautiful and so are her curls - Thanks Bosum!!

Deborahanne

Lisa, that's great about the race and how well you are doing! I was on a road trip traveling across NY and stayed in Utica the night before the annual race last year. The hotel was fully booked and I only managed to get a room because I already had reservations. :-) 

Deborahanne

Bosumblues - thanks for posting the picture of the beautiful curls, she looks great! I'm wondering how mine will look when my hair gets longer. Here's a website that has helped me learn a lot about all the different kinds of curly hair, products to use, and how to manage for the best results. Hope all goes well when you color your hair! 

naturalcurly.com

HomeMom

Great picture Bosum! I have always had wavy/curly hair and would die for that look right now. Products have come a long way for curly/frizzy hair, trust me!

RealityCheck

Hello Ladies!

It's been a while since I have been on here. I just wanted to post some pictures of me before and after chemo. My last chemo was September 19th last year. One year ago July 18th was my first chemo. So ladies wondering when your hair will come back?....PATIENCE! lol, it will return and better than it was before treatment! :)The last pic of me in the red and black top was taken this morning. 

 Hugzzz to all!!

Carmen

Me before surgery and 1st chemo

1st chemo treatment, went and had hair trimmed

Chemo #2 August 9, 2013

End of November after last treatment in September

July 17th 2014

birdlady222

Bosum, your friend is beautiful, and I love her curls!  Thanks for sharing her pic.

Carmen, thank you for posting your progression.  I think it helps others to have something to look forward to and compare(even though we are all different)

You and I started and stopped chemo about the same time.  You have a lot more hair than I do, but mine is much more curly, so it looks shorter.  I am trying to learn to embrace the curls.  Right now, it's very soft and more like fur than hair...lol.  I live in MO too.

andreamia

Bosum, her curls are amazing! I am so jealous of everyone having post chemo curls and waves. My hair is still as straight as a pole and very fine. Grew back the same color, but with a couple white tips on some of the hairs that you can only see up close from the chemo. It has been about six months since chemo and I just had a trim/color and love it. 

My hair started growing back SLOWLY after I finished AC and was on Taxol. It grew on the back of my head first and up by my hairline last. After I finished all the chemo I finally went without a head scarf about 4-5 months later. It is still growing pretty slow IMO. I lost most of my eyebrows and they came back first, but I noticed I hardly ever have to pluck them like I used to. I had to pluck every 2-3 days before chemo and now I pluck maybe once every two weeks. That part is okay

andreamia

Hair growth on Taxol after AC 

Less than six months post Chemo

Lisaj514

Andrea, your hair looks great. Love the color and I can see those pretty eyebrows and long eyelashes. I'm 3 months PFC and just started going without head covering but it is still thin and fine. I bring a covering when going to the grocery store or restaurant as it overly air conditioned and I get cold. Unlike others mine started growing in the top. The sides and back have been slower with less texture. Many if you gave seen my interesting racing stripe that started growing on the top. It's still there but I'm getting a little more dark hair. It basically looks white in less up close. It kind of glows...lol. See the running pic, That was just this past weekend when I ran a 5 k as part if the Utica boilermaker. Deborahanne, you were here in the past, passing through so you know how big it is. Here's my hair growth from before chemo to current. I was /am a slow grower. I think the last pic on the bottom left counts as some curls coming back...right? I just put this together now, it was fun to do to see the change. Happy hair growing girls!

Lorbgoo

everyone's hair looks great. I'm jealous. Reality have you cut your bangs at all? 

Andreamia only 6 moths past? I will be excited to get my hair where yours is. It looks so soft and heathy. 

Lisa yours too. I'm only 7 weeks PFC. 

MomMom

All of you ladies look amazing!! Please tell me that some of you started with what someone else referred to as baby chick white fuzz type "hair!"  I did 4 rounds of DD AC and now only have the last of 12 Taxols to go next week.  So did you ladies start with the baby chick stuff?

Thanks for posting all the amazing pics!

Paula

andreamia

Thank-you I can't wait until my bangs grow out. That is my next goal.

Yup, first it was the legs/under arms, the nose hairs, the eyebrows, then the lashes, finally the head hair. Lol. When the eyebrows grew they literally filled in within less than two weeks. It was crazy. Everything else was slow. I was really excited about the nose hairs. Never knew how much I'd miss em.

MomMom, I did have a fuzz. It's kinda noticeable in my first pic, but it was even fuzzier than that before it started growing back. I told my husband that it looked like I had an ostrich head. Lol. 

Crazywabbit

ah nose hairs, I agree you never know the importance of them until they are gone.  Spend too long blowing bloody chucks and constant runny nose, nice to not have a tissue in every pocket of everything I own. 

Lisaj514

mommom, yes definitely baby chick fuzz, look at the 4th pic of me above. That was prob 4-5 wks PFC. I had 4ac and 4dd taxol. Mine didn't start growing until about 4 wks post. I took forever to start growing my hair. Was actually worried it would never come back. It's still slow but steady now so I'm confident it will continue. My hair was somewhat thin before but never really noticed because it was always covered by the curls.

Barb, the runny nose and omg the tissues in every pocket lol, yup! My brows and lashes fell out fully  just bout the time my head hair started growing. In the 4th pic I had drawn on brows and no eyelashes. It's a crazy process and everyone is different. I loved not having leg hair and bikini area hair. But now I do, darn

HomeMom

Lisa, you had the same treatment regimen I am having. I just finished 4 DD ac and I am now about to start the 4 Taxol treatments. Three weeks ago I buzzed my head but  I still haven't lost most of my hair and the nurse told me with Taxol your hair could start growing back. I am assuming over the next week I will lose whatever I have? I really really don't want to lose my eyebrows, I've never been good at even filling in my eyebrows much less being able to draw them on! I'm in sales and can't look like a clown out there! 

The worst thing so far is I already have some darkness at the bottom of my finger nails. Another thing I can't have affected since I'm always pointing to things at work!

Notbuyingit

Just started taking Anastrozole - among the 900 possible side effects i did see "hair loss" - anyone (please tell me no) think they have experienced this?

jbokland

Notbuyingit-  I don't see hair loss (alopecia) listed as a side effect with this drug.

FYI- I work for Micromedex, the drug and disease database that hospitals and doctors use to get all of their online information.  Its kind of like the Consumer Reports of drug and disease information.  We review all the information and studies and report out an unbiased, evidenced based information.  The FDA and Medicare use our data for their decision making on drugs as well.    I'll be happy to look up any other info!

birdlady222

Notbuyingit, I have been taking Anastrozole for almost a year.  I lost ALL of my hair from chemo.  Started the Anastrozole immediately after stopping chemo.  My hair started growing back immediately, and it continues to grow, with eyebrows and lashes filling in slowly. 

Notbuyingit

good news at last!  JB, reading my insert from Walgreens Pharmacy it is the 7th one listed. after flu-like symtoms & before headache, hot flashes etc. - i am pretty sure there is not a possible SE that is NOT listed so they must be covering all there bases

naiviv

My Hair Story...

First pic April at weekend getaway for my BD, not a worry of BC in my mind. That is my natural color. Then comes Dx on 7/5 . I had surgery first . Got hair cut 10/24, Daughter holding ponytail braid. First chemo 10/25 (chair 13, same chair for last chemo) Second chemo 11/21(delayed due to TE removal) End on Nov, my Daughter's BD and one of several wigs, then my blonde wig. Then Dec 31, went out with ribbon. Too hot in Miami and I couldn't stand them, plus half the time they were on crooked because I kept adjusting them. Early April 2014 My son's BD and a year from first pic. I have a small thin growth over all of head(thinner in front and all white) I proceeded to dye 4 times just before DIEP in May. I  tried blond, hair absorbed no color, dark blond and turned pink, reddish brown and turned orange, finally dark brown turned caramel.  After surgery hair kept coming in white and I decided to go back to no color, first bleach took me to orange and second took me to a light blond. The last three pics were taken today. In the last 2 months it has really begun to fill in and in the past month I have dark hairs coming in. I am still longer and fuller in back and side. The top  near the forehead  is the slowest for me. I have some gel on my hair to comb it down, if not would stick straight up.   For today am going to leave it natural and let it grow some more, I also use a little coconut oil to condition before washing and to style.  My last chemo was 2/13. I am still on Herceptin and Tamoxifen.

Yes, it does grow back but while you are waiting to see it, it does seem like forever.

Huggs to all,

Vivian

SaturnRing

Hello All

Just wanted to drop by my Hair story, I am 1.5 PFC and I took this pic this morning. I have had 4 haircuts so far to make it look like a style and I used to have STRAIGHT hair before chemo.

 

And this is the pic of me growing impatient and using BRUSH on the curls and lost all the ringlets

and this is how my hair used to be prior to treatment

jbokland

Vivian and Aparna....Thank you for sharing!   Very inspirational!

I am just lucky I had platinum hair before BC.....coming in even whiter.  

I know what you mean about the hair not holding color. My platinum hair never held color....chemo or not!  It just slid right out!

Deblc

9 weeks PFC and FINALLY FINALLY my hair is coming in. My eyebrows seemed to come in overnight, wish my head hair was the same but it's been so slow.  I am so amazed at all the dark haired ladies whose hair came back platinum, I think it's beautiful. I'm kind of disappointed that my hair is coming in the same boring black

HollyHope

Naiviv and Saturn - just beautiful!!! Thank you so much for sharing and giving us baldies some hope.  I am seeing more hair all over the past day or two.  I'm going to take weekly pictures to compare the difference, so we'll see what it looks like on Monday (week 6) compared to week 5 PFC.

HomeMom

My hair had gone down hill the last 5 years. It was losing body and shine. I always had great hair! I'm hoping it grows back in more healthy and just more hair!