Hair Hair Hair - Another question

DeeRatz

Ang-sending you a hug. Shaving my head was one of he hardest things I had to do. It was the one thing that made my cancer shit show a reality. Up until then I didn't look like a patient. On my very first chemo the nurse had told me how beautiful my hair was(I had it cut short and colored the day before). Yeah well 13 days later I had to shave it. Now 11 weeks PFC I have enough hair to cover my head and it feels amazing to have it coming back. It is temporary but it is fricken HARD!

To the people who say, "It's only hair"...... I like to reply, "yes it's only hair, until you are the one who has none"!

Peachy2

Dee, I can't believe a nurse told you that when you were getting chemo! That's awful. A chemo nurse should know better.

I had a re-excision (2nd surgery) after the pathology from my lumpectomy showed that the margins weren't clear and unexpectedly there was cancer in the sentinel node. Until then, chemo was not part of the treatment plan. Prepping for surgery the female anaesthesiologist gave me the cap and said "Here, cover up your hair, it's making me jealous." I knew she had no idea about my situation, but wanted to say "Well, you can have it when it all falls out in a few weeks."

Trvler

Exactly, DeeRatz!

Congrats on your bravery, Ang!

Angtee15

Thanks again everyone! I knew I came to the right thread for help. I also have that Brian Joseph gel. Glad to hear it actually works.

Peachy2

Angtee, you rock!

mysunshine48

Angtee, Good for you.....yes, it is hard to see your hair come out and then go have the rest shaved off. For me, I actually felt better after that was done......sort of like something to check off the list. Not that it was easy!!!

Take one step at a time. We have all been where you are and we got through it. My hair is a little over an inch at 5 months post final treatment. I actually did my 4 mlle walk yesterday without anything on my head. Another milestone. You will get throug this even though at times it is VERY difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.......but it will come! Hugs and love to you!

Shopgal2

Is it normal for your eyebrows to grow back while you still have some of the pre chemo brow hairs? I am 4 weeks pfc and only have 1/2 of my brows that grew back. The sides are still bare. Will my brows grow back all the way? It looks weird with new short brow growth and the few long stragglers that hung on. Should I pluck out the long old hairs?

Peachy2

Shopgal2 - that's exactly how my eyebrows were a couple of weeks ago. Now I only have a couple of older long brow hairs, and the rest are filling in. I trimmed the long hairs that were really crazy, but still needed them to play connect the dots with eyebrow pencil.

Shopgal2

thanks peachy. I think I'll leave them until they fall out or the rest are longer to trim the long ones.

MsPharoah

Hello ladies! I am over 2 years PFC and on an AI. My hair has grown back but so much thinner than before. I was also having a lot of scalp problems off an on. Because of the scalp, i switched to baby shampoo and I now have a healthy scalp AND thicker hair. I am just passing this on because I know that it is not my imagination and might help others!

jbokland

http://sassyhead.com/products

This is the product I developed when I lost my hair. They are free to all my BC sisters. Pm me if you want some,

loriekg

Hi ladies! Still wearing my wig…but I do have hair now. My last chemo was 7 ½ months ago, is probably the same length as CatsRus…but it is the color of a brillo pad. That's what it reminds me of (yuk!) Sloan, that picture you posted with the short style…I would totally try that but my hair is so curly/wavy there is no way. I don't even know how to go about styling what I've got! I tried to blow dry it hoping that would smooth it out, but that didn't make any improvement. And I also tried putting product in to define the curls…umm, no! So until it gets a little longer and I can get it cut (and colored!) I'll stick with my faithful wig!

But…what's REALLY driving me crazy are my eyelashes! Noticed this morning that my lower lashes are falling out AGAIN! This will be the third cycle. OMG—when does this stop?? My top lashes are ridiculously short, still. I did try eyelash extensions, and it was nice (for about 3 weeks). Now I'm just mastering the art of applying fake ones.

igay1ord

Thought I'd post this for some encouragement! My hair is growing back after 4 treatments, and I still have 2 to go. Hopefully, I'll keep what's growing and it won't fall out again! Still haven't lost my eyebrows/eyelashes!

Sloan15

14wks pfc, and I got my hair cut. The fuzzy stuff on the back of my neck had to go. The stylist also evened it out cutting off the long GREY ones that didn't fall out during chemo. I have always had VERY curly hair, so those of you new to curls need some tricks on how to tame them (unless you're getting gentle curls you want to encourage). For those of you with unruly curls 1/2 -2 inches long, when you get out of the shower, pat hair dry. Before the hair dries put in some pomade and smooth it flat with your hands.

If it's longer than 2-3 inches, use a round brush and blow it dry by continually twirling the round brush back or under as you move toward the ends. Yes, it will make a big round curl, but you have to "straighten" all the frizzy before you can style it. Let it cool. Next, you can style it by moving it into place with fingers or (like me) use a GOOD straightening flat iron, or use a curling iron to curl it the direction you want it to got. YouTube has videos on how to straighten curly hair, too.

loriekg - They stop falling out at 3. You got this now!

Igay1ord - I see 'em! I kept those little stragglers and just trimmed everything to the same length yesterday. I'll try to post a pic later.

DiZZyMom

Hello ladies-

Happy New Year!I have not been on this site in years. Which means life has not been revolving around cancer for some time now :-) However, it seems my eyebrows are never coming back and I am horrible at drawing them on. Can anybody give personal recommendation or advise against the permanent makeup procedures of tattooing and embroidery?

Thanks so much!!!

Sloan15

ok, here's the pic. If you look closely you can see the curly ones trying to stand up, but I slicked them down!

14 wks PFC

DeeRatz

Sloan-You look amazing! Your hair is coming in nicely. Can't wait for a few more weeks for mine to look like that. It gets better every week and it is starting to curl as well. I had curly hair before so I hope it doesn't come back super crazy curly

octogirl

Seriously beautiful Sloan! I can't imagine having that much hair at 14 wks PFC given how little I have at almost nine weeks PFC, but one can always hope!

Octogirl

Sloan15

Octogirl - if u go back and look at the pics I posted, you'll see it was pretty sparse at 10 weeks!

Someone mentioned it here, but I went back to baby shampoo, too.

mysunshine48

Really pretty Sloan! I am 22 weeks PFT and am not looking that good! The back seems to be coming in faster than the top and sides.

This is an exercise in patience! I did do another long walk today without any wig or headgear, but probably will be wearing my wig most of the time when I go out (except my walks) for a few more months. At least the weather is cooler!

Also, my eye lashes have come back in, but not at the length or thickness as before. And, my eyebrows are very sparce. I never had to use a pencil before, but sure am now. I hope to get better with it.

Peachy2

Gorgeous, Sloan! You are my hair role model!!

Since I didn't have fine fuzz until two weeks after the last chemo, I am impressed with your progress, igay1ord!

phoebe58

Ang, I am reminded of my hair loss journey and my heart goes out to you and others in same boat .... long --> short and [surprisingly] sassy cut --> finally buzzed when it got too sparse {I too heard shaving was a concern}. I had gone at end of day to my long time hairdresser's as I knew I would cry. It was so hard to do as I loved my hair before, and yes it completely hammered home the whole fbc diagnosis, but now, about a year later I have my hair back - about 3 inches. My scalp and remaining hair follicles were tender and irritable for a while. Initially, it was a shock to look in the mirror too as I would forget sometimes. I had 2 synthetic but realistic wigs to wear in public, as I couldn't manage to tie a scarf to look good.

anotherNYCGirl

Sloan, - beautiful!! Looks like a very intentional style, - with just the right type of hair!!

Angtee15

Thanks Phoebe! I've been out and about with the wig yesterday and today and I'm feeling pretty good. My buzz cut is so gray it will take some getting used to seeing it in the mirror for sure! I guess all my black hair is jumping ship first. My fiancé seems used to my nearly bald head already. I am getting hot flashes at night since chemo and the shaved head is keeping me cooler and helping me sleep. Silver lining!

PMR53

Loriekg- I wore my wig until 8 months but had my hair "shaped" as it grew in it was somewhat of a style. My hair was curly but when I colored it it also helped a little. I am sorry about your lashes I wonder why they keep doing that! It won't be long Lorie! hang in there. Mine is still curly. I get it blown out if I have somewhere special to be. 

Hugs! 

Patty

tjh

I just found this page...I am roughly 20 weeks from my last chemo...my hair is 1 1/2 -2 inches. It looks like super short pixie cut with fuzz around the edges. I am going in Monday to have it shaped a little. I am impatient even though I get compliments on the short style. I did start going hat less at work after Christmas. I had 1 student who said it looks creepy in a good way. But the second day she said she was glad I didn't die....but I do teach SPED so most of my kids don't have filters.

rainnyc

Weekly hair check: 4 months and change PFC, and I have between 1 and 2 inches most places on my head. Seems to be shortest at the nape of my neck. Grayer than before chemo, but still more brown than grey. I've always had wavy hair, so I can't tell if this is wavier than before or not. It might be less frizzy, which would be a good thing!

As someone who's had long hair for most of my adult life, I'm just not ready to bare what still looks to me like a short chemo cut in public. My hat's (or wig's) off to you, Sloan, for such a beautiful look.

Meanwhile, eyebrows continue patchy, with some of the new growth falling out. I'm still using the eyebrow pencil to fill in the outlines. Lashes are still pretty short.

Fingernails are a little sturdier than before, i.e. they're not breaking constantly and I can do challenging tasks like peel a clementine without using a knife. But they're not back to normal. Toenails are a disaster, broken and rough-looking. Hoping they'll be improved by summer.

But all in all, a vast improvement over even a month ago.

DeeRatz

Angtee-you got this! My hair if coming back quite grey. I feel like I'm 55 not 45.

Tjh-creepy in a good way....that is cute!

Well 11 weeks PFC I got my first trim. My hubby was getting his hair cut by a barber yesterday. She is awesome and used to do ladies hair as well. I asked her if she would clean up my hair at the back along my neck. It was so jagged and uneven. So she did a bit of a fade in the back and cleaned it up around the edges and ears. She barely cut anything but it now looks more like an intentional haircut that a chemo salon hairdo. I also asked her about coloring it. She didn't advise me to do it. Because the hair is all different lengths she said I will look like a leopard. She also said the roots will have to be done every few weeks or it will look funny. So I am going to leave it. All the young girls are dyeing their hair the color of mine. So I will be rocking my fuzzy head in Nashville! I'm going there for my FxxK Cancer trip.

Sloan15

rainnyc - I'm still self conscious, but I think the longer it gets the more people will think "oh, she did that on purpose." Did you see the Jamie Lee Curtis pic that Italychick posted? That is the cut I am shooting for. You might have to go shorter on the sides and back to give the appearance of longer on the top. Haha, that's how my hair come in. Either way, make sure you go to SuperCuts or some other place and get it styled (even if you are going to wear a wig!) My hair looked soooo much better after it was professionally trimmed. I couldn't believe it. That's the ONLY reason I'm going wigless right now. Seriously, it really helped to style and trim the neck hair!

Italychick

Sloan15, your hair already looks like Jamie Lees. And it is gorgeous on you. People aren't that observant. I went without wig when my hair was about 1/2" long and people thought I did it on purpose. Seven months after chemo, I have a crazy amount of hair now. Be patient, it grows in.