Hair Hair Hair - Another question

TWills

CBK, it’s not as much as a car payment, I was exaggerating lol. I have no idea about castor oil and as far as micellar water, I’m not sure what you mean. Like just running that through your hair instead of shampooing and conditioning? My routine was shampooing and conditioning 2-3 times a week. If you feel like you could skip one of those shampoos then you could just condition. If you need to reactivate the curl or dampen them you could use a leave in conditioning spray. When my curls were in full force I used Redken’s Frizz Dismiss, the line hasshampoo, conditioner, and leave in spray or cream. It controlled my curls and kept them soft and manageable.

Ingerp

TWills--you are a great resource! It looks like you're close to two years out of chemo? Are you telling me you still have chemo curl going on? It would make me a little sad to hear that. I keep cutting mine off because I really hate the tight curls.

CBK

TWillis

There are some miceller products that are being touted as the new cowash for curly hair. Deva curl has one, although I don’t subscribe to that line, and Avedajust came out with a new one! I love Aveda products!

I’ll check out that Redken line. I’ve been looking for the ideal solution to revive the curls between washing. This sounds great. Thanks TWillis!

InnaB2018

Have a question for the ladies who don't wash their hair every day. I exercise in the mornings, and my hair is just dripping with sweat after I am done. Am I not suppose to use shampoo on it? How can I clean my hair without shampoo?

CBK

Inna

Curly hair gals should not wash their hair every day. Our hair tends to get dry and needs a lot of moisture and shampooing daily would strip it too much.

I cowash with special cowash product or just rinse and massage conditioner in like a shampoo. I dont shampoo more than once a week, but my hair is super curly.

If your hair isn’t super curly or thinning then you probably shouldn’t stress about it too much!

TWills

Ingerp, June will be 2 years since I completed chemo. Hair didn’t start growing again for 2 months after, so I’ve got 18 months or so of hair growth. I had wavy/loose curls prior to chemo and that’s about what I’m back to. It’s just now to my shoulders and the weight is now pulling the curls down and they are relaxing.Starting to resemble my former texture.

rachelcarter35

This is me at 6 months

Ingerp

Thanks, TWills. I've just been thinking lately that it sounds like some women never go back to their former hair. That would make me really sad--partially that in hindsight, I guess my hair used to be okay, but also that it never occurred to me that BC would leave a permanent, visible mark. I'm thinking I might try to grow it out a bit when I'm about a year out (this August).

Inna--FWIW, despite all of the advice to cut back on hair washing, I wash and condition my hair every day. I just would not feel clean if I didn't. (I just had this conversation with my DIL!)

rachel--very cute!

InnaB2018

Rachel, you look great!

Ingerp, I agree, if I don’t wash my hair, I don’t feel clean either. I buy organic natural shampoos (surprisingly not expensive) and feel in peace with my decision. 😍.

new2bc

Hi everyone,

I have a question about using biotin and Biosil for thining hair. Do any of these increase the chance of recurrence for us?

Iloveminnie2

it has been two weeks since my final chemo treatment. I used the cold cap so was able to keep most of my hair. Just wondering how long I should wait before a trim or color. Any tips would be welcome

PatinMN

Iloveminnie2, I used Penguin cold caps back in 2012. Penguin recommends not coloring for several months after chemo, and then they suggest a mild color product with no ammonia and no ...well, I forget what else. I had weekly taxol/Herceptin and barely lost any hair; I was not shedding after chemo and I had very long gray roots, so I had my salon color person use a color product on my hair - Clairol Beautiful - at 7 weeks. (I think there are other, better products out there that satisfy Penguin's recommendations, but don't know names.) I saw no ill effects, and used that product again four weeks later. After that my salon person went back to the usual salon color. As for trimming, I think I got a trim at about 10 weeks PFC or so. I think the most important thing for coloring is to wait until your shedding slows down or stops. Here is what the Rapunzel Project website says about coloring: "Coloring hair is not recommended until 3 months after chemo is finished, because the follicles still need time to recover from the trauma of chemo."

Iloveminnie2

Patinmn thank you so much for the info. I figure I need to wait for the shedding to slow down. And waiting for the hair follicles to strengthen makes sense. Will be testing my patience in the next few months

Pommom1809

I had very thin hair was in fact using Rogaine for the thinning on top. I’m wondering if my hair will come back at all. Just finished the Taxol this past Tuesday, hair had started growing, but fell out after Taxol was started.

rockymountaingirl

Pommom, hair almost always comes back, even for us thin-haired types. The hair I lost stayed lost for more than two months after chemo ended, but then it started coming in, and it is now a couple of inches long. Still thin, of course, but definitely there.

Pommom1809

Rockymountaingirl, good to know. My husband doesn’t care if I get hair or not, but I’ve always had hair issues.

Doris

Lily55

Does hair always come back curly after chemo?

My hair is totally straight and I am happy with it like that......

Beesy_The_Other_One

Lily, my hair was stick straight before and it's coming in stick straight after chemo.

MamaOz

have patience it will come back I finished chemo Aril 2017 by august it was long enough about an inch or so to go without my turban

however it came back grey , I now color with high lights , lighter than my pre chemo dark brown. But I figure this way I can gradually go grey and wont be a shock when I tire from coloring ...Im 65

poisedandpink

Hi All,

This week will be four weeks post ACT chemo. Comparing myself to others on Instagram, I think my expectations of regrowth were way off base. My hair on my head is what’s left that didn’t fall out. Same with my brows and lashes. I have zero new growth. How long did it it take before you could see new growth? When I was looking at other women’s pics on Instagram it just seems like everyone is farther along than me by one month out.

I’d also like to strongly caution anyone with green eyes using Latisse. The brown you see in my eyes is from using Latisse when I was desperate to see new eyelashes again. I didn’t have brown in my iris before at all before using it. So that’s also been tough to realize I’ve now permanently changed my eye color. I’m just all around feeling really frustrated and want to look like me again.

CBK

poised

Omg dammit about the Latisse thing. My PS told me not to use it when I was growing back lashes and brows.

First of all everyone sprouts different. I kept losing lashes and eyebrows AFTER Taxol. When they decide to grow back from my recollection it’s like poof and they are just there one day. They are on a totally different growth cycle as head hair!

Have you used anything on your lid to open hair follicle like nizorol shampoo? Someone on this board suggested to me and I hit my lid with it a couple of times and it seemed to work. I would use it sparingly though and continue to massage scalp with a gentle organic shampoo that might have some active ingredients to encourage growth. I liked Avalon organics Biotin thickening shampoo. But there are others!

Usually the back of lid starts to grow in first and then front follows, here I was about 4 weeks out of chemo. It will grow don’t panic!!!

poisedandpink

I immediately stopped using Latisse when I noticed the change, but it’s too late now to reverse what it did discolor. It was also all for nothing. I didn’t get a single lash or eyebrow hair from it.

I’ve only been using Aveda’s Scalp Benefits shampoo. I will give the two you suggested a try. Thanks!!

CBK

Ohhhh I love Aveda Scalp benefits.  That may be enough to stimulate follicle... which is what I was suggesting the Nioxin for.  Have you ever done the scalp camera?? They have them at most Aveda concept salons and stores.  They take a photo of your scalp and they can actually see how many hairs are growing out of your follicles and if they are jammed up at all with sebum.  Pretty cool....My hair grew back crazy thick after chemo, and the camera showed that each of my follicles was growing multiple hairs. 

Then they suggested scalp therapy for my lid, and I took the bait.  They showed me I had some sebum build up.  I use that shampoo a couple a times a month and the conditioner.  LOVE AVEDA!!

poisedandpink

yes, I have done the scalp imaging. Good call! I didn’t even think to go try that at this point!

Pommom1809

poisedinpink my head looks like your head. What few hairs I have are leftover from the AC stuff. It started to grow, but the Taxol stopped the hair & I lost eyelashes & brows. The only hair that is growing back is on my lower legs. I’m only out a week since chemo stopped.

I also have green eyes, but don’t know anything about the stuff that turned your eyes brown.

Doris

InnaB2018

This is me two and a half moths Pfc. Just started sprouting new hairs. You’ll be there before you know it!

MountainMia

MamaOz you look fabulous!

Meowmmy65

PoisedandPink...

3 months PFC, barely any fuzz, but wine and kittens!

9 months PFC, I looki like a different person. Now, if my eyelashes and eyebrows would just get caught up, that'd be great.

Yndorian

Meow- you look beautiful! What a change!

poisedandpink

Meowmmy65 you look great!! Thank you sharing! It def makes me feel better! I guess I just need to be patient but it's very hard!