eyebrows and hair "Oh My"

mary6204

I finished my chemo, TCH, 2 months ago.  My hair is coming in very slowly, but what's really getting to me is the fact that just this week I lost my eyebrows!!!!  How can that happen so long after the last treatment.  My eyelashes are thinner, but still there.  Are they going to go next???

I feel great, have no lingering symptoms,  but this hair thing is getting to me.  Is it my age which is 53, my sister says maybe I'm never going to get it back cause it thins when your older.  I'm still not shaving my legs, or underarms.   What is gong on???  I want hair!!!  Mary

WellWater

Don't get too panicked yet, Mary.....we are all different.  Like you, my eyebrows came out probably 6-7 weeks after last chemo tx, eyelashes didn't fair much better.  But they came back and like you I also worried because as we get older those darned eyebrows thin out.....so whew, they are back - not as thick as before but I can use a powder and that helps darken them.

Pre-chemo I only had to shave my legs once every week or two in the summer and barely at all in the winter...now I'm shaving 2-3x a week - ugh.

I hope your brows and lashes start coming in soon - you'll feel better, I know I sure did! 

unlimited

My last chemo tx was Mid-April 2007 ....... and it was the last week in MAY 2007 -- that my eyebrows disappeared on me  -- overnight....... I have heard this is common with the brows especially....

Regarding hair growth ( again with last chemo mid-April 2007 ) I was still wearing a wig til the end of Aug 2007 and then went to wearing a hat ---  since the hair was not as thick as the sides and back of head... again this is common that the hair growth on TOP is slower then rest of head... and my hair always was normally thin on top   due to my under-active thyroid  grrrr....

ANyways continue to wear my hat -- until FINALLY I decided I would be ok without a hat - and that day came on New Year's Eve....... my first haircut was in March 2008.....

this next week Tuesday will be haircut #3 -- however, I am looking to grow my hair out into a diff style....  BUT I must tell you - that may hair is much thicker on top then what it had been in the past 8 yrs.    So that is a good thing for me   ACtually I lost my eye lashes prior to completing my last chemo in April 2007 (( easy to remember bc at Easter 2006, my mom is like put on some mascara etc .... I'm like its rather hard to put on mascara when I have NO EYELASHES  except maybe 2 - 4 on each eye  --- geeezzzzzzzzz ))  My parents don't live locally -- so didn't see them hardly at all when going thru tx.

It is sure hard to believe that a year ago I was bald and waiting for the hair to GROW GROW GROW ---   nowwwwwwwww  I  LOVE it when the wind blows thru my hair  ..... BUT I still recall and enjoyed  how I never had no- bad- hair - day when wearing my wigs  LOL

Hugs

otter

Yes, Mary, that's the ugly secret about hair loss from chemo.  Right about the time you're feeling better and starting to see hair regrowth, your lashes and brow hairs fall out.

I had 4 tx's of Taxotere & Cytoxan, and I lost my lashes and brows about 5 wks after my last chemo tx.  I lost all except maybe 5 or 6 lash hairs (seriously) and about 2/3 of my brow hairs.

The good news, like everyone else said, is that they come back quickly.  The other bad news is that sometimes after they come back, they fall out all over again.  Several times.

This will eventually end, though, and everything will be OK.

otter 

wendyk13

Hi Mary....I too did TCH and finished May of 2007.  Eyebrows and lashes fell out after chemo, about 6 weeks after.  And like Otter says...they can fall out again, several times.  Mine did 4 times!  And thinned out a 5th time!  But...I never lost all of them at the same time.  My hair was sooo slow in coming back tho, maybe due to the Herceptin.  I have had 6 haircuts so far and I have more hair now!  And it holds a style!  And looks better!

I used to shave my pits and legs 2x week, more during the summer.  Legs are now down to about 2x month and pits about once a week and that's fine by me!  But I know....you want your hair and YOU WANT IT RIGHT NOW!  I thought my bangs would NEVER grow to my eyebrows...but now I have to trim them EVERY WEEK!

You'll have your hair back....wish I could speed things up for you....but it gets better!

EGAL

I had my last chemo in May 2007.  My hair started growing slowly and it was really soft and thick.  Then came the CURLS!  I have had a few hair cuts and the curl is pretty much gone if I keep it short but is it a different texture.  It is now frizzy and I have to gel/mousse/spray to get it to look decent.  My eyebrows and eyelashes came back but very thin and fine.  I have to wear eyeliner and brow markers.  I probably look like a clown to others

NancyD

Yes, Mary, it happens AFTER the chemo stops. Mine came out five weeks after I finished my neoadjuvant chemo. The jury's still out on what will happen after the post-surgery chemo which ended two weeks ago.

I read somewhere that eyebrows and lashes grow in specific cycles, and that's why it can happen more than once. Usually, the hairs fall out randomly, not all together. When they fall out all at once, and grow back all at once, then they are all on the same cycle together. It may take a few cycles for the hairs to gradually stop acting together and get back into the random pattern. 

alittlebird

I'm glad to read I'm not the only one dealing with leg hair mania. I could get by shaving every 10-14 days until chemo. Now if I don't shave for a week I look like Mrs. Alley Oop. My chemo (T&CX4) ended mid March 08. Head hair began to grow about 5-6 weeks later, brows and eyelashes had dropped by then but made a quick come back. Now the lashes are thinning again. I agree the hair follicles all get on the same regrowth cycle at first and the hair is thicker and glorious but within a year probably resume the old shed and dormancy cycle. If only all aspects of my life would resume that BC (before cancer) state!