Cold Caps Users Past and Present, to Save Hair

LRFTexan

today marks 9 weeks since I started this journey. It is my last AC treatment before I move on to Weekly taxol.

Here is my bag of hair and I picture from this weekend. Still have 12 Taxol to go but my chemo cold caps worked this far!

dancetrancer

LRF, looking FAB!

malonejen

LRFTexan, you look beautiful. I have my fourth and last AC tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed! I've lost a lot more hair than you, but I still have some... about 40-50% of it. I am so happy that it's working out well for you... we all know how hard it is to endure those caps for eight hours...

Wildflower2015

LRF,

You look great!

Angiel

LRFTexan - you look great! What chemo? You wouldn't even know unless you told me!

Good luck malonejen!! Sending you positive hair thoughts for tomorrow and throughout the rest of treatment. 40-50% of hair is still hair to be happy about!!

Both of you ladies are doing the same protocol I did & it's great to see you having success too. There seems to be less success stories out there with the AC Taxol combo. I guess with 16 treatments, there is a lot of room for error in everything that wearing the cap entails, in addition to how hard the AC portion is on hair. Keep it up ladies! You are almost there!

Sara208

wow, thank you so much for the great advice, pch, I really appreciate it! I'm kind of terrified to wash more often, but if you think that's better I'll try it. I ordered a Tangle Teeezer before I started chemo, but it took out so much more hair than the wide-toothed comb (pre-chemo)that I went back to the comb. I'm getting a couple of inches trimmed off tomorrow to try to make this easier. I will definitely try the corn starch idea, that is genius! Thanks for the support and advice!

milkchess

LRF- Wow you look great!!

dancetrancer

Just wanted to say that I tried a wet brush for the first time (I am 3.5 years out from chemo), and I LOVE it. I wish I'd had that while cold capping. Just an FYI for anyone who is having trouble with tangles.

LRFTexan

thank you so much ladies, it's allowed me to keep my sense of privacy. So worth it. Still a long way to go and debating the timing still on the Taxol. I feel so blessed.

Malonejen-extra prayers for you today. On my AC regimen I did 1 hour pre meds, 1hour chemo and then 4 hours post for 6 hours. The third chemo I quit early it was tough on me at about 5:40 but otherwise 6 total

Jbandkb1

LRFTexan you look great!!

So bottom lashes pretty much gone. Top not much better. Eyebrows barely there. 4 weeks PFC & still waiting for my lashes & eyebrows to grow back. Ug

nancy3434

you look beautiful!! I'm trying to decide to order the penguin cold caps. I just had a double mastectomy with one noid coming back with cancer. So I start Chemo AC for for cycles every two weeks. After that I start Toxal for 12 weeks every week. I keep hearing that the cold caps don't work very well with the AC, but looking at you I think I'm going to do it!! Thanks so much for sharing!

jodes001

I went to my "chemo Education" appt today. I will be the first person to use cold caps at the breast cancer center I'm going to. I was surprised!! It's kind of cool to be bringing this amazing innovation somewhere new!

I bought some leather work gloves for handling dry ice.

Have 2 coolers for caps and dry ice.

Neck pillow

heated blanket

Almost there....Have a super weekend everyone!!!

tshire

finished chemo today with almost all of my hair!!

aj93

Congratulations, tshire! It's all behind you now. Woohoo! Bright skies ahead.

Moderators

Nancy3434-

Welcome to BCO! You've come to the right place for support as you being your treatment. Hopefully some of the stories hear help you make your decisions on cold caps!

The Mods

Aussie-girl75

Congrats TShire it's like a weight has been lifted off you when you finish chemo.

Suladog

Tshire,

Looking good!!!! Congrats on being done!!

jc254

Tshire, so happy you're finished chemo, and with your hair! Now you can concentrate on the fun stuff- your wedding.

Wildflower2015

Jodes, I was the first to cold cap at my facility also! The treatment center was very supportive and watched my progress with much interest. I'm still surprised at how many women have never heard of capping. That is just not fair!

Tshire, congrats on finishing, girl! What an immense relief it must be! You got sparkles too! Did you saved one or two of them for good luck?

Lemint

Congratulations Tshire I'm so happy for you!!!!!

jodes001

And I was excited to share information with everyone at the cancer center, but the nurse said not a good idea. Because of that slllimmm chance that someone has cancer growing on their scalp, or near to it....the chemo wouldnt get to it.

I will still share info if someone asks.

dancetrancer

jodes - totally up to you to decide, not what the nurse says. As long as patients are fully informed of the very remote risk...what is the issue? I don't get it. People can't make an informed decision if they have no idea of the options that exist.

The only thing I worried about with telling others is that they may not be able to afford the caps, and it would cause them emotional distress.

Leslienva

Hopeismyname, get the Toppik to cover your bald spots. It works great!

tshire

So now that I'm done, when can I start washing my hair more?? I MISS having clean hair! And I MISS coloring it!

Aussie-girl75

Tshire I would wait and see how you go with post chemo shedding I shed more post chemo than I did during so I still kept to a once a week wash for a while then down to every 4 days, now I'm 18 weeks PFC and washing every 2-3 days. 

Suzanne50

I am 8+ weeks PFC and still waiting to color. I feel like my hair is just too fragile. I stopped by my colorist and she agreed. She did said she could use a gentler color but we are still going to wait. I think I should be able to get highlights in January. That is what I am hoping for. That would bring me to about 3 months PFC.

My shedding has slowed down considerably. I would say now it is just normal hair in brush. So I am happy about that! Now I just need for it to grow back and fill in. When I put my hair in a pony tail it is like a feather - no joke.

And for the record, I have washed my hair everyday throughout this process. My hair is too thin from the beginning to not wash it. No one told me otherwise and I don't think it made my hair loss any worse.

Good luck ladies! I am so thankful that I was able to save my hair. Losing everything would have taken me a year to get back to where I am now. ...which is shoulder length.

jodes001

Tomorrows the day....I'm more worried about cold capping than the actual infusion of numerous drugs to my body!!! So many things I want to get done today, in case I'm not feeling to peppy afterward..............eeek....

Have a great Sunday all!!!

PatinMN

Jodes, good luck tomorrow! The cold capping was definitely a welcome distraction from all the major drugs being infused. Once the Benadryl wears off, you'll feel quite peppy from the steroids. Don't be alarmed if your face is flushed on Tuesday - that's the steroids

milkchess

Good luck, Jodes! It definitely goes by quickly with the cold caps. You can do this!

Aussie-girl75

Good luck Jodes!!😀