Cold Caps: Success Stories with Photos here!

goldenpawsKim

Hey girls - First pic is 5 weeks after first chemo treatment. I dyed my hair back to original color before starting chemo. Day 20-30 was my biggest (and scariest) shed ...

Pic below is after 4 rounds of TC treatments (3 months after 1st chemo) ... pic was taken at radiation... hair got thin (and ugly gray roots) but no one would ever know I was going through chemo.

Pic below is a what my hair looks like today (11 months from 1st treatment) ... back to highlighting, color and cut, flat iron, etc. Not a great pic but good to see I still have my hair!!

Penguin caps DO WORK

Here is the back.

Thanks for everyone's support, love and guidance .... couldn't have done it without all of you. ^{HAPPY HOLIDAYS!}

-Kim

Wildflower2015

Wow, Kim, your hair looks awesome!

Suladog

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Kim,

You look great!!! PCC really did the job for you!

7of9

I am so going to try this if I have to do chemo again!!!

dancetrancer

Kim, you look wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your pics and story!

tshire

I am now 7 weeks PFC and I'm ready to share! I documented my hair pretty well so here are the pictures!

Before chemo....

I had my first chemo on Sept 30, and my first photo post chemo is Day 16, Oct. 15th.

Day 20 (beginning of first big shed):

Day 30:

Day 40:

Day 51:

Finished with chemo!

7 weeks after chemo!

You can see my eyebrows need to be drawn on now, and I have lots of strange little baby hairs sticking straight up, but I still have hair! I have lost what seems like a lot to me, maybe 15-20% of the total, but it's not noticeable to anyone else. No bald spots!

Losing your hair can be devastating to many women. It would have been particularly devastating for me, as I am getting married in 60 days and I was planning my wedding when I was diagnosed. My treatment has gone so well and I attribute that in part to keeping a positive attitude as a result of keeping my hair! Thank God for cold caps!!

Lemint

tshire, you look awesome. Can't tell at all you've been through chemo. Congratulations. I've been cold capping as well and have finished 3TX's. I'm 51 days post first chemo treatment. I have 3 more treatments to go. I feel like I mostly shed when I wash my hair twice a week. Everyone says they dont notice any difference. Do you think I'm safe now and can proclaim that this is working. Haha. Just need reassurance from an expert.

tshire

Girl it's definitely working! Keep it up! I am back to taking normal showers again woohoo

dancetrancer

tshire - thank you so much for sharing - you look fabulous! Congratulations!!!

angiesgo

tshire you look amazing, the cold caps worked a absolute treat on you. I sure hope I get the same results. Best of luck with your wedding l plannin

heatherbless

I am also using cold caps and am at chemo number 4- with a full head of hair! It works great!

tshire

Thanks Angie! I am so, so happy about my success! I followed all the instructions to a T and it worked like a charm!

barcelonagirl

Tshire, CONGRATS on such a phenomenal outcome with the cold caps. Your hair looks amazing, and as you said, you feel like you've lost a lot but no one else would know!! (Was checking back in after your initial diagnosis and saw this post!!)

Positive attitude and keeping the hair has eased your stress level incredibly i'm sure. So wish I had followed my instincts and tried them, but 3 years later I have a full head of hair so no complaints! All the best for your wedding plans!!

Sara208

I completed four rounds of TC chemo three weeks ago today. I lost less than 5% of my hair from behind my ears and at my temples at days 16-19, and have had no significant loss since then. I used Penguin Cold Caps and stuck to their suggestions religiously! Keeping my hair was extremely important to me, I'm so glad I had so much success!

Dx: 7/2015, mastectomy 10/1/2015, DCIS Left, 5/22 nodes, stage IIIA, T1, N2, ER/PR+, HER2-

dancetrancer

Congratulations Sara thanks so much for posting! You look fabulous!

goldenpawsKim

Sara - you look great!!! So happy you were successful with the caps Congrats and thanks for sharing your pic!! -Kim

pch

SARA!! Five percent, you big showoff. You look maaahvelous. I'm so happy for you guys. We will have to get together for that celebratory cocktail as soon as I'm out and about. Hha. Five percent.

ELrunner2

tshire, what company of cold caps did you use?

imacaligal

This is my first post in the forum but I've stalked these pages and have received so much useful information that I wanted to share my success story. As of today, I am 9 weeks PFC and just finishing radiation.

My oncologist recommended cold caps and the office has a working relationship with PCC. The infusion unit has a medical freezer and I also used PCC therapists for all of my treatments. I used DermOrganics shampoo/conditioner that I got from Amazon. I also used HairRenew supplements from Amazon. I followed all the PCC instructions exactly except that my hair lived in a pony tail for the 4 months because I was constantly shedding and it was always dirty. C'est la vie!

Cold Caps were a huge pain in the butt but they are so very worth it. Cold caps work!! I am so happy I used them.

My hair pre chemo. I had 6 rounds of TC.

Day of first chemo. Not so happy.

I shed 21 days after chemo #1 and had the most shedding after chemo #2. After that it was a consistent daily shedding. I wondered if I would finish with hair. My shedding was pretty spread out all over my head and I didn't have any "bald spots". Probably due to having a good PCC therapist.

After chemo #4 on a hair washing day.

Getting ready to walk in to my last chemo.

And me today. You can see how much it's grown and I have lots of new growth in my part. I washed and dried it today so it looks thinner because it's straight. Have yet to get it cut or highlighted but I think it's about ready. My brows thinned but are growing back quickly.

dancetrancer

imacaligal - what a great success story! You look fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing your pics and story to help inspire and encourage others!

Moderators

Imacaligal-

Thank you so much for sharing! What a wonderful success story, and inspiration to other members!

The Mods

phaila

yes you look awesome! Did you only wash hair once a week? Mines getting a little ripe:

phaila

also what's the best way to sleep with hairwhile using cold caps?

phaila

what are best shampoos conditioners to use during cold cap treatment? Get to do my first wash tomorrow and don't want to mess it up!! 😜👍

And we only capped 3 hours after treatment... Should it have been 4??

Doh

Scarlett152

I used Giovanni 50/50 shampoo and conditioner. Also, get a good dry shampoo that you can spray in between washes to refresh.

phaila

First day ofwashing since cold capping. Hope I didn't mess anything up!

imacaligal

Thanks for all the positive comments on my post. phalia -- my PCC rep recommended DermOrganic so I used that. It doesn't have the bad stuff in it but lathered nicely and got my hair pretty clean. For sleeping, I started out using a 100% silk pillow case but then just switched to my regular one.

dancetrancer

Bump for newbies

viktoryak

Hi Ladies,

I ordered Arctic cold caps today. Starting first taxol chemo on Tuesday. 12 weeks once a week regiment. What do i do about coloring of my hair. I did color them about 8 weeks before now it is already grey showing a bit and it is time to color. But i believe it is too late for it now? Any natural colors i can use. I am terrified of 6 month without coloring, I will be grey:( Any suggestions? Perhaps i can color it today?

Lemint

Hi everyone, Hope everyone is well. I'm 5 weeks post chemo and I used Artic Cold Caps. I was very successful. I've thinned some especially above my ears and my hairline. I was wondering if anyone knew when the shredding will stop or slow. Also when is the earliest I can color and cut my hair. Thanks in advance.