I cut off the last of my "chemo hair"

WC3

I had very long, hopelessly straight hair before chemotherapy and tried cold capping but lost most of it anyway. I never developed full on "chemo curls" when it started to grow back in but there was a definite wave to the lower two inches that terminated in an awkward flip on the end on one side where I had gone almost completely bald. It was the last remaining outward sign that I had chemotherapy. I chopped it off today!

My hair was getting too long for my hot flashes and I didn't have anyone to trim it for me so I grabbed the scissors and seriously overestimated how much to take off, but my hair is finally back to it's pre-chemo state, albeit much shorter!

Melbo

yay for no more signs of chemo!

my pre chemo hair was very fine and straight with almost no body. My post chemo hair is less fine, although definitely not thick. It’s also not curly, but has a weird waviness to it. At this point I dyed the middle/top teal and I style it in a Mohawk. I’ve been keeping the sides trimmed up because I don’t like how the hair is growing right now. We’ll see what I do going forward — I really like the Mohawk look, but I suspect I’ll eventually get tired of paying for hair cuts.

Anonymous

I used to have curly hair. It was fine but plentiful and pretty hard to manage. I was already using half wigs, ponytails, etc before going on chemo due to going gray and difficult to manage curly hair.

Well, I went bald on Taxol and wore wigs. when my hair came back it was pure white and very thin with zero curl. Wild and still hard to manage but no curl pattern at all. I liked my wigs a lot, didn’t want to dye my white weird hair so kept using wigs.

I wound up with a white weird mullet on top of my head which I buzz cut about a year ago. Was hoping to even it out. When it grew out a few inches I dyed it blond. Went without wig to go swimming, mainly.

Now it’s chin length but still no curl. Some darker grays have come in but without dye it is still mainly white.

Anyway, just wanted to say I miss my curl! I would probably still use my wigs since I like them and I now own more than 20 nice ones - but, I would like the option to go without sometimes and not look like a plucked chicken!

I think some of the thin fly-away-ness of my hair is due to aging and the anti-estrogen drug I take. I feel like my hairline has moved back also. I am trying the Hairmax laser band to see if I can get it a little thicker at the temples and on top. I keep hoping some curl might come back as it grows a little longer. Crazy how straight haired folks get chemo curls and curly me got a relaxer. 😂 At least if it was silky straight I wouldn’t mind but...it’s just weird with a little wave. 😢 At least I can say the chemo did as much damage to my cancer as it did to my hair...that’s something to be grateful for

Trishyla

I'm just the opposite, Olma51. I had stick straight hair all my life. Soft, shiny, nice color, but fine with zero body. It wouldn't even hold a perm, much less curls of any sort. I wasn't all that sad to lose it to chemo.

I had the craziest curls when my hair started growing back in. I absolutely loved them. But they were kind of hard to do anything with while it was that short. So I dyed my hair purple. I figured if I was going to have short, weird chemo hair, then I might as well have short, weird, purple chemo hair.

I ended up falling in love with it. I've had it this way for four and a half years and I have never gotten so many compliments on my hair. Mostly from women my age (63 today!) and young men. Apparently purple is the favorite color for a lot of people. Who knew?

Not sure if I'll ever go back to a more "normal " color. I've decided to keep it for as long as it makes me smile.

Glad you've got your hair back the way you like it, WC3. It really does help to put all of it behind you.

Trish

Anonymous

the purple sounds cool! So does the teal Mohawk! I flirted with the idea of pink or peach and I may yet do it. I actually liked the buzz cut once I had a few inches, it did have kind of a punk look.

I could always choose the edgy color / cut if the current experiment does not pan out.

And yes, congratulations to WC3 on putting chemo hair in your rear view mirror.

WC3

Olma61:

I was born with platinum blond hair that gradually darkened to brown as I got older but lightens easily in the sun. I started to notice a few white hairs in my 20s but was never sure if they were hairs that had gone prematurely white or from follicles that never produced pigment to begin with. I started getting more white hairs in my 30s and noticed they clung on the longest during chemotherapy. When my hair started growing in, many where white but began to darken at the roots. I thought it was a chemo thing but I'm 3 years pfc and even today I will occasionally pull a white hair out to find that it's dark at the root. It's indecisive.

Anonymous

yes, I did have quite a bit of white/grey/silver pre-chemo - I had grown out a few inches of roots at one point to see if I wanted to stop dyeing it but it was a lot less white at that point.

It could be that chemo does a little number on the pigment in our hair.

I don’t actually hate the pure white, it was kind of cool also - but I don’t feel I have the complexion for it. I am a sallow light Olive and a warm color is more flattering for me. I can make white work better with a full makeup and light foundation, pinkish blush, etc. but...still not my best color. The silver and white tones have been trendy with younger people, too, so there’s that. In fact when my stylist saw my pre chemo grays she wanted me to grow it out - she said ooo such a nice silver

Melbo

my teal mohawk — I’m pretty pleased with it.

MinusTwo

WC3 - congrats. My hair had started to become quite grey before chemo & loss. It came back in darker. But the aging grey is asserting itself again 7 years down the road.

Trish - happy birthday.

Anonymous

love that teal Mohawk! Great colo

Cowgirl13

Melbo, your hair looks terrific!

WC3

Melbo, your hair looks great! And Trish, I bet your does too! Before I decided to cold cap, I thought about doing something adventurous with my hair. I kind of wanted a cut called a south side fade, but my hair is very fine and probably wouldn't work with that style.

MinusTwo:

Your hair was like "Hold on, I've got some more pigment left!"