SPORTS AND COOLING CAPS?

karenns

I am due to start chemo in early November and am planning on trying the cooling caps. Can you still exercise and play sports when using them? I was told you can’t wear hats or helmets, and you’re not supposed to get your head hot. How can you take long walks or play sports and not heat up your head? Do I also have to forego hot showers for the duration of treatment? Any advice for using the caps and optimizing results is much appreciated

hapa

You're supposed to minimize hair washing if you're doing scalp cooling. Or at least if you want scalp cooling to work. I was running during chemo so not washing my hair wasn't going to happen. My hair fell out, but I kept with the cooling. It has grown back as good as ever, whereas my eyebrows, eyelashes, and body hair are much more sparse than they used to be. If I wasn't getting doing taxotere (which is known to cause permanent hair loss in some women), then I wouldn't have bothered with the scalp cooling. I looked better than I was expecting as a bald chick at least.