Chemo curls???

Options
sharonw
sharonw Member Posts: 86
edited June 2014 in Complementary and Holistic Medicine and Treatment

I'm not sure which forum to post this under so I am posting under here and the holistic forum - my hair is blessedly growing back but in very tight curls and I am going crazy trying to "style" it LOL - there is no style - my hair stylist is doing her best to keep a tiny bit of length, but I want to know if I cut it super short again, will the crls just keep on coming or will the hair tend to go ack to my normal slightly wavy hair that can be straightened more?? Thx for feedback

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Jacquio
    Jacquio Member Posts: 39
    edited September 2008

    Hi, there,

    I have been told that eventually the curly stuff settles down and you get back to your regular hair type, but it can take a while. While I'm waiting for that to happen, I'm keeping it short.

    I just had my first trim, and we basically shaped it a bit, trimmed around my ears, kept some wisps in front of my ears and along my neckline to keep it feminine. It's starting to look like I intentionally wear it short. At the advise of my stylist, I use hair products for curly hair (like a loose gel) that I put in as soon as I get out of the shower, and before the curls start to frizz.  No hairdryer, as that tends to make it look puffy and frizzy.Style with my fingers, then when it's dry,  I just brush my fingers through it a bit. It is so easy to take care of, actually. 

    Good luck, put on some cute earrings and hang in there!  Cool Jacqui

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • FloridaLady
    FloridaLady Member Posts: 2,155
    edited September 2008

    My curl's were gone with the first hair cut.  Other say they do keep some of the body but not the curl.

    Flalady

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • RIV54
    RIV54 Member Posts: 359
    edited September 2008

    I'm almost 14 months post chemo. I haven't had a hair cut yet, but am contemplating one just for shape and for a less wild look. The curls are still pretty tight. I hope I keep some of the curl. It was great this summer, just wash and go.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Dragonfly92127
    Dragonfly92127 Member Posts: 106
    edited September 2008

    The chemo curls have been driving me nuts...not sure if it's the curls or the grey but I looked like my granny right after a perm.  Had it cut super short and colored auburn yesterday :-)  Yea!!! i look 10 years younger and ready to cloths shop.

    Use a gel & oil glaze to smooth it down, then let air dry. It looks like I "choose" to wear short hairstyle.  I am 6 months post chemo...

    Wierd note... 9/13 will mark the 1 year anniversary from when I started chemo.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Brenda_R
    Brenda_R Member Posts: 509
    edited September 2008

    My chemo curls were gone with my first haircut after chemo.

    I wouldn't have minded them staying longer. 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • lizws
    lizws Member Posts: 1,892
    edited September 2008

    I'm almost 3 years out 0f chemo and if I didn't have long hair, I would still look like a poodle.  My hair was very very tight curls when it came in.  I had it professionally straightened even and that didn't help.  I do know some who had theirs come back curly and it eventually returned to what they had before.  Just buy some mousse or gel and play with it. John Frieda frizz products are great for curly hair. Like someone said - buy some big funky fun earrings.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Wintermoon623
    Wintermoon623 Member Posts: 119
    edited September 2008

    My hair came back straight as a stick. (Finished chemo in May)  It was wavy before, but I always kept it short and layered.  My hair came back the weirdest salt and pepper color...I went blonde last week and my hairstylist cut it a little so it would continue to grow back in a more layered way.  I agree with wearing the big earrings...especially big hoops!

    I'm just so happy to have hair! 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • RobinWendy
    RobinWendy Member Posts: 1,983
    edited September 2008

    The first time my hair grew in after chemo, it was wilder and crazier than it normally was.  I alway had curly, frizzy hair but it was controllable with a good blow dryer and some gel.  It took about six months before my hair started "settling down" which was good because it was just in time for my wedding and I did not want to look like a freaK!!

    My hair just grew in again after Taxol and I've had a totally different experience.  At first, the hair grew in fairly thin and pin straight.  I never experienced that kind of hair before.  But, now, it is fairly back to normal but somehow less frizzy than it used to be.  Now, I can style it fairly quickly and without too much work.  I have had my hair short since the first time it grew in and it is finally just how I like it.  I just hope I don't have to go back on another chemo where I lose my hair again any time soon.

    Robin 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited September 2008
    My first quarter inch of hair that grew back was awful.  I called it opossum hair.  It appeared sort of grey, but really it seemed more like an absence of color.  Thankfully as my hair grew, either the grey was less noticeable or my real color returned.  Not sure which.  My first head of hair was very curly.  All my life my hair had been straight, with the semblance of a wave here and there.  I called my curly hair the $100,000 perm, which was roughly what my paperwork said the cost of chemo was.  I let it grow for a year and then told my hair dresser to cut off all the curls.  My hair as it used to be finally came back.  Well, it's greyer, but I can't blame all of that on chemo. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • LorenaB
    LorenaB Member Posts: 937
    edited September 2008

    I am with Wintermoon -- I'm just so happy to have hair!  I also have the tight curls but I like them.  My hair was always sort of wavy-curly but it got less curly as I got older, so I'm excited about the prospect of having really curly hair, at least for a little while.  It is super thick and I just use some gel or cream to get rid of the frizzies -- otherwise it can feel sort of like fur, LOL.  I'm 4 months post chemo and it looks like it is slowly getting back to my original color, with only a bit more gray than before (I'm 41 and was nearly all brown with just a couple of stray grays here and there).  The tips are still that blondish-grayish-colorless color but the roots look pretty much medium brown.

    I'm also just finishing up radiation and I've been told that makes hair curlier, too.

    Lauren

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2008

    My hair came back the same color, but with curls as well.  I've gotten two haircuts since I finished chemo in September 07, because otherwise it's just a giant poof ball if I try to comb the curls out. I did find a gray hair the other day and thought, "wait a second, this hair can't be gray, it hasn't been there long enough to get stressed out over anything!"

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Methusala
    Methusala Member Posts: 285
    edited September 2008

    ooOOOooo!!!

     I'm glad this thread ishere.  I'm glas to have hair, but I look like something my cat choked UP!!

    TOTAL PUFF BALL.  I HATE these curls.  But, I am glad to have hair... SIGH.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sharonw
    sharonw Member Posts: 86
    edited September 2008

    Well I couldn't stand the curls any longer so I went and got them trimmed - my hair still being way too short to cut them off completely - but my stylist did get those frizzy tight ends cut off and it made a big difference - I no longer have a poodle living on top of my head - the hair is still wavey and it will take several cuts to get the chemo hair completely gone, but it is one less reminder of the chemo side effects - BTW I also colored it and that also made a huge difference - I was much grayer than I thought and now I feel more like me Kiss

    Thanks for all the posts !

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories