Hair styling question

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newter
newter Member Posts: 4,330
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer

As I sit here with my hot rollers in my hair, I realize I should have asked this before I put them in.

My last chemo was Oct 20, 2006 making my hair almost 2 years old.  I am pretty happy with the growth but I have not really touched it with a blow dryer or my hot rollers.  I now find myself wanting to do more than just air dry and clip back.  Does anyone know if my hair would be any more fragile or prone to falling out at this stage or should I be able to style without any worries like I did before this fabulous "journey"?  I also take Femara, Synthroid, and Zocor.  Hopefully none of these will have a negative effect.

Any input would be great.

Lorene

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  • newter
    newter Member Posts: 4,330
    edited October 2008

    Oh I forgot to mention hair spray too.  How bad is that for our hair?

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  • Paulette531
    Paulette531 Member Posts: 738
    edited October 2008

    When my hair finally had enough growth to get a style...and mine was really short when I quit wearing a wig...my hairdresser cut my hair every three months until all the chemo hair was gone. All I did was shampoo, mousse and gel. Finally after a year, I started having things done like color, perms etc. My hairdresser was adament though about cutting the post chemo hair until all the hair was good healthy growth.

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  • abbadoodles
    abbadoodles Member Posts: 2,618
    edited October 2008

    Oh, heck, I started coloring my hair as soon as it emerged and now it's a year + later and it is just gloriously long, curly, thick and, of course, colored.  I am losing the curl toward the scalp and have talked to my hairdresser about a wave perm at the crown sometime soon.  No problem. 

    I've also used just about every type of gel/mousse/ spray on my hair to no bad end.  No breakage or any mishaps.  I say just go for it and do what you want.  Have fun.

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  • newter
    newter Member Posts: 4,330
    edited October 2008

    Thanks,

    I have been coloring my hair but I have really not done anything else except wash and condition.  I have not even had it trimmed.

    Paulette, I am curious about chemo hair.  How do you know which is normal and which is chemo hair.  My hair right now is pretty thick and curly and I really do not want to part with any of it. No  way, not yet. 

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  • artsee
    artsee Member Posts: 1,576
    edited October 2008

    Hi Newter..........I'm a hairdresser of 40 years. My post chemo hair is now 2 inches in length. I have colored it back to blond twice, (40 vol peroxide) this is potent stuff.............I've geld it, blown it ,pulled the crap out of it to make it grow and basically have been having a whole lot of fun with this curly stuff. My opinion to you? Don't be afraid, have fun, spray to your hearts content, I have NOT had any hair fall out and as far as  'chemo hair and normal? who the heck cares??? It's all hair and mine is not a bit different from one to the other.

    Do not be afraidKiss............................................Artsee

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  • cheryl58
    cheryl58 Member Posts: 182
    edited October 2008

    Hi Lorene,

    My last chemo was October 4, 2006.  At first, I babied what hair I had.  Once my "chemo curls" stopped growing in (top of head flat, bottom frizzy chemo curls), I decided I needed to do something.  My hair is brownish but with gray coming in after chemo.  I first had it colored a coppery color.  I thought that it made me look older though.  So, after a couple of months of that, I went and had it styled completely differently (which I love), highlighted (all over though so more like a color) very light blond.  I use mousse and a product called something like "big sexy hair".  I use a flat iron on it and a finishing serum that makes it all nice and shiny.  I think this is the first time in my life that I really like my hair!!!  I say do whatever you want with those locks of yours.  Have fun!!!

     P.S. My pic is the one with the coppery color.  I am now really blond....LOL

     Cheryl

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  • carolsd
    carolsd Member Posts: 358
    edited October 2008

    Yay artsee, I agree!  I've tortured my hair just as much as I did before chemo and it hasn't suffered (well, not any more than it used to). Hair is hair. It's not really "chemo hair" in my eyes; there is no such thing as chemo hair because chemo = no hair!

    So, have fun.

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  • BethNY
    BethNY Member Posts: 2,710
    edited October 2008

    I decided that chemo was my second chance to not damage my hair.  Pre BC I had every color under the sun from blond to black, and red inbetween.  Heat styling and product like you can't even believe.

    Now, it's so healthy, I take such good care of it.  I use semipermanent color (done at the salon) which has to be done more often (every 6 weeks) but only costs me $20, where normal hair color would cost $80 for a single process.

    I trim every 6 months. And Still use a lot of product, but I only do major heat blowouts for special occasions.  Otherwise, it's me and my diffuser on a low setting for a few minutes.

    My hair is so shiny and strong.  It took a while to look like this though.  I noticed the biggest difference in the months after I finished Herceptin... that's when the growth really took off.

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