My Hair-Ok This is Stupid but I am Lost

I loved my post chemo curls.  I kept my hair cut fairly short while I had tight curls.  Sadly, they were gone 12 months later.

yeah, my hair was  very curly too; however; after about 12 months it pretty much returned to normal.  i have always had a wave in the back and along the sides and that is still there.  i actually loved my post chemo hair....i have NO gray hair.....which is a little weird...since i am 58 and my sister has a head full of gray hair...she is 5 years younger.  maybe that is just DNA>  i don't know. i know that some people have a profound change to their hair which lasts....i think it is pretty individual. but, who knows.

Well, my advice would just be to bite the bullet and let it grow a bit. It will be untamed looking, and it will annoy you, but I do think the only way to avoid having short hair the rest of your life is to go through that awkward stage.

Mine is really calming down now (two years out) and I think if I got the curls cut now the new growth would be straight.  I have had one trim (the ends were very frizzy) in the two yeras since I finished Chemo.

I use a mousse for curly hair which seems to stop the bushiness a bit, and I can't really brush it or else it gets very big. 

I do straighten it sometimes, but it takes so long, I don't really have the patience...

I'm three years out and my hair is very much back to the way it was pre-bc.

Two years ago, when I had my last license picture taken, it was short and curly, much like you describe your hair now. In looking at my license, I think, "That was a bad hair day." But I remember I was really was glad to have hair and not have to wear a wig for the photo.

My avatar photo was taken last summer (so, about 27 months post dx). It still had some curly/frizzy ends then that were tamed with a flat iron. Those have been trimmed off now and my hair is a bit longer, reaching my shoulders. It's back to it's naturally wavy (not curly) state.

It's been two years since I finished chemo and my hair is back to its pre-chemo state, curly and thick as heck. Although, it was a lot thicker and curlier when it first grew back. The first time I went back to the hairdresser, she thought I had a really bad perm and asked "who did this to your hair?" Like Kerry's, my hair has also calmed down since then.

Awww man, please just tell me my hair is going to grow back!!  Please, please hair - grow back.  Ten days after my final Taxotere treatment, my hair fell out - AGAIN!!!  I am three weeks post chemo today and bald, bald, bald.

Pure, I had such a weird experience with hair. I have recently been thinking my hair is finally back the way it used to be--and I finished chemo in MAY 2003! It fell out of course, with dose dense adriamycin--at the time it was brunette with reddish highlights and was straight as a stick as it had been all my life. During dose dense taxotere it started growing back in, and was salt and pepper gray. Then rather suddenly all the white fell out and it was just dark charcoal gray. Then it got very curly and I just wore it short and tousled. Gradually it has been becoming straighter and straighter, and then charcoal grayness left and it went back to my original color. Just this month I have been noticing I no longer have any wave or curl. It looks dumb just short and straight, I am going to have to grow it longer. But what a long time it took to go back to normal. Hopefully the chemo did just as big a job on the miscellaneous cancer cells.I miss my curly hair--it had such body I could do anything with it. I just washed it and fluffed it.Now it is straight and limp again.

My hair came in thick and wavy after chemo....then on AI's it went straight and limp....I kept my hair layered....it was long before BC and I was growing it long again, but now its in a sort of "bob"...

I don't have the curls to contend with, but I have felt like I have been in perpetual hair limbo since chemo.    I'm still not sure what I'm doing with it but as Claire and Kerrymac said, I am growing it out and going through the awkward phase right now.  Bobby pins and barrettes are my friend.  

Jenn - My curls came in thick, thick, thick and spirals.  I went to a hairdresser that specializing in curly hair.  Curly hair should not be cut like straight hair, nor should you comb or brush it unless you're in the shower with conditioner.  Curly hair is much dryer than straight hair, so be sure to use the right products.  I am using Deva, which is a line specifically for curly hair and I love my curls.  Shampoo that foams will dry your hair out, use a product that doesn't foam.  I love my curls.  I also use another product in the Deva line that you put on after you get out of the shower, it is meant to hold the curls and keep them soft and managable.  Myhairdresser also said that she prefers to work with the hair's natural tendencies rather than fight it.  Meaning she would prefer I don't try to keep it straight.  That way you have less bad hair days........

Good luck and look for products and a sytlist that specializes in curly hair, it will make all of the difference in how you handle your hair and in loving your hair. 

have you tried WEN.. that seems like neat stuff

Lucky are those with hair.  I am 3 months out and still short and coming in grey.  I have baby fuzz hair and am using Johnsons baby shampoo.  Should I be using something else?  My hair is sticking up a little on top near the back, a few wirey hairs sticking straight out near my ears.  This is the worst part of the process so far for me.  Feel as though my hair will never grow long again, I can't believe the grey, I know I am old(48), but....  Glad to hear I am not alone without hair growth.

Greytcruise, i heard or read that baby shampoo is

very harsh and stripping to the scalp, because of that

Crusty scalp babies have.



I,ve been using only the mildest shampoos found in

health food stores.



I,m echoing u - so lucky those w ith hair !!!