Hi all, am going overseas tomorrow and have just finished chemo last week...and wondering...can someone please suggest the BRAND of biotin i should buy? and what about nioxin? thx, rosemary

I have a blog that one of my friends, who is also a hairstylist, just read.  She has just called and told me that I need Nioxin and Biotin.  Looks like I will get on that bandwagon.  Thanks sweetbean for the brand of biotin, and the good hair vibes too!

I went topless at 12-13 weeks. It was short but I pulled it off.

I did too Lago. I just couldn't stand the wig any longer. I also decided i like my hair short better and i got a pixie haircut. It's so easy, i love it! Happy 4th everyone!! Having a BBQ with family at my house so i better get busy

                                                         Pam

P.S. It's going to be 77 in Seattle today, WhoooooHooooo!!!!

bdavis - great looking hair!  Good coverage...

I have read that coloring makes it orange if done too prematurely... so I am nervous about that... My hair is looking less gray than it was as the darker hair comes in, but as a blond I find it hard to judge what I am looking at. I tried using a little sun-in earlier today to see if anything would happen... I didn't see anything different...And I wouldn't dye it brown or red, as I have never been a brunette or redhead... not sure the best approach... maybe use an over the counter L'Oreal type thing?? In like a champagne or ash blond? I was looking at them at the store the other day... I am worried about dying my whole head one color... In the past, I would buy something for highlighting, just highlighting random pieces of hair. Pre-chemo I had just a little gray at the sideburn area, so I would highlight more there and it worked.

I need more hair to go to a professional

pbablsmit - I finished 16 June so I am 2 weeks pfc.  I assume that pfc = past final chemo and my last and final chemo infusion was 16 June.  Not sure why you would not count the first three weeks.  In my opinion, each week out is a victory!

I haven't been on this thread for 32 pages. 

Jen1832 - PFC - Post *$&%^ Chemo is what it stands for

Bdavis - I was a natural blonde.  My hair came in a mousy brownish gray color.  I waited 6 months before I went to a professional as (1) I wanted my hair to grow in healthy without chemical treatment and (2) I was also worried about how the chemo hair would color and didn't want it turning orange on me.  We used a frosting cap for the first 3 colors treatments.  This way she would put in two colors - base color plus highlights.  The next treatments were basically highlights in different blonde shades so my hair looked naturally blonde.  I would suggest someone that has been doing hair for 20 years or so and not an amatuer out of school even though it does cost more.  My hair finally got long enough to where I could foil it.

I haven't put any color in for 4 months now as I am giving my hair a rest over the summer.  I was so hoping that the sun would naturally bleach it as it has in the past but I guess I am not in the sun as much as before because it isn't doing anything for my hair.

As far as counting how many weeks you are - you start with the last day of treatment.  At least that is what most everyone has done in the past.  I finished chemo the end of May 2008 and my hair is past my shoulders by about 3".  Keep in mind I have gotten baby trims every 8 weeks so it would be a couple of inches longer if I never trimmed it.

Betsy - believe me I went nuts having that awful color.  Although I was glad to have my hair growing back - it just didn't seem like me - the pre-cancer person.  I was chomping at the mouth waiting to get my hair colored so that I would feel somewhat normal again.  My hair was like your picture - it was very light but also had some darker blonde color in it at the roots and the underneath hair that was not exposed to sunlight and yes....due to my age I had white hair coming in also.

I was trying all sorts of products - the rinse out colors so that I wasn't dying or bleaching my hair - I was just using colored mouse that would rinse out and I still couldn't cover up the gray so I resigned myself to it knowing that I just had to wait and then color it.

bdavis your hair is growing in at a great pace. I am brunette so the grey really shows on me but as it got longer it was less noticeable. I got it colored at a salon with a semi permanent but it's been about 8 or 10 weeks and mostly washed out and i don't seem as grey now. I am not sure how grey I was before BC i used to hi light my hair very blonde so it blended in. Money is tight now so I am dealing with it as it is.

I think the problem for blonds, at least for me, is that my natural color is multi-toned... I have many many shades of blond and in the winter help it along with some streaking highlights, and more recently to conceal some gray at the temple/sideburn area... When I wore my hair shorter a few years back it was harder as with every haircut, they chopped off the blondest hair as it was the hair exposed to light... so I can see this will be a challenge, and may initially brighten the whole head and deal with multi tones as I go along.

I have not used Nioxin or any products... I started taking B-50 complex that has Biotin in it as recommended by my MO for some numbness... numbness is gone, so I guess it is working.Very little biotin in the vitamin so not sure it makes a difference. I do use John Freda Root Awakening shampoo... 

Betsy and Jancie, is the Biotin for neuropathy of the feet and fingers?  If so, I should try picking some of that up...  Actually, I still have a lot of numbness in the arm and underarm from the node removal, so I wonder if it would help there? 

I can't remember for sure what product the hairdresser recommended, because I stopped in for just a wigliner that day, and she showed me a product that she recommends.  I think it was around $30 or so, so I skipped it that day.  BUT, I finished chemo today, so I'm headed over there in the morning.  GROW, BABY GROW!!! 

YamahaMama I used Acetyl-L-Carnitine for neuropathy when I was on chemo. I swear it helped me from getting it badly. I just have it on my left heel and it's getting better. I still take it because it's a memory booster and I swear my memory is better.

I took biotin for years for my hair way before chemo.

I took Acetyl - L - Carnitine for neuropathy as well.  I was actually in a clinical trial for it, and am not positive that I didn't get a placebo, but I had and have VERY minimal neuropathy.  It's available for purchase at vitamin stores, and is apparently kind of expensive?  But in the trial I got it free.  I recommend it for neuropathy for sure.