Life After Cold Caps: a place for ex-cold-cappers to share

Gatomal,

You are proof it can!

Gatomal - isn't it the BEST feeling? So nice to feel normal again. It looks great!! I kept my dark hair which I had not had for 20 years. Now everyone says they like it better dark than light. Great, 20 years of expensive highlights and they like it better darker!? Lol. Had a few subtle highlights put in this time but since it worked out so well, I'll get a few more next time...love the feel & look of permanent color ...finally!!! Who says you need to wait SIX MONTHS??!! Kim

Hair is growing in! Almost don't need the Toppik anymore. Had what seemed like pre-chemo shedding yesterday on my hair wash day. Can't wait to get a haircut and use a blowdryer and straightener. My eyebrows are taking their sweet time, even with the help of Lumigan.

Melb, I colored my hair at 4 weeks using Natural Instincts because we were taking family pictures. I only applied it to the gray areas (temples and above ears) and then I rinsed it very gently. I had no ill effects from doing this and plan do do it again next week.

Whitney - you are looking good! Filling in great! I'm with you on the blow dryer - oh how I miss it and my brushes!

Sula, was that highlights?

alibeths,

No it was some sort of Demi color I think. No peroxide, no ammonia. I'm going back to my regular color and highlights next time as it's been 5 mos now and everything seems to be cool with my hair. Can't wait

Leslienva,

How far out did you wait till getting your highlights?

Dancetrancer,

Did you get foil highlights or something else?

OK, so I have been "stalking" the cold cap posts since I began treatment February 19th. I had 4 doses of taxotere / Cytoxan, three weeks apart with my last treatment on April 28th. My husband, sister, mom and a few great friends came to every treatment with me and took turns strapping on the cold caps. We actually had a pretty good time and giggled a lot. We made enough noise that we were told to keep it down a few times, but never told to stop as we brightened the atmosphere! I called them my chemo entourage!

I would estimate I lost 40% of my hair, which was very long, thick and wavy prior to treatment. Most of my hair loss came from my crown, I would describe it as a bald spot the width of a tube sock ear to ear. That said, I kept my most of the hair along my forehead and around my head, I also kept all my length in the back and it never looked like it had thinned at all. During treatment and about 3 weeks after treatment I was able to use toppik to cover any loss and no one could tell but me and my family on wash days (when the bald spots would show nice and bright!). I continued to shed daily, and with every washing through week 16 post treatment.

Exactly 4 weeks after my final treatment I had my exchange surgery and a salpingo oophorectomy. My hair began shedding a little more than it had been following surgery and around week 6 PFC I had to buy a topper (1/2 a wig) because I had gotten so thin on top that the toppik would no longer cover my loss. I continued to shed a moderate amount until week 14 with the shedding finally stopping at week 17 PFC.

I am still happy to say that I kept most of my hair and I don't mind wearing the topper. It's not hot like a full wig would be, and it matches my texture, color and waves perfectly. Not even my husband can tell a difference! I went with real human hair because synthetic does not curl, and I will probably wear this until my baby hairs grow to my shoulders (my hair is longer than my bra strap right now and looks healthy!)

After reading everyone's comments for the past 6 months, it seems girls on taxol have a better outcome than girls on dose dense taxotere. Does anyone agree or disagree with this? Again, I consider myself a success but I still could not go without my topper for at least 6 weeks. I can get away with it now because my new hair covers all my bald spots... but not to work.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, they saved me a lot of stress and kept me going!

I went to the MO for my herceptin yesterday and my doc was amazed at my hair. He asked me how much I thought I lost, hardly anything we guessed as I've known him for years before this last cancer. UCSF has been very supportive of the cold capping and my local MO who's affiliated with them (I get my chemo at a center up in Wine Country which is closer to our house than SF) was very impressed. I was one of only two cappers at my local center, and the head oncology nurse is now recommending capping, before that she was a rather large pain in the butt about it and quite skeptical.

here I am after finishing chemo. My hair is even longer now and I've had to have two hair cuts! Excuse the startled expression I've not quite grasped a good selfie technique

Hey girls - everyone is looking good. I dyed my hair with permanent hair color and highlights (just a few) at 4 months post chemo and everything worked out just perfect. I'm back to doing all my old things again .... dye, highlights, blow drying straight, etc. Feels good to be back to 'normal' again. Kim

pch,

you look stunning!!! You clearly take a marvelous selfie and don't look as though you've stuck your finger in a light socket..what I love about this capping stuff is NO ONE (strangers etc) needs know what we're going through unless we tell them!

pch you look wonderful!!!!!!

pch, you look amazing!! Great selfie pick!! And Kim, so glad you are back to your old hair ways too!! What a wonderful feeling ladies! I wish we all lived in the same town and could get together.....that is certainly worthy of a celebration with other ladies who can understand our hair journey in addition to all the other BC crap.

I used organic/non ammonia/non peroxide color six months after my final chemo and it actually looked great! I had no problems with losing any hair. Then last month (eight months after chemo) I added regular highlights. I like the idea of using organic, tho.