Hair after Chemotherapy is done.

Onlyme64
Onlyme64 Member Posts: 71
edited August 2019 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

Not sure if this is the right group or not. but here it is..I finished my treatment 3 weeks and 2 days ago, but who is counting, yes. I used the cold cap and at the end of the my treatment I still had about 50% of my hair. However over the past 3 weeks my hair really started to thin out more. I now have about 35% - 40% of my hair. I do have some bald spots and really thinning hair.

Ok, I am totally frustrated because from what I read hair growth should have started 2 - 3 weeks after treatment... well, it seems like i am losing more hair instead of growing it back.

My question, how long does it take for hair to stop coming out and for hair to grow back? I refuse to wear my wig, because it will defeat the purpose of my using a cold cap.. but when your hairdresser and family who knows is saying time to wear the wig.

I just don't get it I stopped my treatment and now I am losing my hair...

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • CBK
    CBK Member Posts: 611
    edited June 2019

    Ohhhhhhno!!

    It’s hard to advise you since I didn’t cold cap and I don’t know what chemo regime you were on. You may want to post to cold capping thread ?

    I know I was losing eyebrows and lashes after I stopped Taxol but not head hair. I was growing head hair on Taxol. Didn’t lose a thread of head hair PFC!

    I hope you get some answers.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Ingerp
    Ingerp Member Posts: 2,624
    edited June 2019

    This is why I decided not to cold cap—I read too many stories like yours. My guess is the hair you’re going to lose just hasn’t been combed/brushed/pulled out yet. It takes a while to come back in and usually starts as light fluff, so not that visible. Maybe you just can’t see the new growth yet. FWIW—I only used baseball caps and bandannas. I stopped wearing them about 12 weeks PFC. My hair wasn’t quite as long as I’d hoped but I had a business trip and didn’t want to bother packing headwear.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited June 2019

    Could still be the stress of the treatment. I would keep drinking water and perhaps talk to a dermatologist.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Onlyme64
    Onlyme64 Member Posts: 71
    edited June 2019

    this sucks.. got through treatment with very slow thinning/shedding and now.. I am freaking.. because there are many family members who don't know and one is coming this weekend and I was hoping for at least some growth in the bald/thinning area. but nope... stressing how I am going to pull off her not noticing my hair without the wig. not even that... eyebrows and eyelashes.... not even the my husband wants to visit his family, which they don't know, and I refuse to tell them for many reasons.. so how the heck can I pull off a week in front of in-laws without them noticing the hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.



    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited June 2019

    justme1964, if they notice and say anything, you can tell half-truths -- you have a skin condition called alopecia, but your doctor assures you it's temporary. That is ALL true. It just doesn't say anything about the alopecia being chemo-induced.

    Then, if they persist in wanting to know more and comment on it, say something like, "I know you're concerned, but I really don't like to talk about it. I'm sure you understand." Then change the subject. Think of a BUNCH of subject changes before they come so you have other things to talk about.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • buttonsmachine
    buttonsmachine Member Posts: 930
    edited June 2019

    I think my hair started to grow back roughly 8 weeks after chemo ended, both times. In the interim, I lost most my eyebrows. I thought it was strange at the time, but they also grew back eventually.

    Hang in there, and hopefully you'll see regrowth soon.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Onlyme64
    Onlyme64 Member Posts: 71
    edited June 2019

    just frustrating it is when all I heard was hair growth during taxol and with the cold cap I will not lose anymore then more hair growth 2 - 3 weeks after last treatment. to come to find out, it did not go that way with me...

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited June 2019

    I can understand your frustration you spend the effort and money on cold capping and it didn't seem to work very well for you.

    My neighbor lost probably 70 percent of her hair during tamoxifen then later AI drugs. Over 10 years later no improvement, she is 84 years old and she has only tiny wisps of hair left. I didn't lose any hair although it was kind of dull and dry. The shine seems to be back but not really 100% like before.

    Permanent hair loss happens, hopefully your cold capping atleast prevented that.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Onlyme64
    Onlyme64 Member Posts: 71
    edited June 2019

    Not worried about spending money on the cold cap, I was lucky to have my insurance company pay 100%. I am down to about keeping 30 - 35% of my hair. I really hope my hair grows back and not permanent.

    From what I hear and every doctor is telling me, my hair will grow back.

    plus, I have not heard anyone where their hair did not grow back.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited June 2019

    Well there are people here on BCO that had permanent hair loss but they did not cold cap, atleast the ones I know of, so chances are extremely good that your hair will come back.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • el7277
    el7277 Member Posts: 64
    edited July 2019

    This hair loss thing is just so unkind. My last TCH chemo was April 4th. I am currently on Kadcyla but (knock wood) it is not a likely scenario for more hair loss. I currently have decent regrowth but I am not one to go out without the wig for work and shopping or at least light cap when I exercise. Quite honestly it pisses me off when I am about to just run an errand or take a walk and then am thrown into the reminder that I first need my wig or cap. I hate it. It is July in NJ and HOT. I have my vaca down the shore first full week in August and I just don't know yet what I will do daily as I love the beach. My only swimming option will be with this short crop of dark browns and many whites. It is just insult to injury. That bitch session out of the way, I am grateful that it is growing. Another long road. Any good summer cover finds? I am not much for the scarves. (Or as I told my family when they suggested scarves... I am not Rhoda Morganstern. For those of you old enough to get that reference)

    image

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited July 2019

    el7277 I have SO MANY SCARVES, some of them bad purchases on my part and another dozen that were gifts. Almost none of them are useful to me. The ones that are are small, bandana-sized squares that I've cut across on the diagonal and stitched the cut edge, so there is less fabric in them. That makes them lighter, cooler, and drape more easily. I also wear ball caps when out. At home I am just bald, unless my head is cold.

    My chemo is done (as of yesterday YAY!!) so I'm looking forward to having hair as lovely as yours. :)

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • kber
    kber Member Posts: 394
    edited July 2019

    image

    This is me so far - no cold cap and i finished chemo April 26. I actually had it cut last week since the first hairs to grow in where these wispy white things and they were longer than the darker browns underneath. Since they came in first, they were longer so I just had everything evened up. Now I look ready to join the service!

    It *is* hot here in NJ and I haven’t found any good summer covers, so I finally threw my hats away and have gone lidless for about a week.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Flower216
    Flower216 Member Posts: 119
    edited July 2019


    This is me now... I finished chemo in Feb. my hair is “fifty shades of gray" and looks like Brillo but is actually very very soft ! The curls just appeared last week!

    el7277- u look great! I am also in hot and humid NJ and not comfortable going out “naked" yet. My favorite covering for the summer is hats with hearts Miami visor. It's lightweight( it comes with a lining that I cut out), comes in cute colors and has a tie in back by neckline! I know I do I need to get comfortable with my new curls and hair color!

    kber-good for u for giving up your hats.. I hope to do that soon, but I'm not ready yet

    MMia- congrats on finishing chemo!!!



    image

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2019

    I wore a bathing cap on the beach when I was still almost bald. I bought this crazy retro one because that’s my style 😉but there are also the plain silicone ones that athletes use. image

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • WC3
    WC3 Member Posts: 1,540
    edited July 2019

    If your infusions are every 3 weeks then when you posted this, you were nearing the end of your last cycle and probably losing hairs from that last infusion or hairs that stopped growing after previous infusions but remained in the follicle.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • el7277
    el7277 Member Posts: 64
    edited July 2019

    so many of us struggling with this summer heat which I normally adore!

    Mountain Mia...so glad you finished chemo, congratulations! Wishing you speedy hair regrowth. I also go uncovered at home and whenever I am driving. During vaca I will be with my sister and her kids. My daughter is used to my head but I feel it would be a shock for my niece and nephews to see it.

    Kber...Looking good! So happy for you that you embrace lidlessness...it feels SO much better. I keep trying different options but waiting for this hair to grow is truly like watching paint dry! Torture!

    Flower...beautiful hair...it looks so thick! I like that you found a go to covering, that must make things easier. I will keep searching and recently ordered somethingg I may like or I may hate lol. My insurance covers "one wig in a lifetime" when it should be sending me an allowance to cover this thing!

    Olma... love the retro! You go girl.



    ..

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited July 2019

    Okay, now, I'm ready for new hair any day now!! COME ON, HAIR!!!

    No sign of it yet.

    But my scalp is getting weird, bumpy, almost like small pimples in areas. Are the follicles being disrupted with developing new hair? What's up with it?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Margun
    Margun Member Posts: 419
    edited July 2019

    Thé hair will come out evantually. Some of you have decent growth the wueastion when someone can safely colour hair after chemo to cover grays?

    Meaw13- on the positive note. You are talking about your 84 neighbor who 10 years after finishing hormone pills( given for at least 5 years) lost 70 percent of her hair. I understand the frustration but her being alive after 15-20 years after diagnosis is great. Do you know what type of tumor he hAd, her2 positive or her2 negativeWishing all of us to be cancer free and go strong even after 20 years of the cancer diagnosis

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited July 2019

    She has no idea what kind of breast cancer she had she just did what her doctor told her to do. Yes she is happy to be alive but there isn't one time that I have talked to her that she hasn't mentioned her unhappiness with her hair. I tried to tell her to check out hair loss treatment options. No she says she has tried everything nothing worked.

    It obviously makes her very unhappy. She always mentions how nice my hair is and doesn't understand why. Ugh!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited August 2019

    To justme1964 and all the rest, I started a new thread with a poll, because the 2-3 weeks cited doesn't seem to have ANY basis in truth! Check here how others have answered and feel free to enter your own experience.

    https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topics/872824?page=1#idx_5

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • el7277
    el7277 Member Posts: 64
    edited August 2019

    My hair has come in more in the past month thank God but it is a long road. Really wanting to dye it but I know that will be a way off. I went without anything on my head for a lot of my vacation...even went to a couple of stores "topless". I realized at the beach I could not deal with a hat and it felt good to wear nothing. How is everyone else's progress?

    image

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Margun
    Margun Member Posts: 419
    edited August 2019

    el7277-nice hair! How long post chemo did you take this picture

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Margun
    Margun Member Posts: 419
    edited August 2019

    I heard that we can dye safely our hair anytime if we use natural Henna. Anyone else can confirm that

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • el7277
    el7277 Member Posts: 64
    edited August 2019

    Margun...that is my hair today and my last TCH chemo was on April 4th. I have had full eyebrows and lashes since June and the hair is a work in progress. I am on Tamoxifen and Kadcyla but my growth is steady...just slow. I have heard different things about Henna and we everything I read says consult your doctor. They recommend no dye until 6 months after last chemo but I am on Kadcyla now so I guess I need to wait. It is nothing like the hellish original infusions I received but it is chemo nonetheless. I also heard Aveda has natural dyes.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories