CRAZY TOWN WAITING ROOM - TESTS coming up? All Stages Welcome.

MOmmy, so sorry for your loss and a HUGE thank you to him for his service, so few WWII vet's are still with us.

I am so sorry, M0mmy; condolences on your loss.

My father is still with us, a WWII veteran, but I am afraid it will be his time soon.

M0mmy, condolences for losing your Grampa. May his memory be for a blessing, as his service certainly was. The Greatest Generation is dwindling--even Korean War vets are in their 90s now.

Molly, mazel tov on your son's wedding! I hear you about that lump: I have one on my back, which is shrinking but still large. My derm thinks it's either a lipoma or (more likely) sebaceous cyst, but not worth doing anything about unless it gets tender again or comes to a head. She says that biopsying or draining it could leave me open to a more serious infection--I got MRSA in the incision from a punch biopsy for a pre-melanoma on my back in 2016, and don't want to go through that again. And since I'm allergic to the three most common classes of antibiotics, I don't want to risk becoming either allergic or resistant to another one. I never wear anything backless anyway, and if people want to stare & snark at that when I'm in a swimsuit...well, better that than my cellulite-laden thunder-thighs and flapping upper arm bat wings.

M0mmy, my condolences on the loss of your grandfather. He sounds like an incredible man. I will keep your family in prayer. I am going in tomorrow for an ultrasound. She ended up ordering a US of all soft tissue of the head and neck including thyroid. If nothing is found I have promised myself to try to calm down. BC fears never seem to fade! I have a question for you all. Do you still use hair dye? I get mine done more frequently these days because of the rate the gray comes back. Since the new study came out I am considering stopping but I don't know how I will look and my husband still has NO gray hairs.

Molly, that study is an outlier--and it is mere correlation, not causation. And it takes very long-term use for any correlation to become apparent. If, like I, you have been dyeing your hair for years, the "dye is cast" (sorry for the misspelled pun, but it was too easy). The only possible causational link to cancer for either permanent hair dyes or keratin blowouts is that there has been a slight increase in the incidence of bladder cancer in techs who perform these services day in and day out. I know I don't like the way my grays look when they come in (wiry, pepper&salt--except the one or two straight silky platinum streaks that resist the dye) and they simply don't fit my personality. You need to decide for yourself. One's self-esteem and happiness can affect mood, which can in turn affect one's general health. (Not saying unhappiness causes cancer, but it makes cancer & its treatments harder to endure).

My husband has gone gray (though with a full head of hair at 70), but he doesn't accept change well (whether it was my letting my hair go brown again in my 20s, going red at 31 and then blonde in my mid-30s. I keep my hair long even though it's higher-maintenance because he'd likely freak out if I cut it (and I like myself with long hair anyway).

Thank you Sandy and Jules, I know to take these studies with a grain of salt. Yes, I have been dying my hair for years so I think I will continue (at least until I am done working).

Molly ..we were posting at the same time !!!

If my grays had come in like Emmylou Harris' or Nanci Griffith's I'd have stopped covering them long ago. I'm now on the cusp of more "salt" than "pepper" so they use less bleach and I can let my roots grow a bit longer than I used to--especially those with the straight platinum streaks (think Bonnie Raitt, though since I'm blonde mine have much less contrast). I generally go 3 months between root touch-ups and 4 months between keratin straightenings. My salon usually does 1, maybe 2 keratin treatments per week (it's unisex and most of its clients are men) with a special ventilation system, so my stylist is in less danger than those in those chi-chi Lincoln Park or Streeterville salons that do several a day.

I stopped battling the grays in June 2015. My natural color was auburn & was needing touch ups every 3 weeks to keep it. Roots were coming in a pure silvery white & since that became a popular trend for youngsters, figured I would "go gray". Had color "lifted" & then blondish shade & toners applied as the natural color came in. Took about a year. It looks very much like Emmylou Harris' color.

ducky, welcome back. Praying for Nikki--remember, most breast biopsies are benign.

Ducky ..so sorry to hear about your daughter ..sending turbo prayers for benign results .Hugs

Hi Lucy! Thanks for all the input about dying my hair. I go to an Aveda salon which is supposed to be less toxic. Anyway, I don't really care for looking older than my DH at this point lol. ducky!! I think about you all the time my friend. I am sorry about your daughter. I will add her to my prayer list. Celia, you are very fortunate to have pretty gray hair!

Ducky, so great to see you back here, but so sorry about your daughter's tests...keeping her in my thoughts and prayers and, as Sandy said, most biopsies are benign.

I finish radiation for the eye tumor Tuesday! Yay!!!

Would you all hate me if I told you that I've never, ever died my hair but mostly because really I don't need to do so? At almost 66 I just have a few stray gray hairs.....After chemo the color was unchanged, though it was curlier for a while, which I actually liked...back to pre-chemo now. Oh, and one of the minor annoyances of the type of radiation I am having: they won't let me cut my hair until after it is done! (Because it could change the shape of my head under the mask I have to wear...). But it is making me crazy. Cutting it will be the first thing I do post-radiation. And yes, I definitely remember being here during bc treatment/chemo worrying that I'd never have hair again: so I do see the irony in wishing I could cut it today!!!

rainny! I knew there was a reason I woke up thinking about Beppy. I knew it was December but not sure of the exact date. Good to see you friend. Octo, are you surviving radiation with little to no SE's? Thinking of all of you.

I thought of Beppy last night....knew it was today the anniversary of her death. MISS YOU Beppy!

Di