Hair growth pictures

Rocktobermom , Good for you!!! I can't wait to be sayin' the same thing!

That was in September at the BC walk.  Its amazing how fast hair grows! 

ROCKO....YOU'RE ONE HOT MAMA!!!!! Oh, and nice hair too

~Marin

Hey Rocktober Mom - thanks for the imfo - I am six months behind you and my hair actually will probably be the same length in another six months - except it is SCARY CURLY!  Which makes it look much shorter.  Oh well . . . just today my daughter's roommate who just passed her cosmetology exam told me how cute my hair is with my headbands, and my son told me yesterday "well, Mom, compared to last year it looks great!"  (All my neighbors look amused when they ask me "Is that natural - did your hair grow back in curly like that?")  But it is a fond amused!!

So here's a hair growth tip that I read about in Elle magazine yesterday. It certainly surprised me. In an article on thinning hair and hair loss that occurs with aging, they consulted a derm in NYC who advocated the use of Minoxidil/Rogaine (no surprise there) to rev up roots and follicles, but also recommended "zinc-based dandruff shampoos, such as Head & Shoulders, which descale and calm...the scalp." He says that zinc is an anti-inflammatory and reduces swelling around the follicles, thus allowing new growth to push through. He also recommends taking oral zinc at 15 mcgs daily (that's the RDA in most multivits, I've noted).

So have at it, girls! Who knew?!

~Marin

I couldn't get in, because you need to enter your email address, and I don't know which email address is connected to the password  bcsisters...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Harley

I love those photos of the woman after her treatments were over.

Well, no picture, but I do have a hair story.

One of my friends never knew I was wearing a wig all through my chemo treatments.  Never batted an eyelash at my new hairdo.

Yesterday, she saw me for the first time in a couple of months.  I am no longer wearing the wig. 

She was in a total state of shock at my hair!  She even had to rub my head because she said it was so thick and curly it looked like a wig!!! 

BTW, it's been growing since the Fourth of July.

Tina

Tina (abbadoodlles), you and I are on the same schedule! I can't complain about how my hair is growing back in - but it certainly has been an adventure!

I've always had very thick hair, some wave - enough to give it plenty of body and make it so it would hold a style or could be blown out straight. 49 at diagnosis, I had never needed to color my brownish/blondish hair, though I sometimes had it highlighted a bit in the fall and winter when I was not in the sun as much. It was past my shoulders - about to my bra strap in back.

But after all those months of my wig, various scarves, hats, hat + scarf combos, night caps, etc. I had thought I might start going topless around Hallowe'en - maybe a real style at Christmas.

Well so much for my plan - my billat. mastectomies and immed. DIEPs got scheduled for Sept 25th, only week 12 of teensy-tiny hair growth. But I was certainly not going to be wearing a wig or some sort of headcover in the hospital after that kind of surgery! My 'do' looked about like the karinstack thirteenth image - and not my color. It was coming back this odd mixture of brown, reddish, dark brown, and this kind of transparent battleship grey.

After my 10-hour surgery, my body went into hair-shock. Did anybody else's? My head-hair completely stopped growing. I hadn't had to shave my underarms for four years due to an autoimmune condition and putting on my deodorant the night befoe surgery, they were as bare as ever. The morning after surgery - I kid you not - my armpits had long silky grey-ish 4-week growth.Earth-mother-hairy-armpit-I-was-raised-on-a-commune-in-Boulogne type of growth. I was horrified. Of course, I shaved them once - and never again since. Maybe I should have taken pictures and sent them to the National Enquirer. 

Enough true confessions.

After about a month of just sulking, my head hair finally started to grow again. The battleship grey faded away, it still has hints of red in the sunshine, it has begun to have wave that I can coax into curls with a little gel, but not the ringlets that so many other women get. I am also noticing a few real grey/silver hairs here and there. The ends, especially of the curly areas are turning blonde again.

At week 23, it's hard to compare with karin's images, because it's obvious she's had a trim and shape up. I just want some bangs again! But the very pronounced cowlick up front that seems to be an even stronger hereditary link than our BRCA-1 means I'll be doing the same tousled look that karin does for months to come. And to top it pff, I have a double crown in the back. Wild hair!

Lisa

So newter....how about your hair? What's going on with it at this point? Mine gets "awesomer" every day and is now touching my freakin' shoulders! This past week, I actually was able (with a lot of extra clippies) to put it in a ponytail when I taught class! YAY! I can't wait until I can do a French braid....that's how I often wore it before bc, especially when teaching or skating.

So to those of you reading this and feeling envious, just remember that I was as bald as Mister Magoo too only 2 years ago! So take your vitamins, keep up the Nioxin and the massage and very soon you'll have gorgeous, flowing locks again! This is my wish for all of you for 2008 (in addition to your dancing with NED of course!)!

~Marin

Thanks, Newter....same to you (and everyone also)! Maybe we'll get some clips and scrunchies in our stockings!!!!

~Marin