Gray hair after chemo

Abbi,

Congratulations on your new hair color!  I want to be reddish brown, too!  But, I still have a couple of months before I can color it...  Just want to be safe...

I hope my hair grows as fast as yours did!

Harley

I have a crew cut right now, white in the front and pencil gray in the back.  So far, I kind of like it.  In another inch I'll have a real do.

I finished chemo 3 years ago.  I was dark blond and the front part of my hair came in gray but the back half black.  I started dyeing as soon as I had enough to dye with root touch up color.  My hair originally came back curly but is straight again with more body than the original it replaced.  I am actually thinking about dyeing it gray but it would be just as difficult to keep up with that since the back part of my head the color is so dark.

My hair was auburn and straight. it it now about 1" long, mostly white and curly, curly, curly. I get more compliments about my face being framed in white. I was very upset and my husband said "Um hon, you've been  coloring your hair for 20 years, could this be your color?" Hmmmm

i have got a wonderfull colour on my hair and it makes me feel better it gives you a bit more confidence, to pick up on life keep going you get there and all the new hair dos you try on the wayas your hair grows is an eyeopener

margo935

Yeah, 38 years old here.  I started getting gray in my 20's.  And now the only hair that i am noticing coming in is the grays.  Even on my chinny chin chin.  I have been plucking them out.  I used to like my grey streek.  People used to ask me if I frosted my hair.  It reminded me of my idol Maya Angelou and my mom.  I have it in the same spot as them.  But now I think instead of the spot it will be all over.  But I will deal with it when it comes.

sparker

Good evening everyone.  Thought I'd reopen this conversation since I am now 13 weeks post chemo and plan to add some color to my hair tomorrow morning.  It is coming in as all shades of gray with some white and brown here and there.  I am really just wanting to get rid of the gray sideburns that peek out in front of my red wig's hairline.  I'll probably be wearing my wig for 2 more months.  I am now 53, but my hair was straight a reddish auburn color until I was about 50.  Then the color started dulling and a noticeable number of gray hairs were sprouting so I started coloring it regularly.  So now that you all have had plenty of time to experiment with coloring, my question is what product works the best on the new baby soft hair that is only about 1/2 inch long?  I was planning to look for a botanical product, but have no idea what selection our local Walmart will have.  Mousse?  Glaze?  Too soon?  Thanks in advance for any input you can provide.

Good Morning... I finished chemo/radiation in May '05.  While my hair has re-grown, it is now baby fine & extremely thin... w/ scalp still showing, esp on the top of my head.  My eye lashes are fine too, & I'm still waiting for the rest of my eyebrows to fill in.  Acquaintances who have endured cancer treatments since mine now have full heads of hair!  What am I missing??

    Surgeon, oncologist, dermatologist have not been able to offer explanations or remedies.  As for color, I use a very gentle wash-in product, lasting about a week.

Just a humorous thought - I am solid grey now (dye it brown) so maybe mine will come back in brown after I lost it. Doubt it , but it is worth wishing for.

Kfalls-

I don't think so... my hair was starting to show alot of white in between the brown, so I started coloring it, before bc...  after chemo, it was TOTALLY WHITE!!  Oh, it was HORRIBLE!  I didn't even recognize the person in the mirror!

Good Luck!

Harley

My onc nurse said it could come in any color (within your genetic makeup, I'm sure) and could be curly or straight. She didn't see my butt-length brunette hair, but she said to have hope because just because it was gray (I have been coloring it for years) it might come in a different color. We have blondes, brunette (with red highlights, like mine was) and pitch black in the family. We only don't have red.

I'll be done with chemo at the end of June, so we shall see how it grows back. I start Taxol on Tuesday which might wipe out the remaining patches of "buzz cut" I have left, and maybe eyebrows.

To be honest, I'm getting tired of being bald. 

Star - When my hair fell out I got a wig but it didn't feel right.  I bought some soft headbands and glued some bangs (cut from the wig) to the headbands and then ironed a piece of iron on patching on top of the bangs.  I wore these bands with turbans.  A lot of people just thought I was being stylish and didn't know that I had no hair.  My "bangs" have lasted 10 months - just don't comb them too hard.

I am just about 8 weeks post chemo and I am wishing my hair would come back in as fast as my foob did ( those weekly fills brought me back to size in no time LOL).  My hair is coming in but  seems that the top is where it is still thin.  I do have alot of white or colorless hair and then some very dark brown.  I had gray before, at the sides and in my part mostly.  I will color my hair as soon as I know that it won't stain my scalp.  Reading all this I will go with a wash out color or glaze. It is wierd to look in the mirror at myself.  The white is coming in curly and the dark straight..whats up with that LOL 

I did notice this week that the hair on my  legs is coming back now and I am back to shaving every other day so I guess it is growing right!  LOL

I am 55 and my hair has been going gray since high school.  I was blonde until I was twelve and then it became darker.  My natural color was mostly a silvery gray and nearly black.  Mine did the skunky thing as it came in and I hated it but loved the white the gray had turned.  I bleached mine the lightest golden blonde and I love it.  It has grown so much since my avatar pic and curling all over my head.  I use serum to keep it soft and don't overdry it as that can do serious damage. 

I was out the other day and a lady told me it was beautiful.  It made me so happy!  The amazing thing is my bald spots from my thyroid disorder have disappeared!  At least there was one positive thing from this ordeal.

I'm starting the 5th of my six 3 weeks cycles of Taxotere and Gemzar.  My hair never completely fell out - just thinned to about 1/4 of it's normal volume, so I buzzed it off.  It's now starting to come back in and it's completely colorless so far.  I have about an inch of colorless fuzz, so I look like a baby chick!    My eyebrows also fell out and are now coming back too.

 But it's hair and it's comforting to know that it will return.  I've had my hair weaved for years to a medium blonde with lighter highlights, so not having the maintenance for these months has been nice,  But I'm glad to see that something is sprouting up there again.