Hi ladies, I’m due to start chemo on the 26th June and have asked to try the cold cap, I know I could still lose my hair and it’s supposed to be really painful but I’m going to give it a try. Does anyone know if you have to be fitted for the cap before the treatment day? I’ve tried to ring my breast nurse but she’s off sick and there’s no one else to help!
Thanks in advance x
Hi NicolaJ
I am due to start my Chemo on the 28th June. I have also opted to try the cold cap. I was told to come a few minutes early for my appointment. Presume that this is the only fitting needed. Hope I can cope with it!
Good luck for your treatment. :heart:
Hi it is not painful it is uncomfortable for 10 minutes and after that like having a wet head for a couple of hours . The downside is you are on chemo ward twice as long but upside you do not have to face losing all
ypur hair . Worth a try am on chemo number 7 today and still have most of hair just a bit thinner
No problem with fitting on the day. You go in with dry hair and go the the ladies with a comb and spray bottle of water to damp your hair. Then comb a large blob of conditioner through and you are all set. You will need an elasticated hair band to protect your forehead and ears.
Take a flask of hot tea/coffee with you because they do come around with a trolley but if you have just missed it a hot drink makes it more comfortable. Also have a couple a pain killers about 30 mins before they put it on. It only hurts for a few minutes then your head is numb and you are fine.
I had wonderful results with the cold cap - just a bit of thinning and this was my routine:
Wash once about a week after chemo with cool water and NOT under a shower. No special shampoo.
Pat dry DO NOT RUB.
Give about 4 squirts of a leave in conditioner.
Comb with a wide tooth comb
THEN LEAVE IT ALONE until the next week and repeat.
The more you fiddle with it the more it sheds. Do that routine even after your last chemo and only go “back to normal” as in under a shower, more than one wash, wash out conditioner, hair dryer, straighteners or whatever a good month after your last treatment - but I left it 6 weeks.
Also check out fasting before chemo and you will lessen the side effects enormously. Lots of us have done it.
Hi - I have pasted my response to another thread. I know when I was reading up on it all a year ago I coudlnt find much positive feedback on the cold cap.
I dip in and out of the forum now and then - a year since my diagnosis in June 2019. After mastectomy in July I had 5 months of chemotherapy that finished in Feb (3 x EC and 12 x Taxol ).followed by 3 weeks of radiotherapy. So it’s been 3 months since my treatment including a hysterectomy to finish it all off.
I used the Paxman cold cap throughout the whole chemo treatment and managed to preserve my hair intact with no bald patches. Whilst I shed strands of hair most days, and it thinned a reasonable amount ( in my view say 25% or so), to the untrained eye it was not noticeable. I have short straight hair - not super thick but there was quite a bit of it and I would only colour it 2-3 times a year so it was in quite good condition and strong to start with.
So I can confirm that yes cold capping works for some but not all and would suggest if you can grit your teeth and bear with it, it is worth it. You will find out a few weeks in whether it is working or not and the team will tell you if it is worth persevering.
It was very empowering especially as I continued working throughout and whilst I was quite prepared to wear a wig and bought lots of hats I tend to lose heat through my head and can get a bit sweaty from headwear so it was good to avoid head wear for me where possible.
For the first one I was nervous and was nearly not going to do it as I couldn’t find many positive stories on the Forum. But I watched Rachel Bland’s blog and that gave me the courage to give it a go. I took Paramol each time (an hour before) - it has paracetamol and codeine it so a bit of an extra kick. I also had reflexology to coincide with the cold cap being put on. That distracted me enough and I chatted to whoever was giving me the foot massage and that got me through that first 10 mins of freezing where you feel it the most. For the first one I needed to do some concentrating and positive visualisation - imagining jumping into a cold sea or lake and taking slow deep breaths to get through that first strange experience.
I had heard some people throw the cap off in pain. I would not say it was that excruciating at all - more uncomfortable like an extended ice cream headache. Once your scalp is frozen is like a low slow discomfort that you forget about some days even the key is to try and snooze or do something to distract yourself.
The nurses always had a heated blanket and plenty of layers on hand. Sometimes I would need them, sometimes I wouldn’t. I tended not to really eat during the chemo either but would make sure I had eaten an hour or so beforehand and not until I got home. You may want to think about varying the conditioner the nurse put on for the cold cap so you don’t associate the smell with the experience too. You do have to be quite determined too as it does add time to your session.
Washing wise - I would wash 2 to 3 times a week and try and natural dry as long as possible. I used a shampoo called Grow Me which you can get on Amazon: amazon.co.uk/dp/B00Q59B4UK/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00Q59B4UK&pd_rd_w=gU6aj&p…
I found it really good.
I also researched good dry shampoos for in between days and whilst expensive found Living Proof (from Space NK) to be best: spacenk.com/uk/en_GB/haircare/shampoo/dry-shampoo/phd-dry-shampoo-MUK200020501.html
You will probably know by week 3 or so if it is working or not as if it is, it won’t come out in chunks and should just be strands here and there. Certainly makes you more house tidy though as there is always hair everywhere !
As for my eyelashes - they pretty much left the building by the end. I was using mascara throughout until about week 8 of Taxol and then they gradually fell out. I defined my eyes quite heavily as a camouflage (Charlotte Tilbury Rock n Kohl) and wear glasses so no one particularly noticed unless looking closely. My eyebrows thinned quite a bit but not entirely ) so I pencilled those in.
I finished chemo in Feb and 3 months later my eyelashes and eyebrows were back - as well as everywhere else unfortunately. I stopped highlighting my hair and it’s now turned largely ash grey (all the trend now) and the hair I did lose is growing back and has nearly caught up with the rest.
I have rambled a bit here but think I have written something I would have liked to have seen before I started. Good luck everyone ! Maybe I should hit up Paxman for some sponsorship ha ha !
Hi Nicola,
I started on the 20th and used cold cap. They didn’t fit me prior and we had a bit of a fiddle because my head -despite my fine hair- is larger than the average so the cap they’ve put aside for me didn’t fit, and we had to change machines. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought and with the blanket I managed to get through it, no headaches, and just got cold by the end. Now I am not sure if it will work, I am starting to feel a bit of itchiness on my hair, but as everyone says by week 3 we might know if it’s worth doing it or not. Since my infusion time is about 1 hour, I don’t mind extending it for 30 mins prior and 1h ish after. I washed it yesterday but pouring water from a plastic soup container instead of the shower head, let it dry naturally and used leave in conditioner.
Good luck with your treatment!
Felicidad