I didn’t bother with the wig thing. I got more stressed about that than having no hair.
The baldness was never a problem. I bought hats to wear out and about at Tesco or down the village but once I’d gone bald in the classroom at work it really didn’t matter anymore. The students take on the whole cancer thing was a great leveller and fabulous for my confidence.
The only reason the hats are on these days is because it’s so blooming cold!
Hope everyone is doing fine.
Karen
I don’t mind the hair loss really. I wear coverings - Suburban turban hats or scarves indoors and sometimes to shop etc. I hate draughts - and with no hair I feel air on my head - weird. Thick hat to go to shops etc. You are really brave, icyk, to go bald to work - especially now it’s winter. Mind if I was as young and pretty as you, maybe I would be braver. It’s strange as once the hat’s on I forget I haven’t any hair - it’s others who can see it.
OH says I’m just as beautiful without hair (ie not very then) - mind he tells me clothes look good without even looking! Put wig on for some occasions. I’ve got an assortment of scarves and shorter scarves to pretty them up, but I’m not very good at tying them and the three males in the house are not much help there. Might as well put a paper bag on my head, they wouldn’t really notice, which is nice really to be accepted just as I am.
Good luck all of you with all your adaptions to hairless life.
Stella
Stella - young? I wish! 48 at the beginning of January. ‘Young’ abandoned me a few years back.
Karen
Hi all
I thought I would join your thread if that is ok?
I had my first chemo 14 days ago and I am waiting for my hair to start falling out. It is still ok at the moment but I have decided to arrange a hair appt this week to have it shaved off this week.
They do not offer the cold cap in my area so did not have this option
I am also dreading this part of the treatment - I can cope with everything else - just but I will not be able to look in the mirror and I already hate my wig that sits on the stand in my bedroom.
I will not want to go out until it grows back again!
I have booked into the look good feel better workshop but the next one is not until the 26th January so will have lost my hair and my eyebrows by then.
Is there an easy way of dealing with this - some tips would be good.
Janvis
Hi Janvis,
This is day 17 for me and my hair is coming out really quickly! I am not sure if it is because th chemo was too strong (they are reducing it by 20% for my next chemo on Thursday).
I found it really hard washing my hair, you find yourself not wanting to look, but having to look. I got really upset yesterday, but more positive today about things.
I have spent all day today Christmas shopping in case I find it hard to go out later and am going to cram in as much as I can in the next couple of days before I am knocked back with my next chemo and whilst my hair is still there.
Tomorrow I am going to buy some more scarves and then off to Canterbury to visit my daughter and then visiting friends and out to dinner Tuesday. More shopping to fill up the cupboards on Wednesday before going into hibernation for a few days. With any luck I will be so tired by then that the steroids won’t keep me awake!
I also had problems booking a place at the workshop, my date is not until the end of Feb!
Julie
X
Hi Janvis
There was no offer of the cold cap at my hospital either. I put my wig in the wardrobe as I didn’t want to look at it so if it’s upsetting you to look at it move it so you don’t see it so much. This time of year hats are ok and “normal” so I wear those out to shops and for hospital appointments. As for mirrors if there is one that you will walk past or see yourself in then move it for the duration. At home I have got used to going around with just one of my buffs on but have some bandana types and scarves ready for evenings out as I still can’t get used to my wig. I just had FEC5 this week and my eyebrows are only just beginning to fall out, just some gaps so they should be ok for you LGFB session in Jan.
Most of all losing our hair is the pits, you are allowed to cry over it, I did… lots!!!
Hugs…mega
Ali.
x
Well I am now bald…shaved the rest off. Its weird and cold and I don’t like it but hey…its winter and hats and scarves will have to rule! Wig looks weird…not me at all so i will keep it in the box for now! Roll on summer and hair! The thing I really hate is that people expect cancer patients to have no hair and be ill looking…I want to keep saying I’m not ill you silly twit, its the drugs that make me have no hair not the cancer. Oh I doooo get sooo cross!
I said the same thing to the nurse at last chemo, that when you say cancer, people think of frail people looking sick and so some are surprised when I’m piling on weight and looking quite good thanks to good wigs and expensive make up from LGFB session!
If only they understood that I do actually feel really crap sometimes despite the good exterior. Perhaps I should leave off the wig and make up some time!
Hi Janvis, you must have started on 1st Nov like me. We can keep count together. Found 5 hairs on the newspaper I was reading earlier…
Tracey
Janvis and Julie- I was at LGFB recently even though I had originally been booked in for next February. I was offered a cancellation - sometimes people have to drop out if their treatment is delayed or they’re not feeling well enough so it’s well worth making sure you’re on the waiting list for cancellations.
Went Christmas shopping like a woman on a mission yesterday for the same reason as you, Julie. Got nearly everything in one go, unlike most years when I’m running around like a headless chicken at the last minute!
Lilac x
Hi Lilac,
I will phone up tomorrow an make sure I am on the list for cancellations. I think a lot of places don’t have them on the run up to Christmas though.
I did quite well with shopping today, just done a lot on-line and planning to go to Ashford before Canterbury tomorrow.
Julie
X
Thanks everyone you have cheered me up
I will move my wig out of the way as you are right it is a constant reminder.
Tracey - yes I started my chemo on the 1st Nov and have my next one on Monday 22nd.
I have also started my christmas shopping and only have a few left to buy as I do not wish to go to town when it is busy.
I also feel the same about being seen as being ill with cancer. I like to think since my lumpectomy that I dont have cancer and the treatment is to prevent it coming back.
I have put my name down for a cancellation on the LGFB for the 26 Nov but I am third on the list and it is also a few days after my next chemo so may not feel up to attending.
Janvis xxx
Hello all
Yes it is definitely the weather for hats now. I don’t know if I’m noticing people wearing them more this year but they do seem to be ‘in’. Losing my hair hasn’t been the worst thing for me though it was a bit upsetting when it was coming out. I decided it was an opportunity for a different image so have a ‘deep burgundy’ wig and a couple of hats from Suburban Turban that are in a style I probably would never have bought otherwise (they’re called ‘Hetta’ and ‘Marta’ - funny how everything has a woman’s name - my wig is called ‘Kiera’!)
Janvis, I also had a lumpectomy and like you I think of the chemo as helping to prevent the cancer coming back. If one more person tells me how well I’m looking I think I’ll hit them! Well, probably not literally.
Amanda xx
Hi all,
Welcome Janvis you will certainly get cheered up on here, My chemo is also after surgery so it is a prevention.
Amanda- someone told me today i also looked well - i had no make up on a very pale face and no hair! believe me i’m no Demi Moore, so yes it does get a bit annoying but hope fully i will get into a LGFB soon rang up tonight and they can fit me in and of March !so will take Lilacs advice and go on a cancellation list- should I be going when i’ve have finished my chemo? although i will still look the same !
As far as the hair goes i’m certainly get used to it but still don’t like it. I have put the wigs away for now and opted for hats could do with some nice ones to wear for Xmas though does anyone know where i could get one? tried S.Turban but could do with velvet or similar.
Happy hat days!
Shell x
Shell - my hats came from hats4heads.com, The Tie Rack, H & M and Tesco! and to be honest the cheaper ones (H&M and Tesco) are the ones I wear the most as I get the most complimentary comments about them. They are all ‘baker boy’ style hats and I NEVER wore hats before. Well, apart from my Donny hat in the 70’s 
Karen
Well after a mere few yesterday- today brought a sudden deluge. My hair came out in handfuls, having had an extremely restless night last night, with a very sore scalp. My sister shaved the rest off for me this evening. You could not make this up though- half way through, with me sitting in an empty bath with a towel wrapped round my shoulders- the clippers stopped working! So there I was, looking like something from ‘Last of the Mohicans’…my sister was in tears. Oh my! Anyway, an hour later we had recharged and finished the job. I had to laugh. Am now in bed with my little night cap, and much more comfortable than last night. A glass of wine and a good laugh helped.
School-run in the morning…
Tracey
Good luck on the school run Tracey…I opened the door to the tv ariel man at 8.45am and he nearly had heart failure from this bald woman peering at him!!! rofl. Wear an eye patch and a scarf and all the kids will think you are a pirate!
I have had 3 days of my hair coming out by the handful, just wondering if it will survive being washed this morning!!
I am not brave enough to shave it off, but I think I am living on borrowed time with it. My next chemo is on Thursday so there will probably be no need for the cold cap!
Julie
X
Hi all
I start on the 26/11 and am thinking that hats may be the way to go generally. Have already made an “appointment” with my friend to shave off hair after 1st treatment (she is my hairdresser too).
My question is, and it’s very frivolous really, what does it feel like in the shower?
Also, I am strongly believing I no longer have cancer, as they assured me that they removed everything in the op - that’s what they told me anyway! That chemo, radiotherapy and tamoxifen is to stop the damn thing coming back!!
Off to my pre-chemo assessment - hopefully my veins will be good enough!!
Thinking of all on this cold morning - brrrrr
SJ xxx
I found I had to either had to keep my head out from under the shower or lower the temperature as my head was very sensitive to the force of the spray and the heat. Lowered the hieght of the head and then used my shower thingy to wash and rinse my head. It helps with the sensitivity you get at some points in the chemo cycle to moisturise it as well. i just use the cheapy one from M&S, my favourite at the mo is white peach and almond, it also comes in a pump pack rather than a tube which means you can do it one handed, useful if the bc side is aching.
Good luck with the pre chemo visit
Ali.