Is my hair loss slow? I feel like it’s not normal and I expected to be bald by now!
I’m on FEC and had 2 treatments 3 weeks apart so far (3rd being next week) and I didn’t start losing my hair til day 17 of the first cycle. It’s been slow but I have a few large bald patches, mostly lost at the front and tufty patches at the back (shaved my head before it started coming out so patchiness is noticeable).
And lost my under arm hair but now seems to be a bit stubbly. Is it normal its starting to grow back?!
I feel like this is a stupid question! But I was expecting to be fair free quickly and now I worry chemo isn’t working like it should
Hi Rudy
There’s no rhyme or reason to hair loss and it’s no indicator of the chemo working or not - just a side effect. Your oncologist will be monitoring your bloods and wouldn’t keep you on a treatment that wasn’t working… I was told I would definitely lose my hair on paclitaxel but my buzzcut survived, albeit a bit thinner, to the very end. I lost underarm hair and pubic hair but, of course, not the hair I would have appreciated losing - leg hair. That stayed stubborn, as did the pubic hair at the top of my legs. For me the one that caused distress was losing my eyelashes, I had three left on one eye and two on the other and some very spidery eyebrow hairs. When my eyelashes regrew, it was uniform stubble.
The best bit is when your hair starts to regrow. It’s so soft, it feels like stroking a puppy. I couldn’t keep my hand off it!