Hi All,
Anyone have any idea how long it takes for lashes and brows to grow back after chemo? Any suggestions to help this along please? I am 6 weeks post FEC/TAX and finish radiotherapy next week and as my head hair is growing (in a strange fashion) I was hoping it would let my lashes and brows know it was time to reappear again!
My leg hair knew it was time to grow back a few weeks ago so there’s no excuse!
Any suggestions gratefully received. Bev x
Mine took longer to come through, too (around the two months mark) and then seemingly appeared overnight. Hang in there!
Hi,
i finished chemo at end of april and managed to put mascara on for the first time on holiday in July (it was a fabulous feeling!). i was so worried my eyebrows and lashes were not growing, i felt so ugly and ‘empty’ without them.
Eyebrows came back almost overnight at the end of June, i woke with a weird looking ‘shadow’ where they were growing, and they were through fully in a few days (had to do some serious painful plucking to get them in shape). Lashes were the last thing to return.
stay with it, i know the waiting is awful but you will get there.
Joanne xx
The ‘Dreaded Docetaxel’ certainly has a lot to answer for! It was only when I started on this ‘chemo cocktail’ that my eyelashes and eyebrows decided to abandon ship when, up until then, they had stuck with me through the 3 doses of FEC.
I keep looking at my leg hairs which have started reappearing, and, like King Canute, I keep telling them to go back and reappear on my eyelids but they do not take any notice, and just wave at me!
Why is it we wait so long for certain hairs to appear, whereas the ones we have previously spent hours in the past getting rid of, come and flaunt themselves shamelessly? Is there no justice in this world?!
Hi ladies I dont like to put a dampener here, I finished chemo September 2009 and Herceptin aug 2010 and I still have no eyebrows !! I did have them tattoo’d but its worn off now, my eye lashes have JUST grown back enough to put mascara on them and I use a product called priori recovery lash serum for the last three weeks and its working fab !
There are a lot of products out there that claim to stimulate thicker, longer eye lashes and eye brows. Some are outrageous prices! Priori lash recovery serum is £78.99 on Amazon - HOW MUCH!!! and its only 4ml size. I think these manufacturers know how many insecure people there are out there who think that the higher the price they pay the better result they will get? If you do a search on Ebay for eyelash serum there are lots of different products and some reasonably priced at £4.99 (sexy lash) - but I think we will all have to be patient. Especially those of us who have had the dreaded TAX - this is what finished off my eyelashes and eye brows. I am using sexy lash, and have done for about a month now. The eyelashes that I still had when I started using it are still there (all four of them) and I paint it on where my eyebrows were too. Hairs on arms never went which I find strange as that is where the chemo must have hit first.
This too will pass - eventually.
Morning girls.
I agree with Supertrouper there are lots of very expensive cosmetics out there. I bought Sexy lash at £8 (it has the same ingredients as one at £45 )and some of my eyelashes are hanging in there. I have no doubt they would have without it but it is worth a try at that price. The hairs in our legs etc are slower growing than our head and that is why the chemo doesn’t knock them out so much. Chemo works better on fast dividing cells.
We are all different and one person will get back to normal quickly and others take longer. We just hope the slower it happens the better the chemo has worked!
Cacklesxx
Good luck with whatever you try, the priori works, I can prove that, I would much rather pay for an item that works and restores my confidence than try lots of products at £20 ish on the market which include mascaras that claim to ‘fake’ your lashes, quite hard when you have nothing, I am 2 yrs post chemo and this is the only thing that has worked for me. - tip do not put on false lashes either ouch !!
I used RapidLash as it was recommended by so many folk on here.
It got my lashes back and my brows, along the exact line where I drew it.
Then I got lazy and stopped using it and the lashes dropped out again! So it is important to be consistent with use.
My brows then started back white by themselves but I kept using brow pencil to show a visible brow line.
They turned brown rather suddenly, last month. Having them so noticeable meant a lot of sudden plucking.
The lashes are now still short but getting there.
My last chemo was in August but I’m on Herceptin which possibly slows down hair growth, according to some.
I finished chemo at the end of August, have had surgery and am waiting for radiotherapy. My eyelashes have come back in the last week. They’re still very short but the dark line of them being there just makes me look like me again so don’t care they’re short!
My eyebrows are getting there still abit patchy but in desperate need of shaping. I’m trying to hang back doing anything with them until fully back but don’t know how long I can resist!!
I think juicing might help but no proof! I had the cold cap during my chemo. About 2 weeks after my first chemo my scalp became really sore, could only go out with a hat on because if the wind blew my hair it really hurt and I started losing hair ( not that you could see - no bald patches but clumps in the bed every morning). I read one of the books that recommends dairy free, juicing, etc and started following that. I had half pint of apple and fennel juice and half pint of carrot juice nearly every day ( couldn’t manage them on the vomiting days!). My scalp stopped hurting and the cold cap was a great success. I didn’t have any bald patches at all. I know that may just be the cold cap working very well but I really think the juicing helped. Nurses and consultants seemed very pleased with how well it worked and said it was the best result they had.
I didn’t lose all of my eyelashes or eyebrows either but about 3/4’s and as I’m very dark it was still very obvious ( although lots of people said they hadn’t noticed - lying perhaps!!). Can’t say whether it actually helps brows and lashes grow back as had to stop juicing for surgery. I’m a single mum and couldn’t manage the juicer after op but now 4 weeks post op so going to get started again once I get some supplies!
“I had half pint of apple and fennel juice”
I hope you’re not oestrogen positive. Fennel is contra-indicated then, as it promotes oestrogen development. Shame, as I used to love fennel tea.
Thanks for useful comments ladies…haha Mazzalou…A hairy leg transplant would do the trick for me too! I have got a product called Talika recommended by a complimentary therapist - A tiny 1 inch sized pot costing £11.95 which arrived in an A3 envelope!I will give it ago but hope they don’t fall out again ince I stop! I will have to be patient and look after my one remaining eyelash and odd few eyebrows until such time as they decide to return - hopefully not 2 years like smallstar although as you say Herceptin might play a part in delaying things - luckily I don’t have to have that. Will keep you posted of any sprouting bits as I’m sure you will all be riveted to know!! Bev.
Whatever you do Bevli, make sure that you don’t drop any of your ‘Magic Hair Restorer’ on your legs or you might trip over the hairs!
Just for the record, I’m on herceptin and the head hair and leg hair are coming along nicely!
Looking forward to seeing those fluttering eyelashes though so progress reports please!
Hi All, Thought I would just drop in to say - I have eyebrows(enough not to use a brow pencil) and a few short eyelashes! I am 10 weeks post Tax chemo - might be able to apply a little mascara at Christmas if they don’t fall out! 
Bev x
I’m now 10 weeks post-Tax, Bevli, so I’m waiting with bated breath for mine to appear any day now!
I have never left my leg-hair get this long or lush before, but refuse to harvest it just yet as it is my way of gauging that my body is making a come-back!
Haha Mazzalou, You are very brave, I’ve had at least 3 leg shaves so far for fear of getting mistaken for an ape! I saw my hair dresser today, she reckons 3-4 months before my hair will have grown enough to style and colour.I now have approx 1cm of steely grey growth - I can’t imagine what style it can ever be as it is do different from my normal shoulder length brown hair…roll on Easter! x
I’m not being brave, Bevli, just being practical. After all, if I let me leg hairs get long enough then perhaps I can then comb them over my head!!!
Failing that, I can use them to knit myself another wig!
I finished ECT 12 days ago and am still having Herceptin. I guess I can/will have to wait for brows and lashes to regrow, but in the meantime my eyelids are really swollen and painful. In addition my eyes water constantly, leaving crusts of salt on the swollen lids. Applying Vaseline helps a tiny bit, but gets all over my glasses and generally makes it hard to see. This is really bugging me. Does anyone have any experience or tips about dealing with this?
Sorry Eithned as not sure what ECT is, but if the T is Docetaxel then the constant watering of eyes was an annoying side effect after I had had my last chemo and it went on for a good couple of weeks before it stopped. The knock-on effect was that my nose would then run too so I ended up doing a very good impression of a snotty-nosed kid!
I also wear glasses and found that sunglasses on a sunny day did help, but if your eyelids are swollen and painful have a word with a pharmacist to be on the safe side.
. Thanks Mazzalou. ECT is Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide, and the T is Docetaxel/Taxotere. I have just been to the Bank Holiday pharmacist as the swelling was worse this morning. She suggested Brufen to reduce inflamation: so simple, and I am still on Lansaprazole to line my stumach. Interestingly, she suggested that as the excess watering comes from inside the eyeballs, I might also need drops to counter dry eyes, which might be causing some of the discomfort: the ball may be dry, even if it seems awash in tears. I will take the brufen for 24 hours, then maybe get the drops.