Hi all
At the risk of upsetting anyone I thought I’d start this off …
Before I go any further I would like to say that although I am “with hair” I look absolutely nothing like I used to - it’s now very short and very thin but still there
Peope who I have not seen for ages just walk past me - they have no idea it’s me at all! In fact - when I turned up for FEC 2 or 3 many moons ago the nurses asked me who i was and what I was doing there and it wasn’t until I spoke they realised who I was - that was upsetting
I am enormously grateful for keeping it - not least because I am in the closet and very few people know I have breast cancer - if it had all gone then this would have been far harder.
People must think I’m going through a belated “punk” phase or perhaps about to embark on an affair with another woman???
As others “with hair” will know there is a certain amount of stress that comes with keeping it as there is always the chance it will go any minute. It’s a bit like being stuck at the dread at the beginning … only the massive loss never happens … I am losing hair every day in the shower to the extent that if it keeps up like this I will have none left by the end anyway … unless it grows during TAX - I have heard mixed reports
Have just changed from FEC to TAX and so am very worried (again!!!) that it is all about to fall out - ML is in the same position as me (she is about to have TAX2) and her fallout is starting to accelerate. I think sukes still has her hair too … and I know there are others but I have big problems remembering all the names…
… and another thing - the new hair at the bottom of the back of my head is definitely thicker …
so … anyone else want to swap a “with hair” story …???
lots of love
FizBix xxxx
PS it takes me about 10 seconds to dry it in the morning!
Not me!!
Never been high maintenance with my hair and glad its all off - was getting severely naffed iff with it dropping so I shaved the bugger off. It can only grow back…
Anita
Hi Guys
Think I’ve linked in with both of you on previous threads. Yes I still have hair and it’s pretty much unaffected so far!!!. If I didn’t pee bright red for a few days after treatment I would think they were giving me placebo!!!. I am suprised I admit (and feel a wee bit guilty as I am aware of others distress at losing their hair). I am using the cold cap but I only have that thing out of the freezer for 20 mins x 3 and not a big unit as I’ve read others describe and certainly no conditioner or anything. My hair is really thin and fine and it used to be shoulder length but I had it cut into a short pixie cut before treatment in readiness for the fall. So maybe the cold cap is being effective because the follicles are frozen easily as my hair is so thin?? I have no idea why I have lucked out for so long. It is thinning though but not coming out in clumps. I had FEC 2 last week and will be having 3 TAX so I’ll let you know if the situation changes. oh and by the way I still need to shave everywhere and the full on brazilian (without being waxed!) has not happened either so maybe it’s just taking a while for my hair follicles to be affected. Anyway I am just enjoying having hair whilst I have it and trying to keep open minded about the next couple of weeks. Being so thin, It won’t take much to lose before it my scalp would look patchy and I’ve decided at that point I will reach for the clippers so I won’t put my wig away just yet
Pip xx
When my hair first fell out the window cleaner come and said have you done a senaid o’connor (have i spelt her name right) my reply was no I’ve done a cancer - i think he felt really bad but keeps telling me survival stories anyhow.
My hair fell out just b4 the second epi but im now on my 2nd tax and i’m sure its coming back on my head but eyebrows and eyeslashes are good as gone. Is a shame we can’t send pics on here cause I’m sure we would all have a good laugh at our states of crisis be it punk, skin heads, just desperate to hold onto the few strands we’ve got left.
My bush downstairs has good as gone, armpit hairs are gone along with hairs on legs and arms. Don’t get me wrong there is the odd hair fighting to stay in but not many. I just dread it when the bodily hair starts to come back.
Another question i’ve been told we can’t dye our hair for a period of 6 months after chemo well what do we do if we are dark haired and have a slight shadow on our upper lip - i’m not going to start shaving - i use to use the good old joleen so i don’t know what to do any advise ladies?
Sukes
My hair started to grow back when I started Tax - just had 3rd Tax last Tuesday and I now have a lot of sprouting of baby fluff with definite bits of real hair poking through - hoorah !!! I believe that quite a few women have found that their hair has grown back whilst having Tax. My 3 year old daughter has never mentioned my hair (or lack of should I say) in all the time I have been having chemo (nearly five months now), but piped up this morning that she thought I looked like humpty dumpty. Now OH has taken to calling me humpty dumpty instead of tank girl - NOT SURE which one I prefer - tank girl I think lol !!!
My OH strimmed my hair down to a number 2 after my second FEC as it it was really coming out and it was horrible seeing it all in the shower every day. I’ve now had five out of eight FEC and it is starting to grow back, can feel new spiky hairs coming through each day all over my head and it’s quite fuzzy and dark. When I asked the chemo nurse about it he said I must have extremely resilient hair. I haven’t lost any other body hair, eyebrows have thinned just a little but nothing noticeable to anyone else.
Wendy x
I have extremely thick dark hair which I had cut to shoulder length just before I found out I’d need chemo.Could’ve made my own wig! Decided to have a go with the cold cap,but not really expecting to keep hair,although my dad’s hair only thinned slightly when he had chemo.Fingers crossed. I think my family will be more upset than I will if I lose my hair.I just want to get well and think this may be something I have to deal with. First appointment re chemo next Wednesday.Meantime I’m not moaning about how long it takes to dry my hair.For the first time ever,I don’t see it as a chore.
Im having 2nd FEC tomorrow, my hair started coming out last week. My sister gave me a no 3 haircut, but cant believe how much im still losing its a nightmare having a bath or shower, it looks really grim now so just want the last wisps to come out ( never thought id say that!).Im loving my hats and scarfs but not very confident in my wig as i went for a very different style.
While chatting to a friend in the supermarket today a total stranger said " at least your saving on shampoo" I so wish i had a clever answer, dont think she ment it in a nasty way but how thoughtless.
Not lost any of the hairs on my legs yet, but was wondering if when they grow back it would be a good idea to have them sugred, that way they may be finer? any thoughts
jo x
I have hated my hair for years and have been glad to shave it off and start again, so to speak. I have just done EC number 5 and have a square patch growing back at the back and also some small eyebrow hairs (they didnt go altogether, just got thinner)
I have very little hair left on my head and downstairs. However, eyebrows and lashes still there and will stay for the duration now. Just had last epi so soon will regrow on tablets.
Hiya FizBix
Couldn’t resist giving my twopennyworth to one of your posts lol.
When I had 4 x fec back in Nov-Jan, I had lost all my hair by the end of the second fec and was completely bald on top and down below - though I never lost eyebrows or eyelashes (they just became a little sparse!!). As you will now I then stopped chemo to go onto rads - during which time my hair grew back - by the time I went for first of 4 x tax, I had about 1/2 inch all over of thick grey hair (much thicker than it had been before - and much greyer unfortunately lol) - after first tax - despite all the other horrible things it did to me - my hair was still intact - and I was so relieved. As you may have seen from other posts, my eldest daughter gets married at the end of July and I was so looking forward to having a reasonable amount of hair for the wedding!!.
However…having been changed back to fec, yesterday, the 21st day after the fec - my hair fell out in shedloads - I now look like a monk with a huge bald patch on top and hair around it - to the point that I sat last night pulling the rest out lol. Having just had 6th and final fec today - I imagine when I go for a shower and hair wash in the morning I will be completely bald again afterwards because at the moment I only have to nod my head to summat and handfuls just drop all around me !
I knew it was going to happen but going bald twice in the space of 7 months is the height of cruelty !!. Hopefully, in the 10 weeks I now have before the wedding there will once again be some semblance of hair to show off - either that or I’ll be the highly recognisable one in the wedding photos ha ha!!!
Magz xx
Hey
I lost about 50% of my hair on FEC (i used the cold cap) so wore caps and hats and was constantly told noone could tell i was going through treatment. Took me 2 years to get my hair uncurly and in a cool style and then…
Bang back on chemo! So just had my second Tax and my hair is falling out…well thinning but not coming away in clumps so gonna see over next week if it slows down. I havent been offered the cold cap this time because they said its just not effective on Tax (should have done some snoopin on here) and wasnt worth putting myself through the discomfort. At moment would rather have a bit of hair than none it helps me cope abit better with it all. saying that ive gone and raided ebay for funky trilbys etc and there is a wicked hair and beauty shop by me that supplys alot of chemo suits with nice funky head gear so got some well nice stuff just in case.
Well weird because I was lucky with my hair during the FEC, im feeling abit wierd that Taxotere may take it all- im having slight nightmares.
My leg hair hasnt grown back from shaving them last week, eyebrows thinning at one side, eyelashes fine at moment, my down below hair actually is ok! It feel out first and completely on FEC weird hey.
Anyway my best wishes to all im sure ill be on this thread abit more over the next few months!
lynnc
Hi girls,
Had 5th fec last wednesday.
Hair gone from: head,downstairs,legs ,underarms, eyebrows, and most of eye lashes…everywhere.
except: three thick hairs found growing this morning on chin!!!
Margaret
Well, after my 1st FEC around the 3rd week, just before my 2nd, I started losing loads and loads of hair. I asked my hubby to shave it number 2, but still was too much to cope with all the hair falling out. I went to the hairdresser and asked to shave the whole bugger off as it was making me more stressed than having no hair at all. Downstairs a few came out, but a few still fighting for theirt lives! Underarms and legs not affected until now, and eyebrows and eyelids still there…let’s see what the future brings!
So far on Tax … (19 days after treatment)
Pretty much the same as before - the hair I have got is growing slowly - about 2mm in 3 weeks
BUT
each day i am losing more …
Having said that I read that one of the side efects on neupogen injections is “hair loss” … bit hard to tell the wood from the trees at this end!
I can’t feel any tiny prickly hairs at the roots anymore …so either they have grown out - or fallen out - I think it’s the latter as you can still see my scalp through my hair at nearly every angle!
Interestingly some of the hairs that fall out every morning are TINY - they must be new growth or they would be longer.
In summary : Pubic hair grown back - almost looks normal, eyebrows never went, eyelashes still there but very patchy and head hair about 50% there, leg hair a bit patchy
Good luck everyone
love
FizBix xxx
Hello all,
Just before 2nd EC woke up wondering what was wrong. No vague discomfort or odd unpleasant symptoms. I felt great, went to work as usual and…all my pubic hair fell out a couple of hours later. Hmm.
Cold cap has kind of worked (on upstairs part, girls!) but hair has thinned a lot. I reckon I’m losing the same amount of hair adults lose normally, which is 4 per hour according to my hairdresser pal. It’s just not being replaced. Coming up to EC #4 and the cold cap will get one more go. Had a laugh trying on wigs, but they’re not for me, so out with the clippers and razor if it starts looking scabbier.
It’s annoying that the hair at the back is as strong and rooted as ever. Never mind. I quite like caps, scarves and Buffs and have acquired a neat line in biker bandanas. The odd thing about light headwear is that if you wear it a lot, you think it’s there even when it isn’t. Nipped out to buy a bottle of water from the local offy the other night and forgot. Oh well, now the shopkeeper knows why I’ve been wearing a lot of headcoverings lately.
; )
Towards the end of first Tax (first chemo) my head hair fell like prickly rain. 2nd week into 2nd Tax it is still ‘virile’ on the back of my head, scanty at the sides and sort of fluffy on top. It’s enough to show that it’s supposed to be there but I tie a long silk scarf twice round my head and knot it over an ear when going out. A little tuft visible at my forehead. I look like one of those old hags that are usually part of the ensemble in an Agatha Christie movie - though I have forgotten it when going to local shop, like Lanterna. Oh well, it’s an extension of the kitchen, anyway, far as I’m concerned The NH wig with a scarf looks entirely ‘normal’ but I can’t be bothered. My MIL collected beautiful scarves which I don’t think she ever wore & which I’ve wound up with, so I have literally tens of them to choose from, still in their boxes and cellophane after more than 15 years in one of my drawers - I’ve only ever worn a couple of them in the past so it’s added a new dimension to my wardrobe.
I had to laugh about Margaret’s three stiff chin hairs. It’s a lottery, isn’t it? My eyebrows & lashes are OK but my facial waxing days are a thing of the past (they can stay that way, as far as I’m concerned, but I bet they won’t). This is a great bonus - I feel feminine in that department for the first time in adulthood.
Underarm hair has gone, the rest is thinner.
Onc nurse also said that the cold cap doesn’t seem to make a difference on Tax - though I use the moulded thing anyway - but also that responses in general are much more varied on Tax than FEC. Some barely lose hair, some lose it all, whereas on FEC virtually everyone loses most or all. By the time I get to my FEC I will at least be acclimatised.
M-L x
Hi i have had four fec but going to stop now cant cope. i think i would have been worse if lost my hair. i used the cold cap which prob added to my fears of chemo maybe if i didnt do it i would have carried on (no mustnt convince myself i am going to stop. my body has had enough)
STILL HAVE ALL HAIR NO THINNING SO COLD CAP WORKED FOR ME
i was on fec75 whatever that means. lost a little pubic but nice and soft now its gone. sorry that sounds weird. i wanted to loose it on my legs but no such luck…
have a good weekend
julie
hi everyone,
my hair is coming out by the handful, 2nd fec treatment next week.my husband wants to shave it all off, but i feel like hanging on until its noticable (but is becoming a bit messy hair everywhere) got wig ready i quite like it but am nervous of strong winds!!!
dissapearing down below as well, but i dont mind that saves shaving.,
have a good day everyone hair or no hair.
lorraine
HI all,
I had 3rd FEC a week ago. I clipped hair short after 1st FEC and shaved what was left off after 2nd FEC. Have had to shave head twice since 2nd FEC - hair growing back on top, but not sides!! Mind you, the stubble keeps the scarves on! I wanted a smooth, shiny dome and I’ve got a scarred, pigment blotched stubbly crown. Is there NO justice?! lol.
Re other hairs elsewhere (particularly facial hair), I’ve been told that if you wax when you are young the hair will give up. Am thinking the same must be true when it grows back in again (ie it’ll be “young”). When I get regrowth I’m going to wax my upper lip a few times and see if the hairs give up the fight. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Sue xx