Just looking for a bit of advice from those who have used the Paxman cold cap.
How long did you leave the conditioner in your hair after treatment?
I had chemo earlier in the year and used the freezer type of cold cap that didn’t require the hair to be wet so the question didn’t arise. I’m now having 3 more cycle of FEC and my hospital now has Paxman caps. My chemo nurse said that they were told that the hair should be left alone after treatment so to leave the conditioner in until tomorrow but I’m struggling with that as I can’t stand the smell and think it may be making me more nauseous than I would otherwise be!
What were you advised / what did you do?
I obviously don’t want to undo the benefits of the cap but the thought of suffering this smell all night is not pleasing!!!
i left mine in for a few days, was told not to wash it straight away. But if its making you sick then i would wash it cos sick is so awful. Have you checked paxman website?
Paxman site says it’s “best not to wash hair for 24 hours after chemotherapy” but nothing more definite than that. Would rinsing it quickly be the same as washing it?
I think I’m going to end up giving in and rinsing it but just try to be very gentle with it when I do!
think if you rinse and dont tug it round then its a good compromise. I only used cold cap for firat cycle and it was because the no washing, looking rubbish etc really got on my nerves so when bits came out i thought enough is enough and shaved it off!
I used the Paxman cold cap when I had 6 x taxotere. No-one said anything to me about leaving the conditioner in, and I simply rinsed it off as soon as I took the cap off and there were no problems/complications. My hair fortunately stayed put.
Have you thought of using a different conditioner?
I used Boots own brand coconut conditioner with the Paxman Cold Cap over six cycles of FEC and finished my treatment with a full head of hair. I kept the conditioner on for 24 hrs.
I found that during chemo anything scented, be it soap, shampoo or deodorant made me feel sick as I associated anything that I used at the time with the chemo and still do 3 months on.
Good luck with the cold cap, it seems like torture at the time, but in my case it was well worth it!
Jaykay
I managed to hold off the rinsing until an hour ago, so about 20 hours from end of chemo.
I will take my own conditoner next time, I’m using Simple at the moment as skin still recovering from rads so best in the shower and that’s unperfumed so should be better, the hospital didn’t warn me about the need for conditioner this time so I just accepted the VO5 they supplied but I won’t be using that again!!
It’ll be intesting to see how my hair holds out, I finished chemo with the freezer type caps in March and my hair thinned considerably with them but left enough that I didn’t need a hat or wig. It has since started to grow back so I have a mixture of very short and mid neck length, not exactly neat but at least it’s mine! If it thins again I could end up with a very strange look indeed, just have to wait and see!
I am using paxman cold cap at the moment and have emailed them before with questions via their website link, so it may be worthwhile contacting them if you need specific help! Unfortunately most of my hair fell out after the first fec but I am persevering as paxman said it can help with regrowth. Good luck! X