I know it’s daft with every thing else that’s going on but can anyone help me with the cold cap. I used it for first chemo three weeks ago. Second chemo is due this week. My hair is now shedding quite a bit…does this continue all the way through treatment or only at certain stages of it. Wondering whether to carry on if it’s going to be like this every day or if it will subside till part way through each treatment. Ive got wig but really hoped to keep enough hair to do without. …hope someone out there csn help me but I know everyone is different
Hi all I can talk about is my experience. I was having Fec x 3 and used the cold cap on the first one but after that my hair started coming out at week 2. It was coming out in handfuls which was so distressing that I went to have a wig fitting and asked to have my hair cut really short. It continued to come out so I didn’t use the cold cap from then on as it was obvious it was all going to come out eventually. I felt so much better having it cut and have used my wig when I go out and about and no one can believe its a wig it is so good. I am bored of it now and can’t wait for my hair to grow back and I only have one more chemo to go so fingers crossed it grows bck quickly. I think if it has started to shed it will carry on. Which chemo drug are you on? FEC is notorious for hair loss so that’s why I gave up fighting it. Hope you find the right way forward for you and good luck xx
Hi Doglover
Not daft at all. I did not want to use a wig either. My hair started shedding after first chemo too in spite of cold cap. One thing to consider is that the cold cap has to fit tightly to the scalp. I had some shedding all over but it was shedding particularly badly in a strip from one ear over to the other where the cap was not touching my scalp because it was too big. The chemo nurses were great and ‘packed’ the cap for subsequent sessions to try to make it fit better. This definitely helped. Don’t know if this could be an issue for you too.
As you say everyone is different but my hair loss did slow down and then stop. Where the cold cap fitted tightly at the back my hair looked more or less OK - people who did not know me would not have noticed. The fringe thinned a bit but again nobody would have noticed. I never used the wig - I got by with hairbands to cover the thin strip from one ear to the other because this was noticeable. Also had a cap to wear in strong sunshine (I was advised to protect head from sun).
I was told sticking with the cold cap would mean hair grew back quicker and more likely to be the same colour. Don’t know how true this is but where mine thinned it was growing back by end of last cycle and it was the same colour (which was a relief as I did not want a strip of different coloured hair!).
It is uncomfortable so I can understand that you might think about giving up on it but I was pleased I stuck with it. You could ask your chemo nurses what they think - mine encouraged me to keep going because they thought it would stop shedding. I am guessing that with all their experience yours might have an idea too. Hope this helps - and really hope it slows down so you can manage without the wig - I felt exactly the same.