Advice please, hair loss with Chemotherapy treatment

You may not lose your hair Jeanie my young friend has had two lots of strong chemo for stage 4 and although her hair is a bit thinner she hasn’t lost a lot and she’s had a good fairly short cut so looks good

A friend of mine has always had thin hair and, over the last few years the front half of her head has become completely bald. If we are going out anywhere special she has a couple of nice wigs, but most of the time she wears a very light scarf/turban. She has assorted patterns and colours and they all look very attractive and they aren't too hot.

DH completed chemo a month ago and had no side affects at all. He doesn't have a lot of hair but it didn't seem any thinner after the chemo. I see lots of ladies around the hospital wearing turbans. A topper may be an option for you if you do lose hair, not as hot as a full wig.

When she had chemo, a friend was put in touch with a local charity where she was shown all different ways to tie scarves. She loved wearing a silk scarf with a long tie over her shoulder, the knot to one side.

She didn't lose all her hair either. And she had lovely complementary treatments at the same charity, reflexology, Reiki and so on.

Good luck!

jeanie my husband's chemo made him lose his sense of taste and became impotent. But he didn't lose his hair ,or suffered any other side effects .

I would find out what sort of chemo it is. Until my husband had it I didn't realise there where different types and strengths. I just thought there was one chemo .

My Mum lost all her hair due to chemotherapy, even her eyebrows. She had her head shaved and wore wigs initially. Her own hair did grow back very quickly though, unfortunately she's facing a different cancer now and has started a different chemotherapy treatment, apparently, she won't lose her hair this time . The wigs are much better quality this days . Good luck with your treatment

I had my hair cropped before I started chemo.
Once it started coming out in handfuls and all over the pillow I shaved it.
I did buy scarves but hated that "chemo scarf" look
I bought a lot of hats from Amazon and eBay. Google "chemo hats".
You get a wig on the NHS and it's worth getting one even if you don't wear it all the time because they are very realistic and occasionally you just want to go somewhere without it being obvious that you are a chemo patient.

Also, hair loss continued after chemo ended. My eyebrows and every scrap of body hair. It was paclitaxel

I had my head shaved before I started chemo as they told me at the hospital I would lose it. I used to have lovely curly hair all shades of grey. 5 years on it is thin, dead straight and blond.
When having treatment I got lovely hats from the House of Christine and I bought a very good wig for special occasions.

It depends on the chemo you are having. Have you been offered the cold cap? If not, maybe have a shorter hairstyle and see how you go.
If you have been offered a wig prescription/voucher I would still go for a wig fitting as the actual loss of hair can be pretty upsetting. Otherwise, there are some lovely scarves and hats out there which you can have lots of fun with.
One of the girls in our group had loads of wigs even ones from seaside joke shops - she made a big thing of the multi- coloured fake hair that was around.

It will depend on the type of chemo drug whether you lose all of your hair or it thins. My hair thinned and became very much like Brilllo, but is now, 2 years in remission, back to normal. Other people with my cancer but on different chemo treatment as there are 60 different types of my blood cancer, lost all their hair. Most of those people said they had their hair cut short before treatment started and then had it shaved off which was less distressing than it falling out, made them feel in control and was more comfortable. They then chose beanie hats, scarves, turbans or wigs. Some hats come with false fringes. All say that once treatment finishes the hair grows back quite quickly. Sometimes curly for a while.
Whichever cancer you have will have a support line and they will be able to help with lots of advice. Macmillan wil be very helpful as well. Good luck with your treatmentX

Thank you so much everyone, I have so much to think about now.
I speak to my oncologist in a couple of weeks and have a number of questions now to ask him.
Thank you again.

My best wishes to you, jeanie and good luck with your treatment.

My sister and I both lost our hair during chemo. Having seen my sister gradually lose her hair in clumps I opted to have mine shaved at the start. If you have a local Maggies you will find them very helpful, if not they provide excellent online support. Good luck with it all.

jeanie99 I'm sorry to hear you are going through this and send you all good thoughts as you start your treatment. My daughter has recently completed a course of chemotherapy and this is what she learned.
1) The hair loss was unexpectedly sudden. She had long thick hair which she had had cut shorter but was completely panicked when it came out in handfuls. Visited a hairdresser who simply didn't know how to handle the situation which made it ten times worse. Her very sensible partner simply shaved her head that night. The type of chemotherapy she had meant she couldn't use cold capping.
2)Her treatment was started very quickly as her cancer was aggressive but she just had time to get her eyebrows micro bladed by a practitioner with an excellent reputation. One of her best decisions - kept her facial features looking relatively normal.
3)She rarely wore wigs but learned to wear caps and head wraps with great style - look on Pinterest at women who cover their hair for cultural reasons. She was treated during the winter months and would quite often wear a woolly hat or beanie at home.
I hope this is useful for you and again, my very best wishes

Good luck with your treatment jeanie. As someone with alopecia, hair loss is tough. Mine will never grow back. I hope yours comes back thicker and fabulous.

A family member shaved her hair before she lost it completely and then she wore a series of different hats. To be honest I think so many people are having cancer treatment now that you do see other people with a variety of hats on or none. They did get their eyebrows tattooed on, but it was a local cancer charity who gave her the recommendation for this. I'm sorry I have no more information than this, other than if you have a local cancer charity to approach, they may be able to assist you. Wishing you all the best for your treatment.

As I said above I didnt lose my hair, but my niece in her early 60s did. She bought a wig and only wore it twice as her scalp was very sensitive. It was in the winter and she wore beanies. I bought her a cashmere one from Turtle Doves which she said was wsrm and light.

She said she only had one or 2 times when the loss upset her. Her hair grew again.

She has since undergone another round of chemo 3 years later and lost it all again. Hasnt worn her wig at all. And her hair has regrown to pixie cut length.

As a poster above says so many people now are in the same position. Having eyebrows marked on by microblading if allowed will help keep face definition otherwise an eyebrow pencil. I have heard that rosemary oil is soothing for the scalp. I used E45 shampoo or Aveeno which is gentle for scalps and for hair which is thinning. And E45 and Cerave moisturising lotion for face and body. Plus my trusty Boots No 7 Plum Beautiful lipstick.

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments advice and help supporting me through this very difficult time.in my life.
You are such a wonderful group of ladies.

XXXX

I dreaded loosing my hair but it really was not as bad as I thought. I wore scarves initially but then had a fantastic wig and my hairdresser cut it a little to look as much like my hairstyle as possible - no more bad hair days! Also, it was so easy to wash and leave to dry overnight in the bath. It wasn't too warm in the UK though I wore a baseball cap when running as I think it would have been hot then. When my hair grew back I was delighted with the colour and condition. I have a different style now, keeping it short whereas before I had a bob and had highlights regularly. I no longer have highlights so save money too. I can honestly say losing my hair was actually a positive thing about chemo! Good luck with your treatment and I hope you find the best solution with your hair loss.

No advice, just best wishes

My friend used the cold cap firing chemo to prevent hair loss, she felt it had been quite effective, but found it very uncomfortable. After a while, she shaved her head, and that was really upsetting for her. She tried on lots of wigs, but stuck to hats and scarves for most of the time. She had a very individual style, and got things which fitted in with her general look.

Hello do try the Headwrappers work shop from Look Good Feel Better. You will learn about scarves turbans etc. For me a wig was what I wanted (wore one for 2 summers and not too hot) in the exact style of my own hair. Managed to find one and was super happy with it. I also bought a plain cap with hair attached to it, sounds weird but again it looked fine and was quick to put on! One tip I would say is investigate a wig (plus use the nhs voucher) pretty soon. I was referred by my breast care nurse the day I was booked in for chemo. Everyone is different but you have to be realistic and think you may not feel like going out and about physically or online searching for a wig. In the end I bought mine online and my regular hairdresser trimmed it for me to suit. Like another on this site if you have time for eyebrow microblading it's 100% worth it. On a positive note hair grows back at quite a pace and even eyelashes will return quite quickly after treatment ends. I wish you all the very best.

Different chemo treatments cause differing amounts of hair loss. My consultant told me that I would lose some hair but not all. He was right it became thinner all over but I lost a 2 " band just at the bottom of the back of my head, all the rest returned well enough but the bit at the back hasn't rturned, just a few wisps here and there. I now have a shoulder length bob instead of longer hair. I can't wear my hair up because of what my daughter calls my severe undercut and I cant wear it short either. But I do console myself with fact that I haven't had to shave my legs or underarms for 8 years.