Hair Diaries

Caibo

After around  week 3 of starting chemo,I started loosing chunks of hair in the shower.It started to feel so dry and unhealthy,not to mention messy! 
It was upsetting me So I decided to shave it all off. I felt relieved after that. It was one less thing for me to deal with.
I started losing my eyelashes and eyebrows From about week 4 of Paclitaxol and continued to fall out until around after week 4 of stopping chemo. Once they all fell out the eyelashes started to grow back within a week and eyebrows about 2 weeks.Both are still growing and getting thicker and longer by the week. 
I will update with a week 9 picture soon as I have just had surgery so had to skip week 8. 




 

4 weeks after stopping chemo,visible signs of hair just starting to come through 



5 weeks


6 weeks 



7 weeks

Cath62

Great hearing your story. I am currently having AC. Last AC next week, then 3 wk break before the weekly taxol. I shaved my head and this was a good thing to do. I brows are thinner and I think my eye lashes are too.  Good to see the growth for you.

Caibo

Thanks @Cath62. Getting through AC was definitely the toughest part for me.Your almost there..well done!
Taxol was easier in many ways and I didn’t have that extreme fatigue that I had with AC. I stopped Taxol after 8 weeks as the neuropathy was getting worse.Keep an eye out for that and inform your doc about any numbness or tingling in your fingers and toes. Mine is slowly starting to get better now and I finished chemo 9 weeks ago. Sending warm hugs x

Caibo

An update- week 9

ddon

Wow. Your hair growth is wonderful. I am 9 weeks from finishing taxol and I still have patches on top that are bald. Lots of hair at the back and sides, and is slowly closing across the top, but I have male-pattern baldness it seems. My eyelashes just grew back this last week and eyebrows are coming fast but these bald patches are frustrating me and I am worried hurt might stay. I am so sick of wearing my wig when I go out. 

ddon

I mean 9 weeks since I finished taxol. 

Caibo

Thanks @ddon. Hopefully its just a matter of time till your hair all comes back in. I did use castor oil on my head every night for the first few weeks and am now using it a few times a week.It is known to help with hair growth and seems to have helped with mine,I thought it can’t hurt for sure. I also use it on my eye lashes and eye brows and they are have also grown back fast and thick. I got the organic castor oil,hexane free from the health food shop. Might be worth a try. 
I haven’t worn a wig at all through chemo so don’t know what that feels like.I used a hat and sunblock to protect it from the sun.Now that its cold I am using a beanie to keep my head warm  

ddon

I will go get some castor oil and try that. My scalp feels weird to touch in patches- sort of bumpy, like goosebumps or something. I hadn’t really thought that there could be a problem before but seeing the way others hair is growing back evenly I am now getting scared 😣 I don’t care about the colour or texture or whatever. I just want some hair!

Caibo

@ddon, I had some similar issues. I had some redness and what looked like a rash on my scalp but slowly they have improved. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about but you could check with your doctor if it’s worrying you.Everyone’s hair grows back differently, with different bursts of growth. I had read in another forum online where a few said that the back and sides grew back quickly but the top took longer to fill up, so that sounds similar to yours. 

Caibo

Almost 12 weeks since the last chemo session. 

I have also noticed a whole lot of peach fuzz on my face that I have never had before. Just bought a facial hair remover from Flawless to get rid of that.Read up a bit about it and it seems it’s quite common after chemo to get excess facial hair and most say that they removed it once or twice and it never grew back,so hoping that happens for me 😅 Eyebrows and eyelashes are still growing in. Continuing to use castor oil on them every few nights. 

ddon

Oh the facial hair!! I have so much of it. If I stand in the sun I can even see it on my nose! Thankfully it’s snowy white but there is so much of it. My eyebrows are coming back fast but sticking straight out. So glad I wear glasses 😊