Does the frizzy hair last?

I looked up on the Australian Cancer Council Website and discussed this several times with my Doctors over 6 months to make a decision.  My mother had Breast Cancer at 55, she is 75 now, and has been colouring her hair since day one with a cheap Chemist Colour.  No cancer has returned.  On the Website I went to it was set up to answer or to debunk any myths about how to get Cancer, so I will go back and check again.  I had an interesting conversation with a man recently who had Cancer (lung) and he related it to the air we are breathing, so its still all open for discussion.  I think it depends on the individual as you have suggested, how strict we all go with it.  I found it was very difficult to avoid chemicals in this life.  The sprays on the fields for example.  I spoke to an S.A. fruit grower in June, who told me that organic is hard to police because Pesticides travel in the air quite some distance and land on the organic crops sometimes.  So it is a mine-field of discussion depending on who we speak to.  But all very interesting subjects, and I will go back and revue what I read, to see what they said here in Aus.  

I was just wondering the same thing. It's been about four years for me and my once straight hair now seems to have a permanent frizz - a bit like fleece. It's not as bad as it was but I suspect my hair won't be going back to the way it was.

I'm halfway through chemo and my hair has started to grow back.

I've had three rounds of FEC at three weekly intervals. I'm due to start 12 weeks of weekly paclitaxel next Tuesday so I suppose it's possible that the new drugs will knock out my hair again.

Why is it growing? Possibilities include the absence of any chemicals in my skin and hair care, my high omega 3 diet (found research that shows it helps with chemo side effects) or the possibility that my naturally fine, grey hair is just robust. 

Unfortunately I shaved it all off to a very short crew cut before chemo and now it looks like I could have managed a pixie cut and had only a couple of sparse weeks. 

My advice to anyone going into chemo would be to have your hair cut short but don't shave it off until it's clear that you need to.

For anyone that wants to try it, I'm massaging my face and scalp with organic rose hip oil every night, I'm using a natural liquid castille soap to wash and the moisturising with either coconut oil or hemp oil while I'm still wet. I use a hand towel to dry off because it needs washing afterwards and if I used a full sized towel every day the laundry would be ridiculous.

This might have something to do with the regrowth. Even if it isn't, my skin has never looked better! :D

I've had the same thing happen with one of my friends. She keeps asking me if I want to put a hat on!

I'm 51 and my chemo has triggered menopause so as well as having no hair I' also having hot flushes. It really HELPS being bald because my head cools down so quickly.  

I tried hats and scarves and wigs but everything felt hot and itchy. In the end I just thought "my own comfort is the most important thing" and since then I've usually walked around with nothing on my head. For all anyone knows I shaved for a cure (and I actually did this a couple of years back so I'm already used to the occasional shocked look). 

I'm half way through chemo (3 rounds of FEC at 3 weeks apart) and I'm about to start 12 weeks of weekly paclitaxel. We're coming into summer so I'm just not going to worry about covering up.

well being bald is a great way to get some vitamin D?

I coloured mine with a non-ammonia based mousse and I will continue to do so while I want to.

It's such a personal thing.

I figure if I could put chemicals into my toilet (after they passed from my body) that cleaned out tree roots in a sewer, the little bit of chemicals (by comparison) that I put onto my head is worth the effect of looking like something I want to look like. 

Good luck Deanne. I hope you can find a safe alternative. Please know that there's also a huge amount of variation in the 'organic' and 'natural' products. Some of them are a big improvement and some are no better than the commercial stuff. Here's a good Choice article on the subject:

http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/food-and-health/beauty-and-personal-care/hair-care/natural-hair-dye.aspx

Of course, this article only deals with DIY hair dyes. You'd need to ask for a list of ingredients if you wanted to use a hairdresser.

The easiest way to check the known carcinogenic potential is to put the name of the ingredient + cancer into google. Just searching on the name of the ingredient should also give you a link to information about its general toxicity.

It seems to me that it's also worth keeping in mind that 'proving' something causes cancer is a long and difficult process. Given the toxic cocktail most of us are exposed to on a daily basis it's difficult to prove that any single substance or product conclusively causes cancer. By the time you consider all of the things we ingest, breathe in and expose our skin to on a daily basis it seems like it would be a long and complicated process to satisfactorily conclude that something was a carcinogen. And, of course, researchers face legal action if they can't back up their claims! As an example, the research about the links between alcohol and a number of cancers was strongly indicating it was a cause for several years before authorities were prepared to give it a category one warning (meaning that, like cigarettes, it has conclusively been proven to cause cancer). We still haven't seen any product labelling on alcohol that's anything like the stuff on cigarettes. 

At any given point in time I think there are probably a lot of substances that are considered highly suspect but due to lack of funding, research, interest or some other factor there isn't the ability to form a strong conclusion.

As you say, we all need to make our own choices. Hope this information is helpful. 

Great information, thank you for sharing it. 

I disagree that there is no evidence that hair dye causes cancer. Here's the US National Cancer Institute fact sheet on it.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/hair-dyes

Regardless of the cancer risk I think it's worth remembering that our skin is a great way to get chemicals into our body. That's why transdermal patches are so effective. Everything you put on your skin will, to some extent, end up inside you. 

I've decided to do without as many chemicals as possible because every toxin in my body is one more thing that my T cells need to mop up. I'd rather they spend their time mopping up potential cancer cells. 

I've found that organic rosehip oil is a much better alternative to anti-wrinkle creams. I've got a wonderful, chemical free liquid soap in the shower and I use coconut oil or avocado oil after the shower as a moisturiser. I rarely wear makeup and when I do I use chemical free, mineral based products. Interestingly, my skin has never looked better! I suppose there's no money in selling us natural products which is why cosmetic companies come up with expensive concontions that promise to keep us looking young and 'beautiful'.

Makeup and cosmetics in Australia are not subject to the same restrictions as food, although many people assume they are. It's very common for commercial products to contain known carcinogens and toxins, including lead in lipsticks. 

I respect everyone's right to make their own decision on this issue and I know a lot of women choose to keep using these products in spite of the risk (in the same way that many women choose to keep drinking alcohol) but I think it's important that people make an informed choice. Hair dye is definitely a worry.