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Gerryb's avatar
Gerryb
Member
8 years ago

Facial hair, I feel like wolverine

I have three more paclitaxal cycles to go. Over the last few months I have grown sideburns. Has anyone undergone waxing or veet cream during chemo?

4 Replies

  • Oh gosh yes...my facial hair has been very annoying when it regrew to ridiculous lengths. However my skin was very sensitive on taxol and I'm certain I would not have been able to tolerate either wax or veet. Maybe wax threading would be a better option. 
  • Have you considered threading? A lot of beauticians now offer this. There are no chemicals or wax involved. Hair is removed with the skilled use of a piece of cotton being rolled over the area. I have my whole face done. It's relatively painless (certainly no worse than waxing) and you don't have to worry about chemical reactions.  
  • I considered it just another ridiculously weird thing that I had to put up with when the hair on my FACE grew thicker and faster than the hair on my head. Of course the hair on my face did not include socially acceptable hair like eyebrows or eyelashes but was on my chin and my side burns. WTF?
    I wasn't on paclitaxal and luckily for me the hair didn't start to grow until my last cycle (FEC-D) so I waxed (very carefully) with the assistance of my sister in law who was a hairdresser/beautician. Only had to do it two times and it didn't grow back after that. Of course my head hair, eyelashes and eyebrows are still extremely thin 3 years later. Luckily I try to concentrate on the fact that I rarely need to wax my legs now. 
    Can you ask your breast care nurse or one of the chemo nurses for advice? Or do you have an understanding GP? Is there a Look Good Feel Better workshop in your area? The people involved with that might have some ideas. The answer could be that you just need to put up with it until you finish chemo but it's very important to try to look and feel as normal as possible so hopefully you do get some assistance.  
    Good luck. 

  • What a bummer! I thought one of the few side benefits of chemo was eradicating facial hair! Hope someone can assist.