Hi, I really dreaded the hair loss and was expecting that it would be really traumatic. Like you I was prepared in advance with all sorts of hats and scarves and a couple of wigs. I am not a hat wearing person in general and knew that I did not want to go down the bandana path - I was hoping to blend into the crowd rather than effectively put up a sign saying I have cancer. The publicity factor was definately one of my biggest concerns, I am a fairly private person and didnt want every person who saw me to know my story, and at the end of the day the lack of hair is really the only outward sign of what you are going through. My second concern was of course more superficial - how ugly was I going to be with no hair!!
Anyway, my hair was about shoulder length I guess and I didnt cut it in advance. Once it started coming out the loose stuff quickly matted up so I basically just chopped the matty pony tail bit which left me with very short hair all over. That was short lived though as it was all gone within a couple of days - for some reason I expected it to take longer but no, it was all over pretty quickly.
What surprised me though was that I was able to laugh at how it looked and marvel at how I managed to still have any on my head when there was so much in my hand.......so all my bracing for the emotional effects was in vain and I actually was fine with it in the end. I did have a couple of melt down moments when I couldnt get comfortable with the look of the wig but since then all has been well.
I get so many compliments on my wig (many of them from people who dont know it is a wig) that I now dread having to go back to real hair!! Not to mention how easy it is - no more bad hair days and very light toilet bag when you pack to go away without all those hair products!
Good luck with your chemo, hope it all goes well and remember that your body is going through a lot so be kind to yourself
Justine
