Trying to get through the journey of growing my hair back

@Lynnie1974 , that’s hilarious, I love it, ‘ I’m going to be just as high maintenance as before, if not more ‘  :D

This is defs gonna be my new mantra too!  ;) ;) ;)

I  used to have a really nice concave light brown bob, after chemo , I am grey or salt and pepper as my friends call it.

I am keeping the grey , but keeping it short, my hairdresser says to me "do you know how much I charge to have hair colour like yours"", so I take that as as complement and bite back on my "I wish my old hair back".

It's funny though when I am with my Mum, I'm 50 and grey she's 81 and blonde, go figure :)

I just used the organic coconut oil from ALDI. My recipe is approx 1/4 cup of Aloe Vera gel (from the garden) 2 Tablespoons of coconut oil and 1 table spoon of olive oil. If you have them Pintrest says to add the oil from one Vitamin E capsule but I didn't have any in the house. I massaged it into my scalp and watch a movie then shampoo out. Wear an old top incase it drips. :smiley: It really helped and as it's all natural can't do any harm unless you have allergies.

@kmakm, I'm going to try not shampooing as often as that may help with the dryness.  I have had psoriasis on my scalp since childhood but after chemo it is gone, so chemo cured my psoriasis lol

@NS00159656 yes my scalp is itchy sometimes and I have mild dandruff, where did you get the coconut oil?

@NS00159656 I'm now the same with the hair washing. My hair has always been oily. Now, not at all. I wash it about once a week. I've even gone as long as 10 days.

I now have dandruff for the first time ever. And my scalp is all over itchy so I often want to just scratch it for minutes at a time. I presume it's because of the dryness. If I think about it too hard, the ignominy is hard to bear, so I strive to let it go as part of accepting my new normal. I had breast cancer, the treatment gives me dandruff. It is what it is.

It was a full year before my hair texture settled down after chemo. Give yourself time and maybe it will improve for you too. Best of luck, K xox

Thanks for bringing up this topic. I finished Chemo in May.My hair came back white and then salt and pepper. Although my friends seemed to like it every time I looked in the Mirror it reminded me of what I had been through. In October I had it dyed brown, because it was so short my hair dresser couldn't put highlights in. on November 1st I had a trim and she managed to put some lighter streaks in. I hate my hair short ! I look like my mother  :) I used to have really thick hair, now it's quite thin at the front. It seems to grow on the back and sides but not the front. I now was it less often as it no longer produces oil. Over the last 2 weeks it has been incredibly itchy. Has anyone else experienced this? I did some research on Pintrest and made a concoction of Aloe Vera and coconut oil and leaving that on my scalp for a while then washing my hair seems to help. I also changed to QV shampoo and conditioner in case it was my shampoo. I'm itching just thinking about it. LOL.

Thank you - all you wonderful ladies - you're amazing. .Thank you for your stories. @Blondy, thanks for your feedback. Yes, I kinda miss my grey now that I’ve drowned it in brunette dye but hey, I’m putting it down to being “part of the journey” and trying to get my head around the fact that I may be many colours before I finally find my groove. And yes, I have been called Annie Lennox several times too – whether I like it or not!

 

@Caz1, I hear you about thinking cancer when you look at your hair. I have to say, although I loved the grey, I feel less ‘cancery’ (that’s not a word LOL!) since I went back to brunette. I don’t feel like I have to keep telling people “I’ve had cancer”. Now it’s more like “I just decided to cut my hair – really freakin’ short!”.

 

@Patti J, your hairdresser sounds like an angel 😊

 

@Nefertari, how good is the cheap hair cut? Mine used to cost me $160 for cut and colour (which is cheap for Sydney – mates rates) – my first hair cut after chemo was a $20 jobby from Just Cuts. Bonus! My husband loved that LOL. I told him it’s not gonna last. I’m going to be as high maintenance as I was before, if not more.

 

@Flaneuse, I loved your story about your amazing man who loved your hair because of what it said about you. What a gorgeous man – a keeper – at least for a short time 😊. And thanks for the tip on MooGoo – I was a constant hair washer before chemo 

I confess I have joined the ‘wash less’ brigade - never met a hairdresser yet who recommends daily or even every second day washing! I still can’t come at dry shampoo but I’ll give MooGoo a go. Short hair is basically healthier (in spite of hair care ads, hair is essentially dead tissue above the follicle) which may be why so many keep it short after regrowth. 

@Lynnie1974
It's such a major factor for us; our hair is a huge part of how we see ourselves and how others see us. One person told me it took two years after the end of chemo for hers to settle to its permanent state. But there you go, @Afraser with her three years! I'm 15 months on from end of chemo and it's been a constant game of chasing solutions for where my hair decides it's going each month. I had a horror of it growing back with those tiny frizzy curls. It didn't, fortunately.

My hair went naturally silver from stress over a four-month period when I was 46. I liked it and so did other people. Cheeky anecdote here: When I was 60, living in Scotland, I dated a 47-year old guy who said, "I love your hair, and not just because it's pretty, but because it says a lot about you - a woman of your age, willing to just let it be silver and not dye it to try to look younger." I kept him. For quite a while, anyway!

I've always had a "second crown", which has at times been problematic, especially if a hairdresser cut it too short.

Post-chemo, it is now silver again (a bit lighter than before, I think), but sometimes sticks out in odd ways. My new hairdresser advises - to encourage healthy growth and condition - to wash our hair less frequently, and in between shampoos (he advises once a week or up to 10 days), to use dry shampoo or just wash hair in water and use conditioner but not shampoo.  It's been worse since chemo. Then I discovered MooGoo dry shampoo and it's amazing. A dusting with that, a fluff-up, and it looks styled.

I guess I have to wait a bit to see where it will end up. All the best with coming to terms with yours.

I thought about this thread this morning as I am off to be shorn again (#2 buzz). 
It I didn't have the wave/curl I would let it go a bit longer but it is AWFUL thick, I have to wear a hat to the hairdresser :D .  This will be three haircuts now since finishing chemo late April.  I hope I will be "back to normal" texture soon like most of you.  On a positive note,  they only charge me $15 for a visit which is fabulous. BTW I get Jamie Lee Curtis, can't see it myself - I wish I looked like her!