It’s a given….some chemotherapy drugs make you lose your
hair and some don’t. Most of them do. So
the chances of getting the chemo that hair can stand up to are slim. Get a
grip, stay strong – your hair will fall out.
This was a particularly difficult side effect for me. I’m
not a particularly vane person. I wasn’t traumatized at all with the loss of my
left girl by mastectomy, but for some reason, the loss of my hair was
traumatic. I liked my hair. It was good hair and didn’t deserve its demise. Oh
dear, please hang on while I get a grip on myself.
I’ll get right to the point and describe to you how you and
your hair will most likely part company. After, I’ll mention a few things about
wigs, vs. scarves, vs. hats. Learning how to wrap scarves and tie knots will
become a big part of your lives soon and deserves a post within this blog.
1) Hair
loss will probably happen within your second week of chemotherapy. Yes, it
happens that quickly. Some chemotherapy drugs will take a little longer and
some a little less time, but this is the average and how I experienced it
personally on Taxol.
2) Some
people told me that hair loss starts from the bottom up and others have said it
happens from the top down. I personally didn’t notice which direction it came
from, just that it was happening. The
hair on top of my head was thinning.
3) Hair
will not fall out in clumps. It will start getting thinner to the point where
running your fingers through your hair will produce a few strands, then
increase to about 100 or 200. As time goes on, these numbers will increase and
it will feel like clumps are coming out. At this point, it’s time to cut your
hair short to stop the long hair shedding.
4) My
hair was shoulder length and I’ve always kept it long. I just could not bring
myself to cut it. Your hair will get to a point where you’re shedding more than
a yellow lab. You and your family will find hair in their food, all over their
clothes which I can only assume comes from the washer and dryer, on the floor,
the furniture, just everywhere. Not to mention your bed. While you still can,
get yourself a cute temporary haircut. Now would be the time to dye your hair
if you normally do, especially if roots are coming in gray. If you’re worried
about dyeing your hair while it’s falling out, try a semi permanent hair color
that’s milder on your scalp. Your hair’s falling out; it’s not growing, so a
temporary solution is ideal.
5) Invest
in a few different caps or ski type hats in different textures. Wooly ones for
colder climates and soft cotton ones for warmer climates. You’ll need both so
might as well stock up. Remember to get different colors and don’t forget solid
neutral colors like brown, camel, beige, navy, white or black. The printed ones
are cute, but you’ll be stuck wearing solid color shirts and sweaters. Ha,
didn’t think of that did you? Neither did I. There were times when I went out
of the house looking like a circus clown. As if I needed more attention drawn
to me in public. Ahhhhhhg.
6) Your
hair will start getting thinner and thinner until bald spots start to appear
and then become pretty obvious. Now is the time when you will probably no
longer go out in public without some kind of a head cover. As your hair gets
thinner, you should cut it shorter. In rare circumstances does all of your hair
fall out. Most people have patches of hair left on their head. You can shave
these off or keep them for traction purposes when wearing head scarves and
turbans. This is also the time that my suggestion in #4 above will start to
make sense. Weren’t you wondering why I was worried about hair color or roots
showing while your hair is falling out? Well, I have kept my few patches of
hair on my head for traction purposes. It’s not much, but it seems to work.
Also, one of the areas that decided not to fall out completely was at my
hairline and I can stick some hair out of my scarf or hat which improves the
look. If this happens to you, you’ll be glad that you have your hair colored and
not gray. This is if you dyed your hair in the first place. If you didn’t, now
is not the time to start. The intention
is to stay as normal as you can for as long as you can.
7) You
will eventually find that you need to wear a head cover almost 24 hours a day.
In the daytime, you’re either out in public or in the kitchen or somewhere
where your shedding won’t be appreciated. At night, you wear a head cover to
stop the night time shedding that leaves you with a mess to clean up. We have
more important things to do.
8) I
mentioned this earlier in this post, but invest in a good selection of
different colored hats and scarves and also of varying textures and materials.
You’ll need warm and cool ones no matter where you live. I can’t stress enough
how important it is to have boring neutral colors. Believe me, when you’re
dying to wear that beautiful new printed sweater that you just had to have, you
will not want to be wearing a flowered or paisley head cover with it. They’re
not that easy to find, at least in my area, but make the effort. Now wigs, on
the other hand, can really make you look and feel healthy and normal. They have
their place. For me, they’re hot and my head gets very itchy when I wear one
for longer than a few hours, so I reserve my wigs for going out to dinner or
someplace a little more special than the daily trip to the grocery store. I
have both a synthetic wig and a human hair wig. The human hair wig looks and
feels more natural and is easier to wear. These can be very expensive in the
stores. I got mine from the Cancer
Resource Center
9) Okay,
now let’s get off the head and focus on other hairy body parts. Good news….you won’t have to shave your legs
for a while. Your leg hair will fall out and not grow back. That goes also for
underarm hair and arm hair. You will be smooth and silky. Facial hair
disappears also, so no more tweezing for a while. Unfortunately, along with
that comes the possible falling out of your eyelashes and/or eyebrows. I wasn’t
expecting this one myself. No one told me about other parts of your body,
especially your face. This happened to me. My eyelashes did not completely fall
out – just most of them. Enough to really change the way I look completely. My
eyebrows behaved in the same way. They didn’t fall out completely – just
thinned. That’s okay, but the eyelashes!!!!! You have no idea how much this
changes your face. Picture the Mona Lisa who, by the way, is not the most
beautiful woman in the world. Hey…..my opinion.
10) Hey
now, let’s see….we covered head hair, facial hair, leg and arm hair…..what are
we missing? Of yes, pubic hair and yes you do lose this. That completely
shocked me. It seemed to happen overnight for me. Well, if you were into
Brazilian waxes, this should be good news.
That about does it for hair loss surprises. After a while
when I looked in the mirror, I saw a 10 year old alien staring back at me, but
this too shall pass. Laugh at yourself and know that this is your uniform for
battle. You’re beautiful and strong and you will recover. All of these cosmetic
issues that go along with the battle we’re in are meaningless to the big
picture. Laugh in the face of it. Fix what you can fix if it’s important to you
or wear your baldness proudly as so many chose to do. Remember, this is your
life, your battle, your body, and your choice.
For those of you who choose to show off your baldness, I
salute you and admire you. I’m reminded of a funny T shirt I saw someone
wearing. She was bald. Not sure if she was bald as a fashion statement or if
she lost her hair during chemotherapy. I really couldn’t tell. She looked so
healthy. But her T shirt said: Bald is
the new Blonde. Awesome!!!
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