The chemo curls... lol

[Chelee]

Before DX with bc...I had long very *fine straight* hair. I could NOT get it to curl nor would you see any kind of waves in it. Just long & STAIGHT. I finished chemo on 6-06. So its been a yr now since my last cycle of TCH. When my hair grew back in I have what I call the "chemo curls". lol Most of you can probably relate.

My question is...the women that runs this little shop where I bought my wigs, scarves, hats, prothesis, etc...she deals with mainly cancer patients all day long. She told me my hair will straighten back out any time now. I am curious if it really will because I was just going to go have it cut & now I am concerned about doing that IF its really going to straighten out. I have to admit though...I kind of like this short hair...its so nice to just wash and wear. Comb it back and go...I've never been able to do that. Saves me LOTS of time. Love that part of it. :)

Have any of you had the "chemo curls" at first and then your hair straightened back out? If so how long did it take?

Chelee

[AlaskaAngel]

Chelee,

I had waist-long slightly wavy brunette hair prior to treatment that was easy to comb and easy to wave, with just a few stray gray hairs at age 50. After treatment I really liked the curliness and decided not to cut it and see what happened. The ends have stayed quite curly but the newer hair above it has come out straight. Still brunette, but with more gray here and there. When I lost my hair I figured it would be 5 years before it was the same length and that turned out to be right on target. It is not as thick or as strong as it used to be. Keeping the curls on the ends means the ends seem to constantly be tangling up and with the hair drier than it used to be it is harder to get a brush through it without breaking it and takes much longer. (Different ages and treatments might make a difference too.)

A.A.

[Yorkiegirl]

I know with me I never had curls at all. my hair came back straight and thicker and darker than original.

It's so starnge how every one's hair comes back.

[Sherryg683]

It's been 18 months since my diagnosis and my hair is still curly. I have always worn my hair very short on sides and back but long on top and it's always been straight. I don't really like these curls at all and was hoping the new hair would grow out straight but it just keeps waving and curling...sherry

[bobbiw]

Pre chemo I had long reddish brown curly hair (that I had never liked UNTIL right before I was diagnosed go figure!). My hair came back absolutly straight and blond. The blond didnt last long and it then turned very dark with a few specks of grey. It is now just beginning to show a bit of a wave and is again turning color.....brown. I finished chemo May 2006. I have kept my hair short (easy to care for) and would like for it to stay straight but it will be what it is huh?
Bobbi

[nitewind]

My hair has always been very thin, poker straight and blond. I finished chemo in January of this year. It's very slowly coming back but it is thick, straight and brown! I was kind of looking forward to a little bit of curl. Oh well, at least it's hair!

[Believe51]

Chelee, I do not know if this helps, but my husband was a strawberry-blonde and now it is salt & pepper. I am wondering the same. Either way it is the softest hair I ever felt!!..>Waiting For A Miracle..>Believe51

[Vi Schorpp]

My hair was straight before I lost it and it came back like curly lamb's hair. It took about a year to get back to my normal jaw-length style and it was just as straight as before. I found that my letting it grow the weight of the hair pulled it straight.

[janet11]

Well, I'm 5 months post chemo, and my hair is now long enough (but not thick) to go EVERY which way... Not sure if this is called 'curly'. More like 'uncontrollable' (*laugh*)

http://mysite.verizon.net/wb9zph/fivemonths.jpg

[juanita]

My hair was straight before and defied curling of any kind. I am now a year from herceptin and my hair is still curly. If I keep it short it is not too bad. And it's now thicker and grayer than it was before too.

[Louise O'Brien]

Mine has come back - white! Silvery white!
It's not my normal colour - it's usually mid-brown with a bit of salt and pepper mixed in, which I covered with highlights.

It's a huge adjustment everytime I look in the mirror but it's kind of flattering. My husband loves it; my neighbour says it looks great. It's such a drastic change I haven't had the confidence to show it to my friends just yet because I know they're going to be shocked. It's time though. This weekend - I unveil.

And I'm going to roll with it - I've got huge silver hoop earrings and will get the makeup and primary colours/black-white combos to match.
I'm just happy to have hair again.

[charlotte]

Hi: before chemo, my hair was straight and a nice shade of brown... when it came back, I look lilke a raccoon.. My Dr. says he thinks I would make a nice looking redhead.... still making up my mind which color or what I want to do with it.... I am just glad I have hair to talk about....( no curls either) this time...

[MJo]

I loved my chemo curls. They lasted about 8 months. My hair is straight again, the way it was pre-chemo. Enjoy chemo curl while you can.

[Patricia]

First off, can I just say, I am SO grateful to just have hair now!

I used to have great thick, wavy red hair (with lots of blonde and gold highlights) before chemo (see pic below with red scarf-my avitar is after i cut it for chemo, but before it started to go) and after chemo it came back like down at 1st and was a dirty blond color. Little by little it has gotten more red and now it is clearly an auburn color, but still quite different than my color before. I have lost all of the natual shades and highlights, it is now more monotone.

As far as curls go, before I was very lucky and had very adaptable hair that was generally wavy depending on how it was styled. It came back very curly and unmanageable (see pic with my son last Thanksgiving) It was to the point that I had it straightened not long after that pic was taken.

As time has gone on and I have let it grow it seems to be getting straighter and returning to my original texture. It has been 10 mos since I finished Herceptin.

Hugs,
Patricia

[SoCalGal]

Funny - give us a chance to talk about something REALLY important and everyone is so happy to weigh in. I want to talk about my hair, too.

Mine came back super curly like a french poodle. I kept cutting it and after awhile it returned to normal which was curly but not like a dog.

Thanks for asking!

[Adriana Mangus]

It's different for everyone. Mine came back curly and I did like it,then after 2-3 hair cuts it went back to straight just like before chemo. Good luck, at least you have hair...:-)

[Chelee]

Wow, what a mixed bag we have here. lol After reading all the posts I can see there is no way to find out which way my hair will go in time. Seems we have more curls and waves though. So strange how chemo causes this. If its going to stay wavy like this...this week I will have to break down & go to a hair salon. This will be the 1st time in my life...can you imagine that. lol I'm just thankful I have some hair on my head that is actually long enough to cut. :)

Chelee

[tousled1]

Before I started chemo my hair was auburn in color with lots of natural highlights and natural curl. Not curly but I never had to use a curling iron. My hair grew back drab brown with lots of gray and straight as a poker. I've been having it trimmed every 2 months and it's still the same drab hair. My daughter told me the other day that I should color my hair! I'm just thankful that I have hair that I can complain about!

[Liz J.]

Hi all,

Before chemo my hair was totally unmanageable. Wavy and thick on top, straighter on bottom and always wanting to go its own way. After chemo(9/05), it started to grow like crazy. I finally broke out after three months and took the wig off during a trip to Atlantic City. That gave me the confidence to go to work without the wig. The chemo curls must have done me justice. I never had so many women ask me where I got my perm. I told most of them ( who looked like they could handle it) that I got it in the oncology office (lol). Anyhow, the curls lasted about 3 haircuts. Then a few months ago the texture got like brillo. I knew it was time to go back to short hair. Now I am getting compliments on that. As all here, I am just thankful to be telling the story. Nature takes its course and we all have a different reaction. The other day I was getting a manicure. Nails don't grow since Herceptin (but, Thank God for Vitamin H). I don't go often, mostly just for the relaxation, pampering and have some good polish put on. I ran into a woman I had met there before. She is also post BC. We were talking and all of a sudden this young woman walks in and starts complaining that the hairdresser made her look like Medussa. She announced (for all to hear) that her husband would not recognize her and he would not like all these curls. This woman and I just gave eachother the knowing look, smiled and went about out business. She was so obsessed that she is probably still in the nail salon carrying on about this. Oh well. We do learn alot.

All the best,

Liz J.

[Bev]

Went from fine straight brown hair with highlights to gray down to fine dark brown curls. Cut that gray stuff off right away. It's approaching 2 years since the beginning of chemo and I think the curls are getting less tight at the top of my head. I hated my curls at first but now I'm going to miss them. I received many compliments on them. Even though I need a trim, I don't want to cut the curls. My son did say I looked like a sheep, but he meant that in a nice way.

It looks like eventually our hair returns to more or less it's original condition plus some well earned gray. BB.

[Mary Jo]

Before chemo I had thick, brown hair with some gray and lots of wave. After chemo it came back curly in the back (very curly - looked like a perm) and wavy and thick everywhere else. Since a few haircuts and highlights the curl is gone. (also hardly any gray at all) I still have lots of hair (meaning thick) but my hair is pretty straight now. Especially on the top. But that's ok. Like lots of others said I have hair, so who's complaining? Like I always tell people, "since being bald there is no such thing as a bad hair day anymore." Hahahahahahahaha!

Mary Jo

[hutchibk]

OK, time for the the hairdresser here to weigh in...


Treatment of cancer with drugs may cause apparent complete hair loss. This is because these drugs are designed to kill cancer cells, which are cells that are growing out of control. Other cells that are growing very actively may be affected too: these may include cells in the bowel lining and also in hair follicles. This leads to a 'break' in growth and an inherent weakness. Often, once the drugs are stopped, the patient's hair starts to grow back, but when it reaches the surface it tends to break. The hair that subsequently grows may look quite different from the old. This is because the growth patterns of the sensitive cells of the hair bulb may still be upset by the effects of the drug.

So essentially, it takes time for the inherent weakness/cell sensitivity caused by the chemo to be reversed. It is like baby hair, starting all over again... and immature hair (baby hair) is inherently weaker and often extremely unruly/curly... and that combined with pissed off, sensitive chemo terrorized cells makes for interesting hair regrowth patterns. Over time as the drugs make their way out of the body and the hair starts to mature, it becomes stronger and often reverts back to hair as usual for most of us.

[janet11]

I LOVE the image of "pissed off, sensitive chemo terrorized cells" (*laugh*) . Thanks.... (Sure describes my fingernails to a T)

[suzan w]

chemo curls disappeared with my first haircut a year after my last chemo treatment. Hair back to what it was like before!

[Catherine]

I am having fun with my curls. I have never had curly hair before chemo. My last chemo was Aug 06. I keep it short and fluffy. I am sad to say that I think the right-hand side is starting to go back to my normal, stick-straight. I look a little lop-sided right now (my hair, not my perfectly matched breast prosthesis).

I, too, am happy to have hair and happy to be here.

Sunday we attended a beautiful party for a dear girlfriend (age 52) that invited 170 friends to say "goodbye." I had never been to something like this. There was so much love under the outdoor tent, that we were all honored to be invited. She has fought pancreatic cancer for 14 months and her team of doctors said there is not much else they can offer her.
She was beautiful and fun. Her husband was a fantastic host. I do not know how they had the courage to do this, but you could tell they were pleased with the opportunity to be with all their friends and share the love and support from us and from God. The invitation said, "sorry for the short notice on the celebration party.....we think God has planned a different future for Emily."

I still pray for miracles for everyone who needs one.

Catherine

[harrie]

Hi!
It has been 1 1/2 months since my very last chemo treatment. There seems to be quite a bit of hair growing back, but it is only about 1/16th inch long so way to early to determine if it is straight or curly. My head looks like a huge dark 5 o'clock shadow around my head, but I can still see my scalp. It is getting very warm and humid over here in Hawaii and I wish I had enough guts to go public with my head bare because it would feel so much better then the wig, scarfs and caps in this weather. My head is shaped REALLY funny in the back so no way can I go public bare-headed.
Maryanne

[Caroline UK]

Hi Chelee
I'm behind you in terms of where I'm up to with treatment, and have enjoyed smiling and laughing along with everyone's comments so far. Great response! And so nice to have a bit of a lighter topic. My hair was shoulder-length, thick, brown and wavy before chemo fallout. Now, 7 months after finishing chemo, it's curly, very dark brown but with more grey.
Depending on the weather, the look varies from mad professor to quite cute, or Paulie Walnuts, my husband called it, referring to the new streak of grey at the front.

[Ginagce]

Funny, I had curly, I mean curly like people always asked if I had a perm before chemo. Now my hair is straight as a board. And I've been off chemo for 2 years!