thin on top

CoachPlayWin · 12-11-2007, 01:34 PM

Wow, are you guys saying that you completed your Taxol many months ago, and still have very little hair? I will finish in January, and thought I'd be able to lose the wig this Spring. Am I delusional?! Anybody else out there with a different result? I will still be on Herceptin for a year. Thanks.

MJo · 12-11-2007, 02:17 PM

My hair grew in as thick as it was before chemo, thankfully. Only difference is that I saw my natural color for the first time in 20 years, and it was salt and pepper. (My photo on this board is before BC. I'm cheating I know). I went bald with A/C, then lost eyebrows and lashes with Taxol. Everyone is different -- I didn't mind the bald head so much, but hated the bald face. Everything has grown back now.

theresaw · 12-11-2007, 02:49 PM

I completed chemo over a yr ago, and herceptin about 6months or so. my hair is growing back slowly, but I am also bald on top, I can't stand it, I finally went and got me a wig. My hair used to be thick, it is now thin and uncontrollable it goes in it's own direction. So I guess until it grows in I will be wearing a wig.
I hope this helps

nitewind · 12-11-2007, 03:05 PM

I finished taxotere in February of '07 and I just completed my year of herceptin. I was hoping I would have more hair. In Feb it will be a year without the chemos and, as you can see by my picture, still not much hair.
If anyone finds a product that will help, please, do us all a favor and post about it.
Hugs

Andrea Barnett Budin · 12-11-2007, 07:11 PM

Well, I can only commiserate w/y'all. I had a mastec in '95. 9 cm tumor w/2 lymph nodes out of 21. 4th stage ILC. Then 4 Adria + 8 CMF and baldness, including eyebrows and lashes and everywhere. It all grew back. Then '98 multiple mets to my liver. Now we found out I was HER2+ 80%. ER/PR-. Taxotere for 9 mnths, beginning Sept. Nov we added Herceptin. I have been on Vit H now for 9 yrs!!!!!!!!! This is what *my* Survivorship looks like. NED since May of '99.

Had the whole bald thing again. But this second time, no eyebrows came back. And only a few of my really long and thick lashes grew back. About 17 of them. I have named them...

Thick curly hair w/great body and sheen went w/the cancer (and the breast) -- that's how I see it. I now have thin, limp, severely dry hair w/no definitive hair line. My widow's peak has vanished. My daughter mentioned something about my high forehead! She is sweet. It is a receding hairline in reality. Kind of like male pattern baldness. So I *do* my hair to camouflage this unfeminine look. I fake it.

Where'd it go? With the cancer. We don't get to pick what we end up with, except when it comes to ATTITUDE.

I work w/what I have. I make do. I exfoliate, moisturize, add some color, create eyebrows every morning and build lashes with a steady hand. I use volumizing shampoo, a lot of conditioner and do the best I can w/what I have to work w/. By the time the world sees me, I hear, You look great! (I always think, you mean for a 4th stage chemo patient?) Well, you know what?! I am grateful to be here, even though I want it ALL back.

I have lived to greet 5 grandchildren (now ages 1 to 11) and I think Life is sweet. Hope this helps some of you get a grip. I know. Not what we signed up for. But I must admit I feel pretty darn joyful for a balding chick w/no eyebrows. Oh, did I mention? I now have a mustache. Do you call that *fair*? I'm thinking, Someone has a really weird sense of humor... And you know what? I'm still smiling anyway.

PS... Nitewind -- so nice to meet you! You're the one from the middle!
Andi

Mary Jo · 12-11-2007, 07:27 PM

My hair came back slowly as well. Finished Taxol Nov. 30 05 - herceptin Oct. 06 - Like I said Taxol ended Nov. 30, 05 - didn't get my first haircut (trim) and highlight till Aug. 06. BUT, like andi said, "it's all about the attitude" So be it. It's hair. I know, I know, things change since cancer/chemo. It isn't all we bargained for but we are here - hair - hairless - straight hair - curly hair - eyelashes - no eyelashes - we are here. Here to love - to enjoy life and share that love with those around us.

I've learned that's what brings me the most happiness. God knows it isn't about the "beauty" with me. LOL LOL LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smile ladies - you are all beautiful. I know it sounds cliche BUT it really is about the beauty inside.

Hugs

Mary Jo

Bev · 12-11-2007, 09:33 PM

Taxol seems to do that. I had whined about what look to be male pattern baldness. It took about 8 mos after taxol, then I had curls galore on top.

Now almost 2 years after finishing taxol, my roots are resembling my before hair, fine and straight. I still have my curls at the end though! It is going to be hard to cut them off. My hairline had inched back before BC though.

So I think eventually you will get hair that is close to your original. It just takes forever. BB

janet/FL · 12-11-2007, 10:49 PM

I have had a similar experience to Bev. I did only have Taxotere and Herceptin so my story is different from most of yours. I lost my hair with male pattern baldness, and slowly I lost all hair, eyelashes and eye brows, too. I lost all slowly enough that some were coming in while others were still leaving!
My hair came in wiry and I looked like one of those funny looking standard poodles with tight curls all over! Same color, same amount of gray--or maybe a bit more, LOL. As it grew, quite slowly, I realized how thick it was and how much body! Just a couple of months ago, I thought that maybe chemo wasn't so bad since I finally got some good hair!
Well, a couple of months ago, I posted that all the sudden my hairbrush was full of hair. And my scalp felt really funny, too. Like when I was losing my hair. After a time, it stopped. And near as I can tell, I probably have about the same hair as I had--but it still has more body. I realize however, that the body is leaving as the hair grows. So right now, I am hoping what hair I now have, stays and it will not be worse anyway than before chemo. But it was fun having thick curly hair that was a "wash and go" type of hair.
At this time, I am now realizing how much of my memory I have lost. I guess I would take the memory over the thick hair. But losing ones memory does have one advantage. It saves a lot of money as I read a lot, and now I can just reread all the books on my shelf!
In my case, it seems that chemo activated all the hair follicles on my head. I never had thick hair even when a child so I know that it was not just follicles that were here before. I wouldn't have believed it could happen. I hope all of you that are having trouble getting your hair to grow in, can find something that will activate you sluggish hair follicles. And I hope I can keep what I now have. Reading your stories of having trouble getting hair to grow, puts my hair problem in perspective.
Hugs, for these bad hair--hairless--days
I hate wigs!