One woman's account of her hair loss post chemo

[Paula O]

Dear Rejoyce,


I feel for you in your loss of your hair these two years. While I was going through chemo , I heard about a couple ladies who, like you, also never got their hair back after Taxotere. I think that would be hard.

The loss of my left breast and 11 handy-dandy lymph nodes, the loss of hair and strength: I never really appreciated these gifts until they were gone. I wish it wasn't neccessary for us to do the things we've had to do and yet we traded those losses of parts of our bodies for something much better: more time alive, hopefully more fully alive than ever.

I wonder what other people's hair is like who have had hair re-growth after chemo. Mine is a completely different texture and color than it was before chemo. I am loaded with soft-like-a baby's curls now which I didn't have before and am enjoying for however long it lasts. I've heard that sometimes a couple haircuts and the chemo-permed curls are gone. Anybody else care to share their experience? Did the hair changes stay or were they transient? For those who went through chemo more than once, did it come back the same or different each time? Paula

[caya]

Paula, I had thick curly coarse hair before chemo. If I wanted to blow it dry straight, it would take me 45 minutes. I had to use a lot of anti-frizz serum and gel to control my hair, whether I wore it curly or straight. I had stared to go grey in my early 30's (like my mother), and had to go every 4 weeks for a root touch up before BC. I was diagnosed about 5 weeks after my 48th birthday, I am now 54.

After chemo, my hair grew back much straighter, fine, and less gray (I can go 6 weeks between colours now) - I never had the post chemo grey curls that most women get. A blow dry is now 12 - 15 minutes. I now have to use volumizing shampoo and conditioner, something I never would have dreamed about in my life before BC. I still have to remind myself to use only the teeniest amount of product on my hair, because of the texture change. I am thrilled with my new hair, I figure if anything good came out of my cancer treatment, this was it!

I know some women have permanent hair loss after Taxotere, one of the chemos I had. My onc. never mentioned this possibility - I wonder in Jan. 2007 when I started chemo if this was a known (albeit rare) side effect? I agree it would be hard to never have new hair growth, no matter what the colour/texture.

all the best
caya