When does hair loss slow down

[lchou]

I know it will grow back, but mine is getting kinda scary thin.  I thought it was suppose to slow down at some point, but mine seems to be accelerating.  If I hadn't had some much hair to start with, I would be bald by now.  Thank god I only have to do 24 weeks, 48 & I would be bald for sure.

I guess I'll get a haircut and see if that helps.  I am sick of this **** now.  Only 4 more shots after tonight!

Lauren

[alagirl]

You know, I treated six months and I actually lost a bunch of my hair at the end and right after treatment.  I had such a mongo huge head of hair to go on my mongo huge head, that losing 2/3 of it still left me with thin hair on my head, and it might not have been noticeable to others who didn't know me that something was wrong if there wasn't always a bushel of hair on my shoulders and clothes from where it was constantly falling out.  I would say that for me, at ten months out from the end of tx, I have about another third back and I'm still missing a third (which I kind of don't need to get back, so I'm good with it if it doesn't grow back in).

It WAS nice not to have to shave my legs there for a while... ;)

[m_strings]

Are you serious?  No shaving?  Dare I ask about other hair on the body?

I appreciate this thread.  Something about the anticipation of hair loss scares me more than most of the other potential side effects.  (How vain am I?)  I'm curious if others have had loss to the extent where they've felt the need to wear scarves, hats or wigs?  Good luck Ichou!  I'll pray that things go well for you.  And for you, too, alagirl!  

[wheremystrengthis]

I have been tx for 44 weeks now...4 to go...yea! I lost SO much hair...about 3/4...I thought for sure I would go bald. There was hair EVERYWHERE! What a pain...and also hard on my ego. About 2 months ago, the hair loss slowed down, then completely stopped...I even have some new hair growth!

Linda

[meakea]

I'll be taking shot 25 of 48 tonight and my hair loss had been pretty steady all along but worse the past month.  I have lost at least 50% of my hair but, luckily I had a very thick head of hair to begin with.  Others say they don't notice but to me it's a very stark contrast to my original hair.  Now my hair is flat and thin but at least it's evenly that way...no bare spots or anything.  I'm hoping it slows down.

[lchou]

Wheremystrengthis:  Mine is everywhere too, and yes it is a HUGE pain.  I am going to get one of those hair nets for when I am cooking.  I am constantly afraid it will fall in the food.
My doctor did tell me that because my hair loss started kind of early in tx, that I would probably have more that the average loss.  Lucky me!

Alagirl:  how lucky were you to not have to shave.  I unfortunately still have hair on legs:-(

[jdwithhcv]

I cut mine short, it made it easier to deal with the shedding.  I had hair loss in cycles.  For 4-6 weeks I'd lose a lot, then it would taper off and stop for 6-8 weeks.  Then cycle repeated.  I didn't lose all my hair but it thinned everywhere except eyebrows and eyelashes, which grew long and curly.  I'm almost 7 months post tx and a lot has grown back.

I used bandanas, scarves, headbands.  Had wigs but just wasn't comfortable wearing them.  

[justme53]

Mine isn't falling out as much as breaking off in pieces. My hair was pretty well layered to begin with so it's not too noticeable except that it looks shorter now. I did check out bandanas and scarves already though for the summer just in case.

[jdwithhcv]

So you don't feel alone, here's another hair discussion:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/430138

and at the end of the thread there are links to even more.

[nygirl7]

Mine only stopped falling out after I stopped treatment (72 weeks) a few weeks later it was growing like a weed but unfortunately the beautiful long llama eye lashes that I gainned during treatment fell out.

Oh Lord it would have been nice to keep the best of both worlds but I'd rather have my hair back (I lost about 75-80% and was wearing wigs for since about the 6th month).  But thanks to wearing those wigs nobody really knew how much cracked/fell/broke out/off and when finally about a year after treatment I took it off I had beautiful long healthy hair (well to about my shoulders)

Human hair generally grows about a 1/2" a month but mine grew MUCH faster than that for a while.

Good luck!

[mikesimon]

It took me about 6 months to get back to normal. My hair thinned and became perfectly straight on treatment and it had always been quite curly. In 6 months I got that lustrous body back and you know how much that means to us ladies..................and gents.
Mike

[justme53]

I'll get a lustrous body when I'm done with tx??!! Yippee!!!

Oh Dammn, you meant HAIR.........Well, that was a fantasy that lasted all of one minute.....Pam

[m_strings]

Ha ha!  Too funny!

[mikesimon]

That was funny!
Mike

[R Glass]

I had to cut mine down to about 3/4”. I always kept it about 10” long.
I am amazed at how fast it is growing back. Granted, it is at the scraggly stage and will be for awhile but I have decided to let it grow back out.
There is an old saying that “Life begins at 40.”
Now they are saying “50 is the new 40.”
If all of this is true, life is just beginning for me and I might as well look the part.

[alagirl]

sparser as well, and a good thing because during tx I wasn't able to be as... uh.  attentive as normal.

My eyelashes almost totally fell out and I wore fake eyelashes for quite a while after tx.  Somebody could make a mint if they made some eyelash glue that actually worked btw

[granitekonig]

Oh come on people, hair is overrated and hopefully you won't be on tx forever. Just shave it all off! Heck, life is short. Be a baldie for awhile. Then you can look back at pictures and say, "oh I remember exactly where I was in my life!"

I know, easy for me to say. Hehehe.

[epiphiny]

Mine fell out, snapped off, and has changed it's texture.  I found that if I cut any length off it it had so little body anymore that it actually floated up in a strange halo around my head!  Very ugly and I started wearing bandannas.

Like others I was lucky enough to have a lot of hair to start with, albeit fine and chemically damaged.  I had some layers put in and the really damaged ends gently trimmed, and have left the length to grow and it is finally starting to look and feel bearable (I'm on week 41 now), although I would say I am down to a third or more of what I started with.

I have also tried every shampoo under the sun from Nioxin to Kerastase with varying results.  The Nioxin certainly gave my hair an increased sense of fullness and has stimulated growth of new hair BUT because the texture has changed so much at cellular level (from fine, straight and soft with a tendency to oily it is now, wiry and coarse, with more gray, and a tendency to frizz) I found the increased hair growth increased the scalp itchiness because all the new strands coming through tickle my scalp!!  Lol, I can't keep up!!

The same thing happened on my first 6 month tx and I found it took a couple of years for the hair to grow back in but it did come back thicker and at a fast rate.

I'm just hoping the same thing will happen this time and that the gray will diminish again.  I have a feeling that won't be the case tho....

Aaaah, our hair, our crowning glory.  There are days that I wish I had the courage to shave it all off and start over but I think that would actually defeat the purpose as it would expose my sensitive scalp and the new growth would tickle my head even more!!

[epiphiny]

I'll be honest and say my hair is my achilles heel, it is my one vanity, when my hair is shite I feel like krap.  It's trying to strike that balance between comfort and appearance.  I don't even care if that makes people think I am vain or shallow.  I'm over fighting who I am and I really LOVE good hair!

It's hard enough to maintain a positive attitude and good self esteem on this tx without losing our crowning glory as well!!

Btw, G, I know you were only joking, hope this doesn't seem like I'm snapping at you.  I think I'm experiencing a bit of the old 'intereferon effect' this morning!

Peace!

Epi :)

[epiphiny]

See what I mean?  Interferon, not intereferon.  That is the effect in action!

[sandbash]

I will just be grateful when I wake up one morning and don"t have the terrible "bedhead" that I have had on tx.  I will also like to be the redhead that I was previously instead of the dull color its become!

I've been off tx for a month and am looking forward to seeing signs of regrowth!!!!!

[geterdone]

In the hyper thyroid stage before I knew it, at about ½ way through treatment the hair started to do crazy things, I have always combed back very neat, but is started to stand straight up and side ways then curl on half of the head and it lasted for a couple of weeks, every day was different. Then one morning after a shower I had briscel my hair to get the excess water out and it started snowing (panic started) the more I brisceled the more came out and when using a brush it looked like I had combed a shedding dog. Then it stopped after a couple of weeks (then I went Hypo) and the hair started to lay down and took on a greasy look and very straight and thin for the remainder of treatment. About 2 months after TX it started to come back and at 6 months it was back to normal. Kind of erotic if you think about it.

jasper

[meakea]

"I'll be honest and say my hair is my achilles heel, it is my one vanity, when my hair is shite I feel like krap.  It's trying to strike that balance between comfort and appearance.  I don't even care if that makes people think I am vain or shallow.  I'm over fighting who I am and I really LOVE good hair!  It's hard enough to maintain a positive attitude and good self esteem on this tx without losing our crowning glory as well!!"


This describes ME to a tee!

[epiphiny]

Ummmm, did you mean erratic, or did you really find your hair's crazy behaviour erotic?!

Anyway, thanks for your summation there - when I really think about it most of my hair frustration comes from the fact my hair is constantly changing from week to week and I can't get a handle on how to manage it.

I had thyroid tests done yesterday so it'll be interesting to see where my levels are at and if there is a correlation...

[charm27]

I lost ALOT of hair during tx. I had to wear a scarf. No big deal though....it did start growing back as soon as I stopped tx....I still have quite a ways to go to get back to the way it was before I started tx. (Luckily that was the least of my problrms) I was too fatigued and sick to worry about my hair.

I lost 75% of my hair.

It will grow back after tx! So dont worry!  :}

Charm

[mkp13]

If you lose enough hair that it starts to look crummy, consider shaving your head and investing in one of these:

http://www.zarifas.com/Beaded_Ornamental_Belly_Dance_Head_Dress

I bought one years ago for a friend about to enter chemo for cancer.  She didn't lose enough hair to need it, so she gave it back.  When I started in HepC treatment, I figured I'd use it if necessary.  It didn't turn out to be needed in my case.

If you want to see others like it, google "beaded headdress" and look at the images.