For the Ladies--While on Tx hair coloring

I was reading several things on website  "liverfoundation.org" and came across something that said "during treatment, do not perm or color your hair".  Does anyone know if this is absolutely true.  Sorry to be a little vain, but at my age the gray appears quickly, and after 6 months or 12 months, heaven forbid!

[wyntre9]

"I know mine is thinning but it's more noticeable on the side I sleep on."

Sleep on the other side so it thins out evenly and then it won't be so noticeable.  hahahaha

"I have a hair appt Wed. If my hair all falls out I'll whine and post my regrets for the decision."

Your beautician will make sure it doesn't fall out on her watch!  She has a reputation to maintain.

But mine did say that if thinning becomes too much of a problem I sould let her shave it off and go to a wig shop she recommends.
Yuck!

(Maybe I should do a tx version of Carly Simon's "You're so Vain."

One other thing - my personal solution right now is not to wash my hair (much).  Once or twice every two weeks, max.

For those who think that's disgusting, I have curly hair and one of the leading salons in the country (which specializes in curly hair) recommends that to all their clients.  (Not washing too frequently, I mean.  They say it ruins the texture and robs the hair of oils.

[Lady E]

Hi. I am a 53yr old Female,Ia type, 23rd week of 48 week tx.
I colored my hair back in October, and definately noticed more hair thinning occured afterwards. When I started tx in August, my nurse gave me a list and "no chemicals on the hair" was on the list.
Last week when I went to my Gastro, I asked again (because I'm vain too & had some dark roots. LOL
He said he doesn't recommend it because my hair is already very brittle. It has gotten fuzzy/brittle. I still want to color it but I'm thinking against it.
Also, straightening irons really damage our already delicate hair too.
-E

[seabean]

I also wanted to continue coloring my hair, but did not because I was afraid what would happen.  Thank goodness I didn't because my hair ended up VERY thin (most of it fell out) and brittle.  I used to laugh with my family saying I looked like an old barbie doll that some kid threw out the car window.

Good luck; be kind to your hair and skin.

[psychdoc]

There was a forum member who posted regularly three or four years ago. Her name is Galen and she is a hairdresser. She colored her hair throughout tx (using good products) and recommended a product to stimulate hair growth. She stops by every now and then to say hi. She has been SVR for three years last September if I'm not mistaken. I just cut mine short and it went from brown to white while on tx. It was quite becomming. Anyway now I get it colored every three weeks. I am just thankful that I can sit for an hour at a time at the beautyshop. Big progress. I have been SVR since November 2003 and was 1a/1b. Hats off to all who are treating. It was hell for me. Prayers to all who have not reached SVR yet. Never quit. You all are the bravest buch of people in the world I think!
Take care,
Barb

[chcnme]

I wish I knew. I've heard if you color it while on tx or perm it, it can ... not be a good thing.  I'm not even on tx and my hair has been looking like a bad bird built a bad nest in it.  I'm afraid to do anything to as far as "color" (I don't know anything about coloring).  It used to be blonde, and now it's dark brown - like it happened overnight!  I read the back of a label of a product someone recommended, and when it I read "may cause hypersensitivity rash and patchy hair loss" , I put it right back on the shelf :)  Best of luck!  Barb (or anyone) is it Nioxin (shampoo and conditioner) that used to be so highly recommended a few years back for people on Hep C tx to help with hair loss?  I can't remember the name of that shampoo, but I think it's Nioxin (I can't find it in the stores.)  I'm just keeping my bandana on at all times lately :)  

[Lady E]

I'm using Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo & conditioner. It seems to help with the itchy scalp..a little.
A few people from the forum recommended it to me as well.

[ladybug52]

I have said this before and I mean it. For me, I'd rather have thin colored hair instead of thin graying hair.
Do some people keep most of their hair? I'm sure the longer the tx the worse the symptom. LadyE and Seabean was there a certain time you could tell your hair was falling out? I know mine is thinning but it's more noticeable on the side I sleep on. I'm hoping no one else can tell, I had a lot of hair to begin with.
I have a hair appt Wed. If my hair all falls out I'll whine and post my regrets for the decision!

[Cindy10]

I am on week 17 and my just started to thin alot the last couple weeks or so. So today I decided to cut it, 12" off.
I think the weight of the long hair was pulling on it to much.

So I think I am going to donate it. Than someone could use it, before I lose it.

When did everyone else start losing there hair, and did you lose it all?

[wyntre9]

"I decided to cut it, 12" off."
"I think I am going to donate it."

How nice of you.

I cut mine, too, from short to shorter.  (not enough there to donate to anyone)

I haven't lost much yet (I'm on week 7) but I'm definitely noticing a difference in texture, body, shine, etc.

[ladybug52]

I would give up necessities before I would give up my hair salon! I have decreased how much I wash it, usually 2,3 days between and I feel kinda gross because I was always a daily shampoo kind of girl. I know washing and drying dries it out and I'm afraid it helps it to fall out too. I remember reading how others would put their hair clumps on the side of the bath tub or shower.
I'll start sleeping on my back and have a nice bald spot back there!
Cindy, my daughter donated hers to locks of love, that sounds like a great idea.

[wyntre9]

"I would give up necessities before I would give up my hair salon!"

Yeah, me too.  I always had relatively good, (very) low maintenance hair and I could always count on IT to look half-way decent even when the rest of me didn't.

So I'm trying to preserve as much of it as I can.

To tell the truth, the longer I go without washing it the better it looks.

I'm seriously considering never washing it again.  (hahaha)

"I'll start sleeping on my back and have a nice bald spot back there!"

Honestly, I'd recommend sleeping on the OTHER side first, just for the sake of symmetry and all.  :-)

[orphanedhawk]

My hair started feeling thinner months before tx. I started taking omega-3 fish oil and its been better. I think either the fish oil or vitamin E is good for both hair and skin.  My scalp has been feeling itchy and I'm just hoping the hair doesn't fall out. My hairdresser moved.

[OnAPrettyPoison]

I treated for 48 weeks and noticed lots of hair loss around week 20.  I used Mediceuticals Therapro, washed only every 3rd day, and quit blow drying my hair.  It helped alot!  I didn't color my hair, but I recall the beautician who used to stop by recommending non-permanent hair color because it is gentler on the hair.

I will say my hair looks great now at 6 months post-treatment, so this too, shall pass!

[Pdilly]

I normally have very thick curly hair that I chemically straignten.   I had about 8 inches cut off the end of November.  Since then my hair is really comming out.  In the back of my head I am getting real thin.  THank goodness only 6 more to go.  If I had to do the 48 or 52 weeks I would surely be bald.  My dr said wash 2 times a week if you can get by with that.  Also use detanglers. I bought one of those pics.  Even then I have so much hair out.  Everytime I look down I have hair on my sleeves.

[ladybug52]

Thanks you two for coming out to speak about this! Is purology a shampoo or a lie of hair products including shampoo? I go to a salon for hair color/foil is there a brand that you can recommend?
Thanks again.

[sfbaygirl]

I was going to post a thread about this yesterday! I just went to a hairdresser for the first time since I started tx. I did do roots in July with good products. The woman in the salon had just been to a seminar about color on chemo. She said it is NOT recommended. I asked her about the roots, she said that was the worse place for the color, so we agreed on foils that matched the roots and made it more subtle and not noticable. My hair was so frizy and brittle it looked like brillo pads, She put some heavy duty conditioning in it and it is SO soft now, I can't believe it. She cut the ends but left it pretty long, it is so so thin, problably lost 40-50% of my hair, but it doesn't show alot. Just looks really thin. I hadn't gone before because I didn't have the energy and didn't really care much, since I hang out at home mostly. Now that I am in a nice hotel, I felt a little like trailer trash looking like that guy on Beetle Juice with the frizy blond hair. Anyway, I would recommend a good hairdresser who knows what they are doing. The foils worked great! The color is nice.

[Cindy10]

I use Paul Mitchell Tee Tree Oil Shampoo, Noxion Scalp Therapy, Hot Oil Treatments, wash only about 2 to 3 times a week, no blow drying or hair spray, never colored my hair and its still falling out, I find hair everywhere.

I hope cutting it will help slow this down.

[seabean]

My hair fell out in the shower - there would be so much in the drain that I would have to remove it for the water to go down the drain; this lasted about 2 months.  I believe it started around the 3rd or 4th month.  Needless to say it freaked me out, but what can you do. Thankfully, I had alot of hair at the time (very thick) so I was not bald but close to it.  My hair stylist could not believe how bad my hair became.  I had the type of hair that everyone wanted, well no more.  It never grew back thick but it looks just fine now.  It took almost 6 months for it to recover after treatment (I was on 42 weeks).

[stangshelly]

I startes losing my hair in begining of tx, now on week 47/72 and it used to be thick,natural curly and strawberry blonde. I have very thin, straight hair now and only wash every 3 days due to it falling out! It has started to grow again but it is different now. I cut it to shoulder length with layers and I used a wash in only 2 times since starting tx. It doesn't last but only 2 weeks or so and the grays come back always lol;) I wouldn't use a harsh chemical on my hair for fear of it falling out...:)shelly

[Galen]

Hey there, Barb.  It's been a long, long time.  Yes, you were right about the timeline.  I started tx in October 2002 and was clear 12 weeks in, thank God.  I got my 3 year post labs in September and still clear.

The hair thing is a constantly recurring theme here, for good reason.  The main reason it starts to thin and look dull and brittle after a while is that the ribaviron inhibits (not stops!) production of epithelial cells that are necessary to hair and skin production (also the reason why your skin is so nasty in addition to the riba just doing a rash reaction, too).  I've never seen anyone, or heard of anyone, losing all their hair.  At most, the average person loses about 20-30%, most on the low side.  I colored my hair all through tx and, in the beginning I used Nioxon products, which can really make a difference in the health of the scalp (I've seen some pretty dramatic magnified close-ups).  But, there is another product that is now also reccommended by the American Cancer Ass for chemo patients called Purology.  I love the stuff and it is just as nice to the scalp while making the hair look far better than Nioxon.  An added bonus is that it contains no Sulfite or water.  The first can irritate your skin and the lack of water makes it concentrated so you use less.  The cost is about the same.  I've been using the volumizing formula for 4 years now and my hair looks better than it did when I was in my 20's (sad to say, I'm 53 now :( )
Hope this helps!

[pln]

I colored my hair 2 days before I started tx, then at week 10 , then week 21 and also cut my hair short at week 21. I had no problems and it will make you feel alot better, I love hair and I love color, maybe try a darker color so you do not have to color as often. Pam

[pln]

I ment go lighter all over since you have gray. Take care, Pam

[compulsive]

Good thread...

Well, as much as I like my wig from Ebay, I'd like to be able to do without it .  It sounds like if I go to a good hair salon they could maybe make this stuff on my head look like hair again?  That would be AWSOME.  Gonna call for an apointment next week.

[FlGuy]

After your news of Friday and your comments here, I almost expect you to break into Maria's 'I Feel Pretty'.  Now that you've read this, try not to.

[psychdoc]

Nioxin is to promote hair growth and you can only get it in better salons.
Good luck.
Barb

[pln]

I feel pretty, and witty and gay. Thanks now I will have that song in my head all day. If I can hold this feeling until the 16th. get my 4 week post that day. Pam

[nygirl7]

I stopped coloring my hair (I darkened it) right before tx started, thank GOD.  I lost about 80% of my hair (so that it looks really really THIN but I don't look BALD).  I can't even imagine putting bleach on my scalp. Heck drinking water all day and moisturizing my skin 3x a day from top to bottom doesn't even prevent the dry itchies.

I would TOTALLY advise you to not do your hair.  My hair got so BRITTLE that not only did a lot of it fall out but it started cracking off on the bottom as well. After a lifetime of too much hair...I find that now I have none.

But it will grow back so it's ok.

I went out and got a couple great wigs and make due with that for now. It makes me happy :)

So I would say if you want to put color ON it's ok but don't BLEACH it.  

But then again - I'd hate your hair to fall out and it be my fault ;)

Good luck. We have so MANY things to worry about with this CHEMO don't we? But remember it is CHEMO - so treat it as such when making decisions if you can.

[nygirl7]

Said: I've never seen anyone, or heard of anyone, losing all their hair.


There are several of us who have lost 75% of their hair and believe me - when it gets that bad it really doesn't matter anymore. Enough is enough.

Wigs are the way to GO if we have to.

[Lilla]

I have been using Pureology products for about 2 years now. I use the Hydrate formula, as I have medium texture, non-oily hair, and I have had color on my hair (by salon) for a long time. I also get a few highlights put in every other coloring. I love these products and am very happy to hear your comments on them.  In your opinion, do you think the volumizing would be a good thing to start now. I am hoping my tx will only be 24 weeks as I am a 2b genotype.  Thank You.