Hair's falling out!

[cjan222]

My hair's been falling out a couple strands at a time all day.  I've been dreading this for so long that it's almost a relief that it's happening.  How long will it take to shed completely?  Is there anything special I should be doing to speed it up or protect my scalp?

[cjan222]

Thanks for all your encouragement.  I still haven't gotten up the guts to get is shaved but I'm working on it!

[MinnieWM]

What to do about hair is a very individual choice.  Since my friend experienced terrible itching after shaving her head, I elected to let mine fall out naturally.  

It took several treatments for it to thin drastically; so, I wore baseball hats longer than I would have otherwise since I was able to sport a diminishing pony tail for quite awhile.  The shedding around the house was not as bad as I would have thought since I got in the habit of running my fingers through my hair whenever I went to the restroom, and culled the loose strands.

To this day, I am still proud of the 20 or so strands that hung on throughout the course of treatment, and did trim them once my hair returned.

[Heather527]

My hair started falling out on Dec 21st, 2 weeks to the day from my first chemo. By the 24th all of our trashcans around the house were filled with it. I went to a cancer recovery salon with some girlfriends (and a bottle of wine) on the 26th and had my head shaved. They left maybe .25 inch of hair, I had purchased a wig and Halo hairpiece in advance.

I waited a little too long to have mine shaved, but with the holidays I didn't have a lot of choice. I was blessed with extremely thick hair and always kept it long. By the 25th my part was noticeably thinning out and I couldn't stand it. I was holding out hope that because of my thick hair maybe it would just thin out, but no such luck.

Several people who have also gone through chemo recommended Jason's Tree Tea shampoo, they swear it sped up their hair growth. I never went totally bald and have "fuzz" growing back in now and I'm 2/3 of the way through my treatments.

I know its petty in the grand scheme of this horrific disease but the hair loss has been really, really hard. My heart goes out to you.

[survivor_susie]

I also had my head shaved before my hair fell out, and have the same experience as "shewrites" above.

I do have one thought I'd like to share.  I was dreading losing my hair.  I talked to my husband about it, saying how embarrassed I was gonna be, waking up next to him every morning, bald.  He replied, with his typical insight, "would you rather wake up bald or wake up dead?"

My hair is completely back now, full and beautiful!

Best of luck,
Kathy

[Katie116]

Once my beautiful daughter-in-law's hair began to 'shed,' her friends came over with one of those hair things, put in the shortest length thing (this is very technical, I know), and took her hair right off. She had had two wigs made, but she quickly discovered that scarves were more comfortable. A scarf and hoop earrings made her look terribly exotic! Her hair's coming  back now - it's about 1/4". At her son's basketball game last week, one of her son's 6-year old son saw her and came off the court to say, "Your hair's coming back. Can I touch it?" Which she, of course, allowed. All the while the coach yelling for the boy to get back in the game!

[shewrites]

You probably don't want hair all over the house, which is what will happen if you do nothing.  

I went to the wigmaker and got my head shaved.  She left a half inch or so, and I was never totally hairless.  (I didn't have to shave, though.)  My daughter went along as she knew I was dreading it.  When the wigmaker cut and fitted my wig, my daughter served as "cheerleader" for that, too.  

Your hairdresser can do this for you -- and may be able to help you with wigs, falls, other headcoverings as well.  You'll want something to wear at night as a cold head doesn't help you sleep and a scarf will probably fall off.  I had a soft felt skull cap type thing that the wigmaker had someone make for her to sell.  

I think I used shampoo when I showered -- partly because I had a little hair left and partly because I didn't want to have "dandruff."  

It's painful to lose your hair, but keep in mind that it will come back.  Mine was curly for awhile, but it's back to normal now.