My Hair Obsession -- during and post chemo therapy

I’ll admit it, dealing with breast cancer and all that it entails in 2021 has sucked. But I’ve persevered through a double mastectomy (not as traumatic as I thought), chemo therapy (this was worse than the surgery), and all of the appointments, labs, financial/insurance “stuff” that goes with it.

The hair part has been my biggest “issue.” I’ve always had a lot (no, A LOT) of hair. Thick hair. Lots of hair. Hair that breaks vacuum cleaners. And, after many really, really bad Mom haircuts as a child, I’ve kept it pretty long for many years.

Mom's idea of hair in the 70s (me on the left).

Not sure what Mom was thinking about with these haircuts (me on the right).

Only way you'd know we were girls with these haircuts are the brownie uniforms.

I think Mom used a bowl for these cuts.

And, after seeing the above, are you surprised how long my hair was?

When I decided to go through chemotherapy, the hair loss part really got me. But Dr. Nair at Texas Oncology gave me a piece of paper with a couple of cold cap therapy companies to look into – may save 20-50% of my hair with this therapy treatment. May not be covered by healthcare insurance, but can try.

So, I looked into the names on the list: Paxman (looks like a global company -- Paxman ) and Cold Cap (local Chemo Coldcaps). I went local, mainly because the people who “rep” Paxman never got back to me.

Was Cold Capping worth it?

I “think” so, but I lost at least 50% of my hair. It came out in clumps. In strands. I HATED bathing during the chemo treatment time frame because the clumps stuck to my skin. And then thin, wet hair looks even thinner when you get out of the shower. Can I say how much I HATED bathing – to the point of saying, f**k it, and just not.

This is the cold capping "get up." Yes, Jiffy Pop!

Don't I look cold?

Changing cold caps in a parking lot on the way home from chemo.

And cold capping – was cold! Really cold. And took a lot of effort. Tony had to go out and buy 80 pounds of dry ice the day before each of my appointments. The morning of chemo, he had to load up the cooler with the caps. When we got into the chair, we had to prep me for cold capping – involves panty liners, foam craft things, tape, shower caps, ear condoms (essentially ear shower caps), a couple of velcro straps to tighten the cold caps (think of it as making it tighter to your head – and colder), a thermometer, and a jiffy pop hat to top it off. And, Tony had to change out the caps every 15-25 minutes, an hour before, during and three hours after chemo. Did I say how cold it was? At least the chemo place gives you warm blankets – and I worked to keep my mind off of the cold pain. And, changing caps twice at least on the drive home – we stopped in parking lots to do this. What fun!

By the time chemo ended, with about 50% of my hair left, it became almost impossible to even find a good “comb over” solution and I’ve been resorting to Harley bandanas – and I think I look like a cancer patient (well, I guess I am).

So, was it worth it? I write this and have a “baby ponytail” and this bad looking hair on top – but I’m not bald and it looks like I have hair, just bad hair. Thank goodness for bandanas – castor oil also smooths it down (see later my take on castor oil).

Hair a day after last chemo session.

Hair after last chemo session (I lost a bunch more a month or so afterwards).

Scalp about a month and a half after chemo. Sorry about the poor picture.

Biotin

A week after chemo, I started taking Biotin gummies. This Nutra Champ brand on amazon is OK, I guess, but the gummies are grainy I wish they were more like Haribo gummy bears. My next biotin are Nature Bounty soft gels, not gummies Don’t know how much difference the brands/kinds are, as long as it’s biotin.

Shampoo

A week after chemo, I’ve also started using a new shampoo and condition from Routine (Routine) that is supposed to be one of the top 5 for growing hair back. #2 can be bought on amazon, but was double the price. If anything, I’ve enjoyed the copywriting in the emails from Routine since I couldn’t buy it on Amazon (who isn’t known for humorous email exchanges or content).

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319446#timeline

Castor Oil

I only have about half of my eyebrows, but went to Bod Labb before heading on vacation, to have them shaped (mainly because I wanted to start “picking” on them and realized that wasn’t a smart thing since I know nothing about eyebrow plucking. It was a good thing because the hairs that I wanted to pluck were, as Veronica said, necessary hairs. She cleaned up a bit, told me that my new hairs were coming in (yeah!), and to use castor oil every night to speed up growth (ordered that night on amazon). It sounds like Castor Oil is a lot like Bag Balm and can solve everything! I’m using castor oil nightly on my eyebrows, eye lashes (I only lost a little) and hair line (why not!). I bought a big bottle of it on Amazon that came with some mascara wands/tubes, and a handy funnel. This stuff is thick, but seems to work:

I’m officially obsessed, obsessed with hair growth. Quite happy to shave my legs in Michigan for the first time in about six months (but new hair growth isn’t rapidly showing). I even check for that awful chin hair that wouldn’t go away – but then finally went away. It, thankfully, has not returned.

I also see that my hair seems to be coming in – and weird. Dark, grey, wire-y. But, I am excited because I booked my first hair appointment for December 3. Have no idea what will be done at this time, but I’m excited about a non-doctor appointment (my hair stylist may need a doctor’s appointment when he sees me).

I wouldn’t call myself a high-maintenance beauty product kind of person – until my chemo ended. Now I’m full-on beauty appointment scheduler! And my MO on products seems to be more is better. Makes it hard to tell you if one, or all, of the stuff I’m doing is helping. Or if I even need any of it. Who cares!

Until December 3.