bye bye hair

VictoriaSF

just wanted to share - right on the clock.... two weeks after my first carbo/taxol treatment my hair started to fall out,
it was annoying and depressing.
Tonight my husband shaved my hair. Have to say i feel kind of relieved, liberated.
#1 - it does not look that horrible. I have tried my Wig and hats, scarves - not bad at all..
#2 - no more falling hair on my dress and pillow,floor, etc...

Strangely - my mood is better too.Maybe because i have prepared for something more dramatic.

if you do have advise which shampoo better for bald headed lady - pls let me know

hugs to all
Victoria

Mum2bellaandwilliam

embrace your baldness.
it sounds to me like you have, mum looks fab in her wig, just as good as if she had her hair, she has never done the whole scarf thin , althuogh she did buy one

joan60

Hair
highly overated, lost my hair in first round of chemo, its about 4 inches long now and I looked like Jack Frost in the morning. Just started carbo/taxol last week so I'm sure my hair will fall out again. There are upsides of little hair, save on shampoo, no conditioner, no blow drying ( saving on electricity), head dry before you get out of shower!!! I try to look at the humor side. As far as shampoo, baby shampoo.
Joan

mopar

'NO HAIR' DAY
I used to tease my coworkers when I was 'bald' and they would say, 'I'm having a bad hair day', I'd say, 'well I'm having a NO HAIR day!'. It was difficult the first time I saw it fall out, but I was very prepared and I think that's why I was able to handle it. Sure was easy to wash my head. Quite frankly, it felt good to wash the little stubble that I had. Anyway, growing it back was even better, because I had the short, cute hairstyle that was popular at the time, and one that I would NEVER have gotten by choice. Everyone loved it, and it was so easy to wash and style. I just used mild shampoos, and no conditioner on my bare head. Worked for me.

Sending lots of ((HUGS))!
Monika

lindaprocopio

mopar said:

'NO HAIR' DAY
I used to tease my coworkers when I was 'bald' and they would say, 'I'm having a bad hair day', I'd say, 'well I'm having a NO HAIR day!'. It was difficult the first time I saw it fall out, but I was very prepared and I think that's why I was able to handle it. Sure was easy to wash my head. Quite frankly, it felt good to wash the little stubble that I had. Anyway, growing it back was even better, because I had the short, cute hairstyle that was popular at the time, and one that I would NEVER have gotten by choice. Everyone loved it, and it was so easy to wash and style. I just used mild shampoos, and no conditioner on my bare head. Worked for me.

Sending lots of ((HUGS))!
Monika

Big earrings, bright lipstick, huge smile = beautiful baldy!!
I've been taxol bald 3 times now and here's what I loved about being bald:
1.) the sensual delight of a cool pillowcase on my bald head
2.) the incredible sensation of a breeze or the rain on my bald head
3.) legs as smooth as a baby's
4.) No underarm or leg shaving & no more crazy chin sproutings!
5.) $$ saved at the hairdressers really adds up
6.) being able to wear any shade of red or pink without it clashing with my red hair. (same with lipstick!)
7.) you can shower during a 5-minute commercial break & since you don't have to shave legs or wash hair, you never miss a minute of the show you were watching.
8.) You pop on wig or a baseball hat and you're good-to-go anywhere in 10 seconds flat.
9.) You get pulled over for speeding and there's a good chance they'll let you off without a ticket
10.) Strangers who have had cancer will hug you and tell you you're beautiful.

Be sure and go to the "Look Good; Feel Better" workshop the American Cancer Society puts on, as the makeup they give you is TOP SHELF. I just treated my bald head like an extension of my face, washing it with my good facial wash and moisturing it with my light facial moisturizer. I really looked pretty awful once I lost my eyelashes and brows deep into my chemo rounds, but I found that big earrings and bright lipstick and a big smile was enough to get me by. & it's WINTER, the best season for baldness because other people are wearing hats too, and a wig feels warm and nice. (((Hugs)))

Of course the best thing about being bald is the THRILL of your hair and eyelashes andd brows RETURNING, because you'll NEVER apply mascara again without a smile of appreciation.

MK_4Dani

No Hair, No problem
Like everyone said, no hair is great in some aspects. I am a year from last treatment and I just got my hair cut yesterday. It is short, very short. I like it that way: it takes me 1 minute to style. After many years of long hair, hair products, blow drying, styling...I will never have long hair again. I am glad you have a good attitude about the baldness. Shampoo: hee hee you don't need any....just use conditioner!
Mary

sarahb74

MK_4Dani said:

No Hair, No problem
Like everyone said, no hair is great in some aspects. I am a year from last treatment and I just got my hair cut yesterday. It is short, very short. I like it that way: it takes me 1 minute to style. After many years of long hair, hair products, blow drying, styling...I will never have long hair again. I am glad you have a good attitude about the baldness. Shampoo: hee hee you don't need any....just use conditioner!
Mary

Ah well, I've just joined the club
I had my first cycle of carbo/taxol for my first recurrence 3 weeks ago on Monday and my husband has just given me a shave. I'm now bald as a coot, so treated myself to a couple of beau beaus. I hope they're as pretty as they look in the pictures!

kikz

sarahb74 said:

Ah well, I've just joined the club
I had my first cycle of carbo/taxol for my first recurrence 3 weeks ago on Monday and my husband has just given me a shave. I'm now bald as a coot, so treated myself to a couple of beau beaus. I hope they're as pretty as they look in the pictures!

Just remember
to cover your head if you are out in the sun. In October when I was done with chemo, my friend called and said get ready we're going to the beach. When I had my head shaved I thought I would wear bandanas but I didn't like the look. I just sported my bald head. So I went to the beach without any covering. Needless to say I got a sunburn and eventually my whole scalp peeled. I should have known better. I had a wonderful day though.

Karen

VictoriaSF

kikz said:

Just remember
to cover your head if you are out in the sun. In October when I was done with chemo, my friend called and said get ready we're going to the beach. When I had my head shaved I thought I would wear bandanas but I didn't like the look. I just sported my bald head. So I went to the beach without any covering. Needless to say I got a sunburn and eventually my whole scalp peeled. I should have known better. I had a wonderful day though.

Karen

still feeling good
thank you ladies for your replies
today - i am still feeling good about being shaved,
i have tried all my accessories - kind of fun
much better than falling hair .

will take pic and put as my profile for you to see

my son and my husband saying i can go even without any covering - as it does not look bad.
my husband so sweet - he said i look even younger.

at least this part went smoothly , without big drama

now - i just need to pray that my dental problem will not affect my blood count and i will have 2nd chemo next week.

best
Victoria

anicca

Cute
Everyone who saw me bald told me my head was actually cute that way. I never expected that. I had worn my hair long for years, and when I cut it to shoulder length in preparation, I let my daughters straighten it and discovered I like it that way. Then I cut it really short and loved it like that. So easy to take care of, and earrings really show! The only really negative thing for me was that without eyelashes, I seemed to constantly get dirt in my eyes, and I hated having to apply liner and eyebrow pencil before going out. Also, this is funny, for the first week, I scared myself every time I looked in the mirror. Fortunately, my eyelashes came back very quickly.

Hissy_Fitz

VictoriaSF said:

still feeling good
thank you ladies for your replies
today - i am still feeling good about being shaved,
i have tried all my accessories - kind of fun
much better than falling hair .

will take pic and put as my profile for you to see

my son and my husband saying i can go even without any covering - as it does not look bad.
my husband so sweet - he said i look even younger.

at least this part went smoothly , without big drama

now - i just need to pray that my dental problem will not affect my blood count and i will have 2nd chemo next week.

best
Victoria

The hair is always a huge
The hair is always a huge thing for women. It's never easy to watch your hair fall out. But my diagnosis was such a shock, in and of itself, that I almost didn't have enough emotion left to mourn the loss of my hair. I don't know for sure, of course, but I think I'd feel the same way about my breasts, if I had breast cancer. Just take them off and let's be done with it. It's not like I'm going to be using them anymore.

My daughter-in-law had her hair cut off today and donated it to Locks of Love. I think it's way more important to help children, and especially adolescent girls, deal with hair loss than "old ladies" like us. We had our turn at all that stuff: boyfriends and prom and high school angst, and we got to experience it all as "normal" girls. I can't imagine being 14 and bald. I would have felt like my life was truly over, whether I had a good prognosis or not.

Time was, I had the thickest, shinest hair you can imagine. One of my aunts that had not seen me since childhood asked me, "Is that all your hair?" Indeed it was. I got to wear hot pants and hip huggers and halter tops, back when all that stuff looked good on me and I didn't have to worry about low-plunging necklines showing port scars, or bathing suits that revealed either stretch marks or evidence of surgeries. I think every young girl should have those same opportunities - those rites of passage that mean so much when you are in your teens.

Now it's my turn to be a grandmother, and the wife of a sweet, harmless old bald-headed guy that can't find his own rear end without help, but who loves me anyway, without hair, just as he would love me without legs or boobs, because we have finally reached that part of life's journey where hormones are less important than bowel movements, and sex, though still wonderful, is nowhere near the same thing as love, and we get that.

So now that I'm off Taxol and my hair will presumably grow back, I'm surprised to find myself only moderately excited. Not even excited, really - just "that's nice" is about all I can muster. I have three wigs and I could always buy another one, or two, or a dozen, if need be. I'm just as much "me" as I ever was. Fake hair does not make me a fake person, any more than sausage curls would make me Shirley Temple. And that reminds me....I am not particularly looking forward to all that high maintenance hair stuff again: curling irons and blow dryers and "product". And hair color. I could live my whole life without every coloring my hair again....and I might, too. Because cancer has given me a brashness (some would call it an I-don't-give-a-sh** attitude) that I didn't have before. So screw the hair. Have a glass of wine, some chocolate, and a slice of pineapple cheesecake instead.

Carlene

poopergirl14052

no hair for me either
i know how you feel. My hair is gone for the second time.it was just starting to grow back, now i AM BACK ON CHEMO hAVE 3 MORE TO GO. I am wearing hat and scarves and wigs. No more bad hair days or winter frizzies.

kikz

poopergirl14052 said:

no hair for me either
i know how you feel. My hair is gone for the second time.it was just starting to grow back, now i AM BACK ON CHEMO hAVE 3 MORE TO GO. I am wearing hat and scarves and wigs. No more bad hair days or winter frizzies.

Bald is beautiful
When I had my head shaved my mom started telling everyone I was her manikin. A lot of people commented on what a nicely-shaped head I have. Oddly I would never have know that if I didn't have cancer. I really enjoyed (I know, seems strange) being bald. I felt good about myself and was surprised to find I had the courage to go anywhere. I found people treated me kindly and really did not notice stares even from small children. Besides going through diagnosis and treatment was pretty horendous so a bald head seemed the least of my problems. My hair has grown back enough for me to have my usual hairdo which was short and spikey. I am planning on having my hair dyed blonde this summer. I always wanted to do it once in my life and what better time.

Karen

kayandok

Love your attitude,
Victoria! My mom's first response when I told her I was going to have taxol and my hair would fall out was, "Don't worry honey, you have a gorgeous head! I made sure of that when you were a baby." Maybe it is her generation of moms, but apparently she and all her friends carressed their babies heads, and made sure they never slept on any one side too long, knowing it would affect the shape of their head. And Japanese babies are proof that this is true. They all sleep on their backs from the time they are born and they all have flat heads in the back.

Anyway, I shaved my head knowing bald was going to be beautiful, and I actually haven't minded wearing wigs or just going bald. I do get tired of being cold at night (we don't have central heating in Japan and temps have been freezing lately), but have a really cool night cap that I found on same site as the wigs.

Hugs,
kathleen

VictoriaSF

kayandok said:

Love your attitude,
Victoria! My mom's first response when I told her I was going to have taxol and my hair would fall out was, "Don't worry honey, you have a gorgeous head! I made sure of that when you were a baby." Maybe it is her generation of moms, but apparently she and all her friends carressed their babies heads, and made sure they never slept on any one side too long, knowing it would affect the shape of their head. And Japanese babies are proof that this is true. They all sleep on their backs from the time they are born and they all have flat heads in the back.

Anyway, I shaved my head knowing bald was going to be beautiful, and I actually haven't minded wearing wigs or just going bald. I do get tired of being cold at night (we don't have central heating in Japan and temps have been freezing lately), but have a really cool night cap that I found on same site as the wigs.

Hugs,
kathleen

thank you for support
thank you ladies for support,
i also did not know that i have nicely shaped head
Kathleen - we had the same believe in Ukraine,
maybe that is why my head the way it is, haha

Kathleen -which side did you use for wigs and night cap?

best
hugs
Victoria

Pythiaschad

Kudos to your husband for
Kudos to your husband for doing what was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. When my wife finally decided to have it all come off, I did the job. That tore me up inside. Perhaps up until then, I hadn't come to the full terms of what she was going through. After she was done I had her cut mine. We were bald and beautiful together.

Chad

jloe

Pythiaschad said:

Kudos to your husband for
Kudos to your husband for doing what was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. When my wife finally decided to have it all come off, I did the job. That tore me up inside. Perhaps up until then, I hadn't come to the full terms of what she was going through. After she was done I had her cut mine. We were bald and beautiful together.

Chad

Cute & Admirable!
I always had long beautiful hair and when I started losing mine my scalp was so sore I had it all buzzed off and my husband was there with me. It hurt so bad it was actually a relief to have it taken off. My husband has been bald forever and he could see that I really was not upset at the time. Poor guy had no idea what to expect. He has been a pilot for over 40 years and said "It hasn't stopped me from doing what I love to do and as a matter of fact just makes me a little more aerodynamic!" We all laughed and I realized that I can still walk and talk without my hair.

kayandok

VictoriaSF said:

thank you for support
thank you ladies for support,
i also did not know that i have nicely shaped head
Kathleen - we had the same believe in Ukraine,
maybe that is why my head the way it is, haha

Kathleen -which side did you use for wigs and night cap?

best
hugs
Victoria

I have used several
different sites for wigs, but got my sleep hat here.
k

http://www.headcovers.com/871/sleep-caps-long-elf-night-cap-in-solids-prints/

srwruns

Great pic
You know, I've seen your new pic for a couple days now and I just love it! You just look like a "take no prisoners" and "I mean business" cancer survivor! It's a really kick *ss look for you!

VictoriaSF

srwruns said:

Great pic
You know, I've seen your new pic for a couple days now and I just love it! You just look like a "take no prisoners" and "I mean business" cancer survivor! It's a really kick *ss look for you!

still love my bald head
thank you ladies for all your posts,
i am still glad i did it, much better than falling hair all over the place.
og - an i have ordered sleeping hat too - very cute!

hugs
Victoria

Mariposacocoon

VictoriaSF said:

still love my bald head
thank you ladies for all your posts,
i am still glad i did it, much better than falling hair all over the place.
og - an i have ordered sleeping hat too - very cute!

hugs
Victoria

Clipping hair short
Happy Valentine's Day to all. I am a new member here and cut my hair short, about one-two inches long, three weeks ago so I could have it made into a "halo". It was past my shoulders at that time.

Yesterday my hair started falling out, but today my 'halo' arrived in the mail, so the timing couldn't have been better. I just spent that last 15 minutes clipping my hair short with some electric clippers. With the plastic guides, it was pretty easy. I'm leaving a bit of a fringe in front for now, but I'm so glad to have it shorter. It was getting very uncomfortable and I swear I could feel it falling out in the middle of the night.

So nice to find this group, your posts inspire me!
Sherri