Facial Hair Follies

Marty36
Marty36 Member Posts: 84
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Over the last year, I feel like I've had 10 different facial hair patterns.

During the first radiation, I lost my beard (which I'd had for 15 years). I was left with a moustache and goatee combination, with hair on my sideburns but not enough for a beard. After the second radiation (Cyberknife) I lost the moustache and goatee.

But a couple of months out from Cyberknife, the moustache came back almost normal, but more grey. Now, the goatee is filling in some more and I have a strange soul patch/chin hair combo. The beard is slowly coming back, although I don't think it will ever grow back on the side where the original radiation was. The hardest part is I actually have to shave much more often, something I wasn't used to after having a beard for so long.

The strip of hair on the back of my head (another radiation effect) also grew back quickly.

Comments

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #2
    I can't say much about the beard (thank gawd)....
    but the strip of hair at the nape of you neck came back? That is good news...I just noticed last week, that I'm missing about an inch all along the whole nape of my neck. Looks like someone put a bowl on my head and shaved all around the edge...LOL. I thought hair loss from rads was permanent....

    Anybody else get their hair back?

    p
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #3
    Im a freaking mess
    After two sets of rads I will bet I dont have 200 whiskers. Got a big patch on the back of my head that doesnt grow, and the sideburn on the opposite side is damaged. But, I still have hair around my eyes from the erbitux!
  • Marty36
    Marty36 Member Posts: 84
    #4
    phrannie51 said:

    I can't say much about the beard (thank gawd)....
    but the strip of hair at the nape of you neck came back? That is good news...I just noticed last week, that I'm missing about an inch all along the whole nape of my neck. Looks like someone put a bowl on my head and shaved all around the edge...LOL. I thought hair loss from rads was permanent....

    Anybody else get their hair back?

    p

    Now, my back of head
    Now, my back of head hairloss wasn't far from where my haircut tapers off, so there wasn't a ton of hair to begin with and my barber was good at making it blend. But I got my haircut yesterday and couldn't even tell where that strip was.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #5
    longtermsurvivor said:

    Im a freaking mess
    After two sets of rads I will bet I dont have 200 whiskers. Got a big patch on the back of my head that doesnt grow, and the sideburn on the opposite side is damaged. But, I still have hair around my eyes from the erbitux!

    LOL...
    You are a mess Pat......

    I lost all hair, and like above I have had a moustache for forty plus years of the most part.

    I lost it during chemo, but it slowly grew back.

    The beard under the jawline, pretty much on both sides is gone, which I like not having to shave it.

    Also, like most, about an 1" less on the neck than I used to have. But I wear my hair short and tapered anyways, so it isn't that noticeable.

    JG

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