Where'd my mullet go? Will it grow back?

RogerRN43
RogerRN43 Member Posts: 185
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Just kidding, I think I had a mullet once in my life and that was years ago in high school.

So I took a shower today and to my dismay, my hair was falling out. They said I wouldn't lose my hair with chemo and at first I thought they were wrong, but then I realized it was coming from a patch on the backside of my left neck/lower head, and not my whole head.

Ahh, from the rad, not the chemo. I took the buzzer out and shaved my head, real short and blended it in at the back.

I've sported a shaved head many times in the past 10 years, but I was wondering will this patch grow back? Or only partially grow back?

Comments

  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #2
    Depends
    My mullet grew back, mostly. ;-) I lost from the top of my ears down. The part on my lower neck, didn't grow back, which is fine. Looks better when I get a super short pixie cut. She doesn't need to shave the neck area. The half of my head that grew back, grew in super curly. If I don't do anything to my hair, and just let it dry naturally, it looks pretty weird, because you can see a clear line of demarkation between radiation hair, and my 'old' hair. :)
  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #3
    Hair
    I may have told this but what the heck...blame it on chemo-brain. When I was told I had cancer the first thing I did was have my head shaved. I refused to think/allow it to take "my hair". Well two things, first of all I never lost hair from the top of my head or anywhere else other than my beard. I had a good full beard and one morning I woke up and it was simply gone and there were no hairs in the bed, my face was as smooth as a baby's butt. The only hair left was that in front of my spinal cord where they did not radiate and that looked like a turkey beard. I swear I never did figure out where it went.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #4
    Hair
    I too was told I would not loose the hair on my Head, they were right just my beard and mustache fell out. Well oh was all I could say.

    Hondo
  • NJR
    NJR Member Posts: 82
    #5
    Probably
    I have yet to meet anyone who's hair on their head didn't grow back although I understand it does happen rarely. In my case like many others though a large portion of my beard no longer grows.(from radiation) I no longer have to shave my neck and jaw area so I am not complaining. They told me the Chemo wouldn't make me lose my hair also. Four days after my first round of Cisplatin and the first stroke of the comb removed the first and last handful of hair that I would see. I was on my way to the barbershop with quickness before someone made the coloration between me and a mangy dog!

    Nick
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #6
    Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...
    One of the few things on here that is truely individual I believe...LOL.

    I had nine weeks of chemo (three cycles), somewhere during the fourth or fifth week, I lost hair.

    Not just head hair, entire body hair, LOL...ears, nose, eye brows, everything, other than a little on the arms, so I butched it also;

    No Hair

    I even lost all of my toe nails, and my finger nails became really brittle and chipped all of the time.

    The hair started growing back almost immediately though...

    Then I started the seven weeks of rads...

    I lost the neck band you describe, it since has came back barely...mostly a little light peach fuzz at best.

    I also lost most of the beard on my face and pretty much all under the jawbone on the neck. Not much has changed in over two plus years.

    OH, Mullet....one of my favorite eating fish too...

    Fresh Smoked Mullet, or Fried Mullet (skin on and ribs left in) ...crispy from Dixie Lilly Corn Meal...LOL.

    Best,
    JG
  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #7
    Hair
    Never had a mullet, but....LOL, I did enjoy my shoulder length red hair, but you know it's just hair. When I found out about my cancer ,I was talking to the gal who did my hair and found out that she has worked with a lot of ladies who have had breast cancer. She suggested that I cut my hair short as it wouldn't be as tramaticwhen it started to fall out, I went almost 3 full weeks before that happened. I waited till my neice got here from Pennsylvania and made an appointment to get it shaved...my neice decided to have hers shaved as well(she still keeps it shaved) we had a blast at the salon, laughing and taking pictures of the whole process. I've gotten some great hats , was always a ball cap wearer. The up side about the hair loss is I don't have to shave my legs or underarms, never lost my eyebrows or eye lashes. The only time I cried about hair was when we came home after dinner a few weeks ago and my 65+ neighbor called us over and his wife came out in the driveway and she shaved her hair off as well to support us. If nothing else I can thank , well if that is correct,cancer for bringing wonderful people besides my family into my life. Hair will always grow back, maybe not red, maybe not thick like it was before, I'm kinda liking this bald look , especially when my 6 year old grandaughter calls and asks "how's my bald headed grammie doing?"
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #8
    Lost much of my beard from rads the first time.
    i could grow a nice goatee if I wanted. Now on chemo my hair is all falling out. 90%gone after 2cycles. Im so pretty.
  • Husker Fan
    Husker Fan Member Posts: 65
    #9
    Rads burnt mine...
    I didn't have Chemo, but about 2/3 of the way through radiation, my left neck line was burnt clean and some patchy areas above the jaw. I had a goatee for about 18 years and had to shave it off a couple of weeks ago. One day there were just patches gone, couldn't groom it enough to make it look right so now I am clean shaven. My wife says there are a few bald spots on the back of my neck too, from the rads exiting on the back side. Oh well, I have been bald on the top for years so I just shaved it all off. Maybe the hair in my ears will get burnt out too! LOL

    Clean shaven is in!

    Have a great day,

    David
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #10
    Husker Fan said:

    Rads burnt mine...
    I didn't have Chemo, but about 2/3 of the way through radiation, my left neck line was burnt clean and some patchy areas above the jaw. I had a goatee for about 18 years and had to shave it off a couple of weeks ago. One day there were just patches gone, couldn't groom it enough to make it look right so now I am clean shaven. My wife says there are a few bald spots on the back of my neck too, from the rads exiting on the back side. Oh well, I have been bald on the top for years so I just shaved it all off. Maybe the hair in my ears will get burnt out too! LOL

    Clean shaven is in!

    Have a great day,

    David

    Old Nasty...
    The old and nasty hairs and places went for a ride also....

    Unfortunately for me, those stubborn suckers were the first to return...LOL.

    JG
  • DrMary
    DrMary Member Posts: 531 Member
    #11
    Fresh Hair
    Doug lost any hair from just below his eyeballs down, front and back. The rest of his hair in back was long enough to keep his neck covered, so not many noticed that. The loss of face hair seemed nice, but the loss of nose hair was actually annoying - his nose ran all the time. Since it started after he'd had a week of vomiting, I was at first afraid it was CSF leaking (it was thin and clear, and he had no good reason, I thought, to have a runny nose). Yes, I do think of worst-case scenarios.

    Then, Doug mentioned his lack of nose hair (and ear hair and lower eyelashes). Oh.

    His facial hair grew back, but not under his chin or on his neck in back. It sounds like you'll be able to adjust, either way. . . .

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