OK, now i'm freaking out

I shopped for a wig before starting chemo. I paid extra to order one from a spa that looke like my shoulder length hair. I didn't cut my hair short,but just before my second chemo it was coming out like crazy, so I had it shaved off at the spa where I bought my wig(free of charge) at first I wore my wig whenever I went out, but eventually I also used hats and pretied scarves. Now my hair is growing back and I am going out without the wig. ( it's not the preferred color, but people tell me they think it's cute. I guess I'll have to take a selfi.e. And post it. Maybe I can get it right side up.

Mmpeterson said:

So I have a question, many

So I have a question, many said to cut your hair short so it's not so traumatic and others say they shaved their heads because it was too hard for them to see the clumps coming out.  I have below the shoulder hair so I am not sure the most "non traumatic" way to do this.  Maryanne

Hi Maryanne,

I have always had long hair, so I had mine cut short the week I started chemo, just so that the mess would be less (in the tub, on your pillow, everywhere). The photo I'm using on this site was taken the week I started chemo. I wanted to eventually shave my head, so I went to a barber and asked what type of clippers should be used. Because of blood-borne diseases, and the fact that I already have one myself, it seemed wise to bring my own clippers. (People get knicked and bleed, and no one is there to monitor the barber to make sure the blades are sterilized, etc.) So I ordered some clippers from the internet and took them to the barber. As it turned out, they were the wrong model for the kind of close but not skin-close shave that I wanted.

In the meantime, my hair was falling out, and I realized that I appreciated having the wispy bangs hanging from the edge of my hats. I just hung on to the closest thing to normalcy that those thin bangs represented. I never did clip it. I went hatless in the evenings when I walked around town and hiked in the hills near my house, and I wore snowboarder beanies when I went out on other occasions, and sometimes scarves. I tried on wigs, but they just seemed unattractive and expensive. I wound up finding a $35 joke wig that was actually cute. It was a page boy cut primariy one color, but with exposed roots of another color. I thought it was great, but only wore it ONCE! I really wanted to laugh as much as I could. I also found a T-shirt at the thirftstore with the logo from "America's Top Model", which I thought would go well with my bald head.

This is just me I guess, but I was also fascinated to watch the changes as it came out. It seemed like an art project, the way the hairs that were about to come out would stand up in protest. It was interesting. I never really felt as bad about my hair loss as I thought I would. It would have been much harder if it had never come back and if I'd expected that it wouldn't. For me, the anxiety about losing it is worse that the experience of losing it. But I yearned to get it back, especially my eyelashes and some of the eyebrow hairs that finally came out. I had a magnifying glass to look at my eyelids, and cheered when those buds of lash hair made their appearance.

I had chemo about a month after surgery. I would have had it one or two weeks earlier, but I had to get over a urinary track infection first. I like some others here, was happy to just get the show on the road. Sooner started, sooner finished.Lots of wonderful advice here from the other women about managing chemo. Watermelon helped me with the constipation problem. I also took Miralax and everything prescribed to me for the nausea.

You will probably handle all of this better than you think. Wishing you peace and strength.

jane

I shaved it all off myself the first time using a trimmer but then went back and lathered with  shaving cream and shaved off with a razor. For me it was not.a big deal. It is just hair. It was the summer of 2011 in Texas and it was 100° almost ever day.  Way to hot to wear a wig, hat or even a scarf.  I did buy hats and scaves but really did not get into the hang of them.  Just went bald. I went to work, out shopping, it did not bother me.  Hair did not make me who I am so as I said it was no big deal for me. I keep it about half an inch now five years later. It was down to the middle of my back before.  I hate the way it came back. It was straight as a board before now it has curl to it. Not use it that and I hate how if it gets longer that it sticks out everywhere and does not lay down flat. It is just hair and it did grow back so I am ok with that but sometimes I wish it had not just to be bald again. It was very freeing for me. I really enjoyed it.  But like I said that this is how I felt about lossing my hair. I know some ladies it is very emotional for them to lose their hair. I wish you all the best Maryanne in your visit with Dr Lea on Monday, getting the port in and your first chemo treatment. Praying for you. Tell Dr Lea hi from trish for me.   Let us know when you can the results of the path report. Trish