did you hair ever get back to its pre-chemo state, and how long did that take?

ohilly
ohilly Member Posts: 441
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am feeling better about my hair because somehow I have convinced myself that it is going to grow back thicker the way it was, that it is only a question of time. However, I want to poll the board: did you hair ever get back to its pre-chemo state, and how long did that take if it did?

Thanks.

Ohilly
«1

Comments

  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    #2
    Yes, my hair is back to it's usually stubbornness
    Last chemo was April 2004 and by Nov 2004 I was going without a hat but it was still sticking out somewhat and had a wave. I kept it short and so it grew back exactly the same as before chemo but I didn't notice it much as it was so short. Now it's chin length and exactly the same as before chemo. I was hoping to retain some of the curl or at least a wave. But, alas, it's straight as a stick.
  • tasha_111
    tasha_111 Member Posts: 2,072
    #3
    Marcia527 said:

    Yes, my hair is back to it's usually stubbornness
    Last chemo was April 2004 and by Nov 2004 I was going without a hat but it was still sticking out somewhat and had a wave. I kept it short and so it grew back exactly the same as before chemo but I didn't notice it much as it was so short. Now it's chin length and exactly the same as before chemo. I was hoping to retain some of the curl or at least a wave. But, alas, it's straight as a stick.

    Hair
    I had last Chemo August 2008, My hair was frizzy and pump straight before. It is now about 3 inches, sticking up all over the place, curly at the back and much darker with more grey. It still appears slightly frizzy at the front........Oh well!... Hope this helps Jxxxxxxxxxx
  • Derbygirl
    Derbygirl Member Posts: 198
    #4
    The old version of normal no
    The old version of normal no longer applies for me. I'm 5 months post chemo and my hair is only 1 inch in length, but it's thick and curly. It's regrowing very slowly and the texture and color changed, but I kind of like the new me. Glad that you feel better about your hair and hope you eventually get the hair of your dreams.
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #5
    don't need hair of my dreams
    I don't need the hair of my dreams. All I need is hair without horrible thin spots which I never, ever had before!

    Ohilly
  • Bill.S
    Bill.S Member Posts: 177
    #6
    still the same old bald spots
    Was hoping that my bald spots would grow in but NOooooooooooooo .
    3 1/2 months post chemo now. I did go to the barber shop just to even things out and clean up around the edges.
    Now I am shaving every day like before, but me thinks that me hair isn't growing as fast as me Abe Lincoln beard.
    Hair on arms and legs coming back slowly along with "other" hair.
    I kind of got used to being hairless all over but I'm not going through chemo again just to loose my hair. Maybe I'll try waxing.
    Any body want to help ?
    We all looked sexy bald and will look even sexier after it grows back--- however it grows back.
    Now where did I leave my comb ???????????????
    Bill S.
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #7
    Hi, Bill
    So, Bill, are you a male bc survivor (one of the few, but equally welcome on our board)? Do you have any information from other survivors about how long it took their hair to get back to the way it was pre-chemo, and if it ever did? I'm really wrestling with this issue: I think it's worse for a woman.

    Ohilly
  • jakeca
    jakeca Member Posts: 92
    #8
    ohilly said:

    Hi, Bill
    So, Bill, are you a male bc survivor (one of the few, but equally welcome on our board)? Do you have any information from other survivors about how long it took their hair to get back to the way it was pre-chemo, and if it ever did? I'm really wrestling with this issue: I think it's worse for a woman.

    Ohilly

    My cousin
    My cousin is a breast cancer surviver and I was just asking her last weekend "how long?" She couldn't remember exactly (see how unimportant it becomes later?) but she thought a couple of months after my last chemo treatment, I would start to see some growth. Her hair came in really dark (she had always been a blonde), thick and curly. It has lightened some over the years and the curl has relaxed, but she still has a beautiful head of hair. She is just now starting to get a few grays. She is 65 years old.

    My last chemo treatment was Feb 10th. I am getting some wild gray hair growth, but only the hair that never really fell out. I am hoping by summer to be able to go without hats or wig.
  • RE
    RE Member Posts: 4,591 Member
    #9
    HAIR REGROWTH
    Hi Ohilly,

    I have totally lost my hair three times and each time it seems to take about a year for it to get back to its normal thick self. This last time I have noticed that it came back normally to my head by my legs and underarms have less hair then before so for me its a perk!

    Chat with ya later,

    RE
  • tami90650
    tami90650 Member Posts: 82
    #10
    HAIR
    i HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR YOU. mY LAST CHEMO WAS 08/2007 AND PRIOR TO CHEMO i HAD VERY THIN DULL DIAHWATER BLONDE HAIR THAT NEVER GREW. tODAY i HAVE BROWN HAIR (WITH A TOUCH OF GRAY I DYE OUT) NOW AND AT FIRST IT WAS SO CURLY COMING OUT I FELT LIKE ORPHAN ANNIE, BUT PATIENCE AND TOLERANCE HAS BROUGHT ME LUSHIOUS CURLS THAT LOOK LIKE I GOT UP 2 HOURS EARLY EVERY DAY AND HAD TO WORK FOR THIS LOOK. I COULDNT OF ASKED FOR ANYTHING BETTER. HAVE PATIENCE MY DEAR. GOD BLESS YOU
    LOVE TAMI90650
  • rjjj
    rjjj Member Posts: 1,822 Member
    #11
    tami90650 said:

    HAIR
    i HAVE GREAT NEWS FOR YOU. mY LAST CHEMO WAS 08/2007 AND PRIOR TO CHEMO i HAD VERY THIN DULL DIAHWATER BLONDE HAIR THAT NEVER GREW. tODAY i HAVE BROWN HAIR (WITH A TOUCH OF GRAY I DYE OUT) NOW AND AT FIRST IT WAS SO CURLY COMING OUT I FELT LIKE ORPHAN ANNIE, BUT PATIENCE AND TOLERANCE HAS BROUGHT ME LUSHIOUS CURLS THAT LOOK LIKE I GOT UP 2 HOURS EARLY EVERY DAY AND HAD TO WORK FOR THIS LOOK. I COULDNT OF ASKED FOR ANYTHING BETTER. HAVE PATIENCE MY DEAR. GOD BLESS YOU
    LOVE TAMI90650

    Did you have stubbles?
    I am not done with treatment yet so really know nothing..but was wondering ..did you keep shaving the hair growth down until you were finished or did you just let the stubbles grow..mine are growing after 4 treatments and 2 to go. Thanks Jackie
  • Eil4186
    Eil4186 Member Posts: 949
    #12
    Bill.S said:

    still the same old bald spots
    Was hoping that my bald spots would grow in but NOooooooooooooo .
    3 1/2 months post chemo now. I did go to the barber shop just to even things out and clean up around the edges.
    Now I am shaving every day like before, but me thinks that me hair isn't growing as fast as me Abe Lincoln beard.
    Hair on arms and legs coming back slowly along with "other" hair.
    I kind of got used to being hairless all over but I'm not going through chemo again just to loose my hair. Maybe I'll try waxing.
    Any body want to help ?
    We all looked sexy bald and will look even sexier after it grows back--- however it grows back.
    Now where did I leave my comb ???????????????
    Bill S.

    Bill!!!!! Where have ya
    Bill!!!!! Where have ya been?
  • redriverartist
    redriverartist Member Posts: 54
    #13
    rjjj said:

    Did you have stubbles?
    I am not done with treatment yet so really know nothing..but was wondering ..did you keep shaving the hair growth down until you were finished or did you just let the stubbles grow..mine are growing after 4 treatments and 2 to go. Thanks Jackie

    Just weird........
    Hi, Jackie - I started losing my hair after the first A/C and had my husband buzz it when I got to the point where I looked like a dog with mange. My last round of Taxol is next week. The fuzz is now about 1/8 to 1/4 inch and very thin & fine. I had thick dark blond hair with gray frosting and loved it. Now, the fuzz is almost totally white and very thin - looks like an albino peach! At least something is growing. The stubble started as soon as I was off the A/C. Here we go on that roller coaster again. Thnx, Teresa
  • MISS MY HAIR
    MISS MY HAIR Member Posts: 2
    #14
    IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME
    I had very unique wavy hair. My hair was wavy not curly, there is a difference. Every day I would get compliments on my hair. To loose my hair was devasting for me. I was petrified that my hair would not return to it's natural state. But it did. It came back exactly the same as before. I take MSM tablets, Fish Oil, Vitamin D, B Complex, Prenatal Vitamins and Calcium to promote hair growth. View my website at www.lindasimon.com to see my video of weekly photos of my hair growth that I started to take seven weeks post chemo.
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #15
    MISS MY HAIR said:

    IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME
    I had very unique wavy hair. My hair was wavy not curly, there is a difference. Every day I would get compliments on my hair. To loose my hair was devasting for me. I was petrified that my hair would not return to it's natural state. But it did. It came back exactly the same as before. I take MSM tablets, Fish Oil, Vitamin D, B Complex, Prenatal Vitamins and Calcium to promote hair growth. View my website at www.lindasimon.com to see my video of weekly photos of my hair growth that I started to take seven weeks post chemo.

    sigh
    You are lucky your hair came back the same. Mine definitely did not: it is thinner on the top and sides, which was very difficult for me to accept after having thick, beautiful hair before. However, I have come to accept it and have done the best I can to make it look good by getting a good cut and style. The word I would use to describe my attitude is resigned.

    But hey, I'm alive!

    Ohilly
  • MISS MY HAIR
    MISS MY HAIR Member Posts: 2
    #16
    wrong website address.
    Sorry everyone. My webiste is www.thelindasimon.com not www.lindasimon.com. View my weekly hair growth photo video. I am updating it every week. You will enjoy it. I know when I was curious as to my hair growth when I was going threw chemo I couldn't find many hair photo journals so I made this for us cancer victims.
  • JoyD
    JoyD Member Posts: 81
    #17
    MISS MY HAIR said:

    wrong website address.
    Sorry everyone. My webiste is www.thelindasimon.com not www.lindasimon.com. View my weekly hair growth photo video. I am updating it every week. You will enjoy it. I know when I was curious as to my hair growth when I was going threw chemo I couldn't find many hair photo journals so I made this for us cancer victims.

    Miss My Hair
    Miss My Hair:

    Thank you very much for sharing the weekly hair growth. It really help a lot of people especially me since I now know what to expect.

    Joy D
  • cats_toy
    cats_toy Member Posts: 1,462 Member
    #18
    hair growth
    When my hair started coming back I was almost tempted to shave it bald again. You know those little old men with male pattern baldness?? That was me!!! hair all along the sides, none on top. Talk about looking silly, I thought bald was better! but it did finally grow, except it is thinner on top, and it wasn't that way before chemo. Small price to pay I think.
    good luck with those follicles!!
    Cat
  • Christmas Girl
    Christmas Girl Member Posts: 3,682 Member
    #19
    cats_toy said:

    hair growth
    When my hair started coming back I was almost tempted to shave it bald again. You know those little old men with male pattern baldness?? That was me!!! hair all along the sides, none on top. Talk about looking silly, I thought bald was better! but it did finally grow, except it is thinner on top, and it wasn't that way before chemo. Small price to pay I think.
    good luck with those follicles!!
    Cat

    Uneven hair growth...
    Yeah, Cat. The individual hairs all over the head don't all grow at the same rate. This is standard, not just post-chemo. It's simply much more noticeable for us when it begins to come back in, because the hair has completely fallen out. I had longer, mostly all one length hair my entire life. So, I could stretch out those visits to the stylist for a cut. Now that I keep my hair really short with lotsa layers, I have to go for a trim much more frequently. Not because of length; but, to keep the style shaped. According to my stylist, this is totally normal. Short hair is much less day-to-day maintenance. Trade off is more trips to the salon. This is also why some men (very, very short hair) go for trims as often as once a month.

    Kind regards, Susan
  • dmdudra
    dmdudra Member Posts: 50
    #20
    hair regrowth
    I stopped my AC treatment back in end of February and started my taxol treatment there after and I have peach fuzz.. with some white hairs and it is getting darker.. I had beautiful brown curly hair..I loved my hair... . I was so happy when I saw the peach fuzz a couple weeks ago..and I shaved my legs the first time in two months...My doctor told me it would be about 2 1/2 months before I feel comfortable to take my wig off.. which is perfect since summer will be here and it will be warm outside.... take care Diane
  • Aortus
    Aortus Member Posts: 967
    #21
    dmdudra said:

    hair regrowth
    I stopped my AC treatment back in end of February and started my taxol treatment there after and I have peach fuzz.. with some white hairs and it is getting darker.. I had beautiful brown curly hair..I loved my hair... . I was so happy when I saw the peach fuzz a couple weeks ago..and I shaved my legs the first time in two months...My doctor told me it would be about 2 1/2 months before I feel comfortable to take my wig off.. which is perfect since summer will be here and it will be warm outside.... take care Diane

    hair regrowth
    My little Moopster is not quite two weeks from her last of 6 rounds of TAC, and she is already sprouting soft little patches of fine hairs on the front part of her head. This is very exciting for both of us, because we have agreed that one bald person per house is quite enough and I'm quite accustomed to holding that honorable position!

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