hair texture

chenheart said:

HAIR WE GO AGAIN!!!!
Oh sweet ohilly! It takes about 9 months to a year before you have a full, luxuriant head of hair again! The texture and color can indeed be altered, and even that returns to its former glory! I know you are anxious about it, and we all have been...it is such a big part of who were are, and how we feel about ourselves. Things will in time get better again, and you will be spnding money you don't have on haircuts you now need all too often!!!!!

Hugs,
Claudia

ohilly said:

thanks
For all those who replied to my latest hair post, thanks! I think part of the reason I am so impatient is because I just want this whole thing to be over. I feel like a toddler sitting on the floor screaming, "I want my life back"! I will try and trust in what everyone has told me, that my hair will come back.

Thanks for all your help and reassurance, Ohilly

CrystalW said:

Hair color
I began coloring my hair as soon as it started coming in. I had this really cute little bobbed red wig that I wore when i had no hair and I loved it. So when my hair started to grow, I colored it that color. It was really blonde and you could not see it. I wanted what little hair I did have to stand out. Just make sure you don't over due it as I did. At some point when I had more hair (about shoulder length), I decided I wanted to be blonde again. It is very difficult to get red (and black) color out of hair as I found out. Needless to say I almost ruined what hair I did have at that point. However since your hair is darker I don't think it will hurt it at all. I also found that my hair will not hold a perm any more. Oh well, I am glad I have it. Good luck and take care.
Crystal

peggy65 said:

i was one of those people
i was one of those people who was traumatized by my hair loss. i too, had very thick and coarse hair. i had heard that many people shaved their heads but i couldn't bear the thought of being bald just like that! i remember sobbing in the wig place as the stylist kept putting different wigs on my head, all of which looked like wigs not real hair. so anyway, i never wore the wig, i wore kerchiefs. my hair began to grow in after my radiation treatments were completed and it grew in curly. my hair had been as straight as a poker before cancer now it was different. i struggled with my hairdresser on finding a style that could take the curls, it was cut very short. so now after several haircuts, i have kept it very short and i love it. if i let it grow too long, it starts to curl up again. so i who never had very short hair, am satisfied with the look. my hair situation did give me grief, i know that others had no problem with it. hair is a big part of your identity so it takes a while to get happy with the way you look. what a pain! love, peggy

NorcalJ said:

Very short hair
Hey Peggy,

I love your hair style! My hair was a bit longer before I got it shaved (just as the chemo started making me look like Bozo the clown with scattered tufts).

Mine has grown in with areas of silver/grey/dark brown---revealing my "true" color(s) that my hairdresser kept covered for many years. BUT, it is very curly at this stage of 7 months since my last infusion. The curls make it easy to do in the morning. Combined with the shortness, I can usually do the quick toweling and a "dog" shake, and it's just about done. Love the ease---not sure about the tightness of the curl---and definintely going to go back to the color that mother nature no longer gives me!

I too plan to keep it short tho---so thanks for the great example! But, after so long with scarves, I'm thrilled to have hair!!

So, I guess, along with being a survivor, this is part of the new "me"??

Hugs,
Jan

chewingfoil said:

I miss my old hair
I notice you posted this long ago, and so you've probably gotten farther along in your hair growth than I am now (considering I started chemo around when you were posting questions about your own regrowth.)

My hair was long, elbow length, and thick. Whenever I got it cut, the stylist would always say something along the lines of "you have SO MUCH HAIR...I should have charged you DOUBLE to cut it!"

My mom was treated with very aggressive chemo in the mid 70s, but I don't know what it was. Her hair, despite being told it would fall out, did not.

My brother was treated for Leukemia, and was told his hair would fall out, and it did. His was blond/sandy brown, and straight, and it grew back black or very dark brown--unfortunately, he died before it got a chance to curl, so I can't comment on any textural differences.

My own hair was medium chestnut brown, and I had a "skunk patch" above my right eye of white hair. I used to touch it up, though :P

I had my last infusion in January and my hair started growing in white, and then filled in to sort of Weimeraner-ish pewter color. And my husband said it was "soft like a bunny."

Now, it's about an inch long, and the color has gotten progressively darker--it's VERY dark in the back, and still sort of silvery/pewter in the front. It hasn't gotten long enough yet to curl, which I'm dreading, but if it does, then c'est la vie.

If it curls, I hope it turns into a big, sexy, crazy afro--curl damnit! I mean REALLY CURL! if not, then I hope it comes back like it was. I just don't want (and won't accept) any lazy half-hearted curling.

Tough love.

Hope you are well