Mindfulness, cancer and the stuff in the space between your ears.
The Long And Short Of It: Hair Through Chemo And Beyond, Part 1
It’s been almost a year and a half since my last chemo infusion. This past week, I treated myself to a chic haircut at a real salon (instead of going to a cheaper chain hair-cuttery) and I’m so delighted with the result. I reflected on what it took to get here, hair-wise, by going through the photos I took of this whole experience. This post series chronicles my cancer journey as witnessed by my scalp.
Please note that these photos were taken for my own records, without the expectation that I’d be posting them online, so I apologize for the quality.
May 13, 2017: My first chemo treatment was April 27th and just over two weeks later, my hair started coming out in handfuls. I had long hair so the loss was noticeable and very distressing. Time for it to come off!
My husband started by taking off the bulk of my ponytail first.
I got to live out all my punk hair dreams…
…and even spent a few minutes channeling Riff-Raff from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Finally it was done. No looking back! As miserable as it was losing my hair and crying through most of the head-shaving process, I now felt like I had a modicum of control over this whole crazy situation.
June 8, 2017: This was the day of my third chemo session. Oddly, my hair had actually grown but then seemed to freeze. If I pulled on individual hairs, they would come out easily.
Needless to say, I didn’t mess with them! While it’s not readily apparent in the photos, there’s way more bald scalp than hair there, with significant loss at the front.
July 3, 2017: Yeah, not looking so healthy here. Loads of the tiny hairs had given up and dropped out, and I was having issues with a dry, flaky scalp. Honestly, I hadn’t realized that it looked this bad until I saw the photo.
July 20, 2017: My scalp was confused. Some obstinate hairs continued to grow, but most hadn’t, giving me a great view of the horrible moles on my head!
August 18, 2017: My last chemo had been August 10th. There were only enough of these longer hairs on my head to make me look like Yoda, but without the big ears. You can see the rough shape that my nails are in (but that’s a story for another post).
September 6, 2017: There were hairs on my head, but they were not really growing in. It had been a month since my last chemo and I was hoping to see significant signs of life. But, nope.
September 16, 2017: Here’s one of those never-say-die hairs. I was also noticing downy, baby-chick hairs but no appreciable coverage. Wow, I have huge pores!
October 6, 2017: It had been almost two months since my last chemo, and I was convinced that I should be getting more growth. My hairs were super-fine and my scalp squeaked when I tried to run my fingers through them. See the light shining off my head? I could blind someone with that!
October 11, 2017: Yes, this photo was taken only 5 days after the one above it, but I was starting to get desperate and taking loads of photos. I was convinced that I should be getting more growth than I was, and had spent too much time on cancer forums reading posts by women whose hair hadn’t come back at all (bad idea!). I was experiencing growth but their fine texture made it seem like there was very little there.
October 17, 2017: At this point, there was a mixture of sparse longer hairs and the super-soft fuzz, but the overall view still screamed, “BALD!” Family members enjoyed patting my head and cooing.
November 2, 2017: Almost three months after finishing chemo, I still saw light glinting off the front of my scalp. I could wear hats because the back of my head had more hair coverage. Regrowth was happening in a sort of reverse male pattern baldness. There WERE little sprouts on the front of my head, but they were taking their own sweet time.
November 11, 2017: Finally! The hairs in front were definitely coming in. All the growth was soft and fine, but it seemed like the follicles had woken up. I found it easier to be patient now that there was definite promise of a full head of hair in my future.
Frantic Shanti 
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