Image above: Wenda in 2026
Wenda AKA Sonia101 on the Online Community was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023. She wrote a short memoir about her cancer journey to help inspire others with breast cancer. The book “Faith over Cancer” focuses on Wenda’s persisting faith in God throughout her cancer treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy.
As part of her memoir, Wenda also shares her experiences of losing her afro hair following chemotherapy and afro hair care following regrowth. Wenda told us she found it more difficult to find information about afro hair and cancer treatment.
Macmillan want to make sure we offer cancer support relevant to you, whoever you may be. In this Community News Blog, we are sharing excerpts and photos from Wenda’s memoir, sharing her experience of hair loss and regrowth following chemotherapy. Over to Wenda now.
"Chemotherapy saves lives. I knew it was very important for me to have chemo. I am thankful and grateful to all the NHS staff who work in oncology.
Being a patient going into a chemo room to have an infusion and knowing that you might feel nauseous and sick afterwards took all the bravery and courage I could muster up. After weighing up the pros and cons, it was obvious to me that would have to continue with the treatment plan of six doses of preventative chemotherapy.
I lost all my hair after two doses of chemotherapy. Luckily, my sister had shaved my hair to as low as possible a week before chemo started.
I had received a free NHS wig from Macmillan to wear after all my hair was gone. Contact Macmillan or your treatment team to see if you qualify for a free NHS wig.
Losing the rest of my hair was still traumatic for me. It was the way that my hair fell out a week or so after my first chemo. It didn't just come away softly and gently. The remainder of my Afro hair came away with the pain of my scalp burning and itching badly on and off for weeks!
I couldn't sleep for davs and felt terrible. I contacted my care team via the Noona app, and they suggested using Aveeno shampoo and conditioner, which helped somewhat, yet the burning and itching would return again until all the remaining tufts of hair from my scalp had completely gone. This took about three or four weeks.
None of the reading I had done or people I had spoken to had mentioned anything about itching or burning when you lose your hair during chemo. and this saddened me to the point of crying whenever I was alone more often. It made the anxiety I already felt worse. Note: Everyone's experience of losing their hair during chemotherapy is different and unique; I am just describing what happened to me. Once all my hair was completely gone and I was bald. burning and itching stopped."
My hair started to show signs of new growth in only one week after my final chemo infusion. 
As I love to read. I once again read about what to expect with new hair growth after chemo online. found many articles, blogs and stories about women with straight hair experiencing something called "chemo curls' which is when hair grows back curly after chemo when previously it was straight.
I searched curiously for stories about what would happen when afro hair starts to grow back after chemo and couldn't find hardly anything. There were a few generic articles claiming that afro hair would be slow to grow back and that it usually grows back the same texture but not as much real-life stories to back up this claim.
My hair started growing back straight at first. and this made me search the internet even more using different search words to find someone else like me whose afro hair started growing back straight after chemo. I couldn't find anyone except a random woman on Twitter whose pictures dated back ten years ago.
I was so intrigued by my new texture of hair, I went on the Macmillan Online Community to ask advice on how to take care of it and to find others like me. I wasn't experiencing "chemo curls". which is discussed more often. I was experiencing "chemo straight hair" My hair stayed straight for about a month before it changed to wavy.
I used the Macmillan online forum again to see if this had happened to anyone else and was happy to find there were a few others like me.
My main issue with the hair changes I had after chemo finished was how to maintain and care for my new hair. I didn't want the new hair to break off due to my poor maintenance using the wrong hair products. I didn't know what hair products to use for wavy hair. and so I sought advice on the Macmillan online forum and a family friend who is a hairdresser. I got lots of different advice on which hair products to use.
I felt happy to see new hair growing back on my head but a little confused by the texture. My hair changed often during the first-year post-chemo. After being wavy for a few months, it changed to loose curls, next to softer curls and most recently to a soft curly afro. During the times when I was unsure how to style my hair, I asked my sister Wanda for advice, and she told me I could wear headbands until my hair grew longer. This is what I did for a few months until after New Year 2025. In the New Year, I decided to give my hair a break from styling and wear my NHS wig until my hair grew back to the longer length which I had before cancer 
For a whole year after chemo. I wondered. "Where was my beautiful thick Afro hair? Even though I wasn't good at styling my hair before, I loved the versatility and beauty of my long Afro hair Sometimes I would walk past a mirror and do a double take, wondering why my hair looked so strange. I joked with my family and friends that my hair follicles were SO confused after chemo, they couldn't remember what texture had grown from my scalp before!
My hair did grow back in different areas at the beginning of its regrowth, with some areas much longer than others. At one point I had hair at both sides but no hair at the top of my head. Then I had a phase where I could see a lot of grey hair on my head, and another time my hair was a dark brown colour. Presently, in 2025 January, my hair has some thinning at the front but is growing well and becoming thicker. My Afro hair seems to have returned with a much softer texture than I had before chemo. A friend said to me. "Every cloud has a silver lining." I am happy that my hair is a softer version of Afro than I had before. as this will make it easier for me to stvle when it grows longer.
Thank you Wenda for sharing excerpts of your memoir with us.
Has this blog been helpful for you? Do you have suggestions around hair care information? Please do share in the comments section below.
We’d also encourage you to join the conversation if you would like to share your own experience or have questions about cancer hair care.
Macmillan resources:
Macmillan’s information on cancer hair care
The Beauty of Support – talking hair, culture and cancer in Black wone’s hairdressers
Macmillan – wigs for cancer treatment
Breaking down barriers to cancer support in the West Midlands
External resources
Cancer Hair Care – UK’s Leading Hair Loss Support Charity
Black Women Rising – empowering women of colour through cancer
