Hair loss

Hi Fay 

So sorry to hear of your diagnosis but welcome to the forum.

My shoulder length hair started shedding lightly on day 12 then I decided to shave it on day 17 when it started to get to that falling out in clumps stage, mainly to save mess and a clogged drain! This was the hardest part for me because even though I knew it was the right thing to do, it was the most dramatic change. I've gone slowly bald and am not even completely yet over the following weeks and although it would never make it to my list of style choices, I've accepted it as an expected side effect of potentially life saving treatment. 

I think you'll adjust and adapt, but it can be hard so give yourself time and grieve the loss if you need to. And when someone says "oh, it must save you so much time getting ready!", don't punch them even if you really really want to!

All the best. x

Hi,

Thank you for the response.

I think I'm going to have to shave it off as its patchy along my parting and I can see where it's fallen out along my forehead. 

I think people are trying to look on the positive when they say things like it's quicker to get ready, without realising the impact it has.  

I thought I had accepted that I would go bald but thinking it and it happening are 2 very different things. I told my daughter, who is 7, that I would lose my hair and she started laughing saying mummy is going to be bald.

Looks like I need to buy a razor x

Sorry you are going through this. It’s not a load of fun, is it. I think I was on day 15 or so when my hair started to fall out. I had tried cold capping but had not expected great results based on my hair type. I was oddly grateful as I wasn’t happy with lank greasy hair and it had been a slow uncomfortable process. I had already got a pixie cut. I didn’t shave it off but my husband clippered it short for me. In a couple more weeks it had all gone but the fall out wasn’t a problem by then. I had a variety of scarves and wraps. I also got a wig but found it too hot for regular use but useful when I wanted to look normal. Ultimately the loss of eyebrows and eyelashes (which happened slightly later) was worse as it affects how your face looks, and I found pencilled in brows and eyeliner rubbled off too easily. 

The good news is it grew back well. It takes a few months for the texture to return to normal but after that you won’t notice any difference. I should know - I had to go through it all a second time a year later.  

I currently still have brows and lashes and I've been dreading them going more than the hair to be honest. I'm also anticipating problems with make up in this area, especially in this kind of weather!

I had the one round of EC on 24th April and due to an early local recurrence of my TNBC, switched to a combo of pembro/pax/carbo on 22nd May to last 12 weeks before starting EC again for the remaining 9 weeks so not really sure what to expect with regards to hair loss on that. 

I found EC tougher on hair than Paclitaxel. In my first summer of treatment I lost it all as above on EC but it started to grow a little during Paclitaxel. My second summer of treatment was pembro plus nab-Paclitaxel where I lost most but not all of my hair but not as quickly.