Does anyone else dislike the Macmillan Brave the Shave campaign?

I certainly edge towards the disliking  it side of this campaign. I have asked a couple of friends who suggested doing this that I would prefer that they found other ways to raise money and to support me. However, I also understand that when faced with the fact that a friend or relative has been given a potentially life reducing diagnosis , some people feel unable to support other emotionally and want to show that they are there for them in what ever way they feel they can.

Personally I have not been ashamed or bothered by my hair loss and proudly sport my baldness out and about, in shops and restaurants , unless my head is cold wear a hat. I do have a beautiful wig but don't like how it feels and I am more self conscious in it that with out it. I should say the best thing I did was to have my eyebrows tattooed pre chemo and and so pleased with them.......for me losing my eyebrows was a bigger worry that hair!

I suppose it is a personal choice about baldness, hair loss, wigs hats etc. and whilst I would never condone the brave the shave I would also allow others to do their bit as they see fit.

Hi

I've just read your words and agree completely, it always makes me feel uncomfortable. Why would anyone choose to shave their head.

I work in a school and was diagnosed in August '15 and on one day in the October all the staff wore pink to raise money for breast cancer.

I was sent a photo of my office colleagues in their pink outfits which initially did upset me, but I was so touched that they cared enough to show their support. It was in our weekly newsletter as well that that was what they were planning on doing (it was a good way of telling everyone I was off work, I'd had some parents asking me if I'd quit my job!). Some parents donated money too and they raised over £300. I still get emotional now thinking about it! 

There are many ways of showing support. I also feel sick every time I see the advert with the lady having chemo. My son asked me if my chemo was pink like hers, I did get upset and said yes it was and it makes your wee pink too!!! 

X

I keep seeing adverts for the Brave the Shave fundraising campaign and was relieved to find so many agree with how I feel when I see these adverts. I think it's wonderful that people want to raise and donate but there are so many better ways, without causing offence to those who have lost their hair and suffered so many other awful side effects. I don't understand why Macmillan haven't stopped this fundraising idea when so many sufferers have voiced their views. x

I agree with you whole heartily.  My hair has started to grow back from last chemo end may.  I even got a letter asking to join the shave.  No thank you !  My husband is gobsmacked too and we both cringe and look away when it's on, too painful personally and he rightly says donations are made without this type of advert

Me too and probably contributed to the thread before - my son wanted to do a sponsored head shave last year for our local cancer charity , when he told me I felt sick , didn't want to stop him doing something for charity but spoke to him about it and explained I really didn't want him to do it - it's bad enough losing it through no choice , without shaving it off - he's planning a sponsored walk now when he's finished his degree next year which I am more than happy with ! 

I wanted to post when I recently started to hear it all the time on the local radio. Then it started to appear on the television. I sort of put up with it before. But this time around it really upsets me and I turn the radio/television off straight away before I damage them. Now it has been mentioned on this site again and felt I just had to add my feelings. I wish these smiling people in the ads had seen me desperately crying my eyes out as my hair that was down to my waist disappeared in a few short cruel days. That was eighteen months ago. It has now grown back. But the painful ugly memory of how I felt losing it still remains.

Hi Evie, I have to say I was really shocked to see Brave the Shave on tv again!! In spite of me not having lost my hair I know that if I had, i'd find this very upsetting, in fact it upsets me anyway! . I recently attended "Moving Forward after Breast Cancer" and some of the ladies had hair loss, most had it growing back but it broke my heart to see so many beautiful women feeling so upset with their hair loss. Strangely enough over the four weeks course we didn't talk about fund raising of any kind, I wish now I'd brought up the subject of this shaving to fund raise to see how everyone felt. I know if I'd gone through hair loss the thought of any of my family or friends shaving their heads horrifies me! I'm really surprised and shocked Macmillan haven't taken any notice of the amount of people who're against it. I wonder why they've allowed it? X❤️❤️❤️X

Last year a work colleague lost her sister to BC. She did the campaign then and I was one of the people who sponsored her and I did think she was 'brave' doing it but only in respect that it was something I could never do personally.I never once thought of the people with cancer going through chemo just that we were raising money for macmillan research, which I believe is hugely important. If truth was told we also had a morbid curiosity to see what she looked like bald (sorry). I thought you get cancer, have chemo, go bald, throw up and then you are cured.

How wrong was I.

A year later I have breast cancer and am the bald person and I would never want anyone to shave their hair on my behalf.I would rather an advert that raised all the side effects of chemo and help the money go to researching new chemo with less effects. I was utterly ignorant of the things people had to go through, I didn't even know you lost all body hair, let alone the nail problems,neuropathy etc etc. So surely raising more awareness in this respect is needed.

I understand people wish to raise money in their own way but this campaign does trivialise what we go through and obviously macmillan have not learnt how people feel from last year. 

If anyone asks me if I have 'braved the shave' I am going to strip naked and say yes everywhere!

xx

hi , my next door neighbour had her head shaved last year I was quite shocked as she had hair half way down her back and this was before I got diagnosed with kidney cancer , then a week or too later I got taking to her it was then she told me that she donated her hair and it had made 4 wigs 2 for children and 2 adult  wigs for people who had lost their hair through this god dam disease  , I am lucky so far as I am on watch and wait so no nasty pills for me at present not that I would want a wig if it came to it , but those four wigs did a good turn for these 4 people , although it might hit a nerve for some which I can understand but also can help others .

Hi Boss 1967. I think what your neighbour did was amazing, shaving off her hair to make wigs - but I think that is very different to shaving hair to raise money. Others have explained far better than I can why the "Brave the Shave" is offensive to so many. There are so many other ways to raise money that wouldn't upset people who have been through chemo.

Thank you everyone for commenting on this thread. I do appreciate that some people will have different views to most of us on this thread, but I don't understand why Macmillan are continuing with this fundraiser when so many people on one of their own forums are so against it. Does anyone from Macmillan read these threads I wonder? I would be very interested to hear Macmillan's side of this.

Evie x