Cold cap

I’ve had 4 cycles of EC and am now on Paclitaxel. I’ve lost a lot of my hair on top but still have a fringe. I’d say 75% and it’s still shedding. I’m keeping on as it’s supposed to help with regrowth but the results haven’t been great - I have friends who had used it so I wasn’t expecting a miracle.  My last “chemo buddy” had the same kind of loss I had and the previous week my “buddy” had lost all her hair but was still cold capping for regrowth.  I don’t find it that awful so I’ll keep going and even having a fringe is useful with scarves/caps. 

Hello Flowers22 I had 4 cycles of AC followed by 4 of Docetaxel and kept around 50/60% of my hair. It was thick to start with and I got no bald patches, the hair just started to thin out after the second chemo cycle. It did also change colour to blonde, then white, and went curly after I stopped chemo, but the regrowth was quick (helped by the cold cap). My chemo finished in December and since last month my hair is now back to exactly how it was pre-chemo, even the curls have gone!  If you are happy to continue with the cold cap I'd definitely recommend doing so. At one point when my hair first started to fall out I considered stopping but I'm really glad that I didn't. The nurses even commented that they'd never seen anyone keep so much hair when having AC chemo. Bear in mind though that the cold cap results can vary a lot depending on the type of chemo and also the condition that your hair is in when you start using it, but I hope it all goes well for you and good luck with the rest of your treatment.

Thanks for that. I'm currently having 3 sessions of EC then then the remaining 4 paclitaxel and carboplatin. So will see how that goes. I have thin hair anyway which probably doesn't help. I'll carry on with the cold cap. But I am shedding like there's no tomorrow

I have had 4 pacitaxel and lost I would say 70% after the second one with the cold cap bit I haven't lost that much more since, I had thick Cury hair when I started, I've had one AC and didn't really lose much after that either

I tried cold capping but the nurse did it wrong for my first session. I only discovered that after the second session when they did it differently and I queried it. Anyway, it didn't work. After my second session, my hair starting falling out so I gave up and got it shaved. 

Hi I’ve been using the cold cap for a wee while now. Started off with 2 cycles of docetaxel and carboplatin (given every 3 weeks) then changed to weekly sessions of paclitaxel as I couldn’t tolerate the D&C. I’ve now used the cold cap 5 times and my hair is thinning on top but not losing much round the sides and back, I’ve no bald patches. I’d estimate that so far I’ve lost about 10% of my hair. I’m terrified all the hair on top of my head is going to fall out as I’ve seen lots of people say they end up with a monk type look but I’m persevering with the cold cap just now. I’ve got relatively thick dark hair which was long before chemo. I cut it short to try to reduce the weight of my hair incase that made it fall out more so I don’t know if that’s helping or not. I have 9 more weekly session of paclitaxel to go so there’s a good chance that the hair loss will increase but I’m desperately hoping not. Hope all goes well with yr treatment and that the cap works for you. 

Thats good to hear that you've not lost much I hope it continues for you. I'm going to try it tomorrow when I have my 2nd cycle. I've got quite thin hair anyway which doesn't help. My scalp has gone quite sensitive aswell so will see if I can continue with it. I'm still losing quite a lot so if it's continues I may just give up and accept that I'll go for the commando look! It's did bother at first to loose my hair as its quite a big deal for myself, and was quite upset about it. But I guess I'll just accept whatever will be will be, it will grow back. Good luck with your the rest of your treatment 

I had lost almost all the hair on the top of my head within 3 weeks of my first cycle of EC, despite cold capping. It had started to shed around day 16 and was coming out rapidly by day 19. I didn’t cold cap after that, just clippered what was left very short. By the end of my 4 cycles of EC, I still had some hair on the back of my head but not much elsewhere and had lost most of my body hair and some of my eyebrows and eyelashes. 

Then started 12 weeks of Paclitaxel and am in the second half of that. Hair is starting to regrow in most places (eyebrows and eyelashes are lagging) and the hair on the top of my head is pure white fuzzy duck down at the moment. 

I managed the cold cap 2nd cycle still losing but I'm going to get it cut short but hopefully if I can keep enough hair to cover the scalp then I will carry on with the cold cap as long as I can as many said it helps regrowth quicker. I'm just taking each day as it comes now. The whole cancer thing well and truly socks. But we are all such strong amazing people and it's helped me so much hearing about others experiences to get through the crap. 

I cold capped for 4 cycles of ec and 4 of pac, then stopped. I can do z great combover now- move over rab c nesbitt!-so am definitely rocking the monk look. I felt such relief when I stopped as it was getting to the stage where the cold cap was worse than the paclitaxel! I have enough hair ghat with a regular scarf or cap I look like I did before.

Stop when you want and shed the guilt with the hair!