I’m six weeks in with a 12 week course of paclitaxel. The nurses and literature all say you lose you hair after 2 or 3 sessions. My hair is thinning all over but not baldy. I don’t know what to expect! I have a lovely wig and some very nice bandanas so I would get it shaved if it was too obvious, but of course that points out to everyone that you’re a cancer patient.
Hello mimicat
Well done for getting half way through your course of paclitaxel. I hope that you are not having too many side effects and are getting plenty of support from your team.
I had paclitaxel last year combined with carboplatin. I did use the cooling cap but like you I did have thinning all over. I lost all body hair from the first cycle so I believe without the cooling cap my head hair would have gone too. Have you lost hair on your legs/arms etc? That was the first sign for me. I also had a period of further hair loss after my last chemo. When I had the biggest sheds my head would feel itchy and tingly and then it would happen a couple of days later.
From what I was told the paclitaxel would in most people lead to total hair loss but the carboplatin would be only thinning. The body hair loss was due to paclitaxel. They did say however everyone is different and it also depends on doses and regimes. On my chemo ward there were lots of people who still had a reasonable amount of hair and that did surprise me a bit. I know that people were on different regimes but there were people who I saw consistently who were on the same regime as me.
I would be inclined to wait a little longer and see what happens over the next couple of cycles. With me the biggest loss was after the first cycle, then the next couple, there was a little and then more after chemo had finished.
It is good that you have a wig and scarves on standby so are prepared if needed.
Good Luck
Jane
I was the same with hair on my arms/legs- it is normally fair and fine- but I remember it going almost without me noticing. My eyes felt very irritated before my eye lashes went but it soon settled.
It's good that you have a great wig and it does make a difference to your confidence. I remember saying to the wig lady at my hospital that people would know its a wig and her saying that there are so many options these days.
You mention you felt like your hair felt see through- when mine went like that I bought some of those colour root touch up sprays from L'Oreal and they worked well at disguising things. I also tried hair fibres that you can get online and they were also very good. Worth a try and worked much better than I thought they would.
My chemo was during the spring/summer and I often thought it must be different to go through in the cooler months. Woolly hats etc are worn by so many people anyway. I saw some with hair attached and thought they looked good.
Jane
Due to the cooling cap I kept some but it was very thin all over. It went very dry and all the colour went from it. Normally mid to dark blonde, shoulder length, straight. I didn't have any bald patches and was able to disguise some of the thinning. I also used volumising dry shampoo that made a big difference. I recommend you try some as it is inexpensive. i washed my hair twice a week in Simple shampoo, used no colour, no hot styling etc. Each morning I would spray with volumising dry shampoo to fluff it up a bit. I then either used the spray colour, thinly all over where the thinnest bits were. I used the hair fibres to fill in any bits. They were well worth buying. I was thinnest on my crown but the fibres evened it all up. My hair started growing back during chemo so for ages it was all different lengths. The texture changed during chemo and the new growth to begin with was fluffy and fine and then became courser. Post chemo I continued to shed for around a month. Then at about 6 weeks I noticed I was brushing my hair and nothing was coming out. As soon as chemo finished I was using rich conditioners every other day. I finished chemo in the August - by around October I looked more like me. A year later my hair is almost as it was but I have slight waves/curls on the end- but to be honest I don't mind. I would say it was around November when the growth was starting to be a lot quicker and my hair really thickened up. I would say the bits around the sides that I normally have layered are maybe a couple of cm shorter than before chemo.
The hats with hair on are available on line- ebay, Amazon etc. At my hospital there was a wig lady who worked with a hairdresser who came in once a week. She also showed me hair toppers that looked really good if your hair loss is mainly on your crown and are good when it starts regrowing. There were also hair scrunchies that could be used to give a sort of pony tail if your hair is long enough to tie or pin back. She also showed me fringes etc that could be attached to hats or scarves that I thought was a good idea. Although hair loss is really tough, it does seem that there are a lot more things they can help with these days. But I do recommend the dry shampoo especially if you have thinning all over- without it and the fibres- I would have needed a wig or scarf to go out.
One thing that helped me with the regrowth as you don't notice it yourself was to take a photo every couple of weeks- sometimes it feels like nothing is happening and it's never going to come back but then you look at a picture and see it filling in. My first proper hair cut was around 6 months after chemo and that was to even up the different lengths and it really helped having it shaped. My hairdresser is a friend so she gave me advice at the time and it worked.
Jane
