Hair colour during chemotherapy

Hello Miss Quick

I had the same chemo as you and used the cold cap- but for endometrial cancer. 

I wrote a blog on here and put some photos that probably show more than words can. I found that with further cycles the chemo effects built up and you can see it in my hair. I did use the touch up root sprays and also the hair fibres to disguise any thin patches and the colour. I think part of the reason I did keep my hair and that it grew in so thick and recovered condition was because I treated it so gently.

I personally think that I would have lost mine if I had coloured it and I followed the advice from the Paxman website. When I did eventually go on to put a colour on my hair post treatment- I used a Daniel Field water colour one - as they are supposed to be less damaging but it did not take at all on my post hair chemo. On the advice of my hairdresser the next time I used my normal Nice and Easy shade and it was fine. But I did wait until she felt she had cut away the chemo damaged hair and that I had enough of healthy hair coming through. 

I managed to keep my hair but the condition afterwards was not great for a while so focussed mainly on lots of conditioning. 

Hope this helps and I hope that the rest of your treatment goes well.

The Changing Faces of Cancer- Scalp cooling, Hair loss and Regrowth. - Macmillan Online Community

Jane

Thanks so much Jane, really helpful advice.

Hi Jen, 

thank you for sharing your experience. I am 2 months post chemo for breast cancer- cyclophosphamide and docetaxyl and continue with targeted therapy with Herceptin. I too used the cold cap and managed to keep most of my hair. It has become a bit more brittle I suppose, but cannot be noticed from the outside. 

It is however still shedding a bit and I am getting anxious as to when this will stop. It is definitely growing too from what I can see from my growing grey roots. 

I want to dye the roots but not before it is safe that it will not damage it further. How long after you finished your chemo was it deemed safe to dye it? I have bought a vegan hair dye but still feel a bit anxious because there is some shedding. When is this expected to stop? Of course, everyone is different, but I could use someone else's experience. 

Many thanks, 

Christina 

I waited until shedding had completely stopped and then used conditioners for a couple of weeks. I think the shedding stopped around 6-8 weeks for me from the end of the last chemo cycle. My cycles were 21 days- so my last chemo was 1/8 so the end of the cycle would be 21/8 - so 6-8 weeks from then. 

I am not sure if herceptin would have any effect on hair loss/regrowth. 

The first time I put dye on my hair I used a gentle water based dye and it did nothing. So went with my normal nice and easy and it took well. I would advise against anything with bleach in.