Hair loss

They’re all ‘possibles’ I would say. 

Mine came out in the night. Was on my pillow the next morning. 

I was advised not to use any products on my hair cos you’re messing with it - if you get me. The more you mess, the more it falls out. 
Products meaning any oils and heat products too. So no drying with hair dryer or straightening with straighteners. 

I was also advised not to wash my hair often. I only washed it once a week after I had cold capped - with cold water to get the conditioner out. 

Mine came out in clumps as opposed to strands. It was always knotty after waking up so used a comb with wide holes to comb it so it didn’t tug loads. 

Again, I just kept it in a bobble and was as careful as I could be to try and retain it. 

I also cold capped throughout it all. It became very thin and I also had bald patches. 

But - everyone is different! To me, if it’s gonna come out, it’s gonna come out. You can’t stop it. 
The chemo is swilling all around your body and you can’t dictate where it goes and where it doesn’t go and what it can affect and doesn’t affect. 

People sometimes cut their hair short so it’s not a big shock if it does fall out. Like into a Bob. 

xx

Hi

I was doing 12 weeks Paclitaxel and my hair didn’t start to fall out in serious volume until week 5 or 6. We stopped cold capping after the first treatment as it really didn’t agree with me and I wasn’t too bothered  

I started out with VERY thick hair. For me, it was like normal hair loss only very much more so. I would brush it 2 or 3 times a day to get rid of all the loose hair, because what got me down was just feeling grubby - there was hair everywhere. I washed it less often, and when I did I did it in the bath so I could keep hold of all the hair coming out rather than it blocking the drain in the shower. Certainly if I ran my hand through my hair 20 or 30 hairs would come away. It did fall out very evenly - not in patches.

The bonnet you wear will catch the hair that comes out, but it wont stop it falling out. I used my normal shampoo/conditioner/styling creme but all fairly gentle and no heat. Your scalp will become more sensitive. I could tell another wave of loss was coming after each chemo session when my scalp was tender. 

It’s the chemo drugs impact on your hair follicles which causes the hair loss. The cold capping aims to constrict the blood vessels in your scalp so the follicles are less exposed to the drugs. But if it’s going to fall out, there’s not a lot in the way you handle your hair that will make a difference  

I cut mine in 2 stages. I went to a short haircut which looked less revolting than when it was long, and when that started to look foolishly stringy, I had it cut to about 1.5mm all over - a silver buzz cut. And honestly it is a VAST improvement. I’ve still got about 10-15% of my original hair which has never fallen out (yet!!) The only problem is the back of my head and the tops of my ears are nearly always cold - but that’s soon solved with a nice cashmere beanie.  

Good luck

i had my long hair cut to shoulder length and the fall out of hair was gradual and was actually just the hair underside. the top is thinner but I could only see bald patches if I lifted my hair up. I had to stop chemo/immunotherapy after 5 sessions as the immunotherapy drug attacked my lungs, just waiting for my operation now. am glad I did not shave off my hair as a few people advised me to. I wore a silky bed cap when preparing and cooking food and found this helped. could not cold cap as it would not work with one of the immunotherapy drugs.