Tips for retaining hair on Chemo

Hi everyone

I haven't started my chemo yet but after a 2nd WLE after a lumpectomy to get the correct margins (yesterday) I have my results in 3 weeks and if clear, I will start chemo for (IDC/ER+/PR+/HER2- grade 3 - 1 lymph node out of 3 effected) sometime in September. 

I am a real control freak so I have been obsessed reading up on all things chemo and particularly around keeping my hair.  I am having 3 x EC and 3 x Docetaxel and know it will be unlikely that I will keep my hair but I am hoping the project might keep my mind off sitting around and waiting for the side effects to kick in. I will be getting a wig ready just in case..... 

I met a lovely lady at my daughters school who had the same cancer as me this time last year - same chemo and she manged to keep her hair!! She has given me all her tips - it sounds a bit of a slog but I am going to try this too! Why not eh? 

Sorry if you have already heard some of this .. this is not scientific but it is just what worked for someone - it might not work for us but fingers crossed!

1) Cold capping. 

With the cold cap the first thing they do is spray your hair with water but they don't always get it wet enough.  Ask if you can use the spray and do it yourself.  Apparently making it really wet is crucial so always ask for the spray and just wet your hair yourself until it is literally dripping and then lather it in conditioner  (take your own with you if you like). The conditioner stops the cold cap sticking to your hair when you try and take it off because your hair is frozen and can be a bit brittle and break off. Take paracetamol or similar before the cap goes on.  

The next thing is to make sure they were really careful choosing the right size cold cap - If you are a medium and then make you check it is a medium each time, quite often they can pick up a large or a small and you need to ask for them to go back for the right size. Put it on yourself rather than letting the nurse/ health care assistant do it - nobody is as invested in getting it right as you are and if someone is with you get them to check it is on straight etc.

Sounds obvious but make sure you pull it down round the back of your ears so it sits snugly and that it is touching all areas of your scalp otherwise the bits you miss will likely shed.   

2) Things to do at home after chemo

When you get home after having the chemotherapy always wash the conditioner off in cold water, in fact only wash your hair in cold water throughout the chemotherapy. It isn't pleasant but the one time my friend washed it in a hot shower it started to come out in her hand so she just leant over the bath and used cold water and that never happened again -God knows why but cold water seemed OK but hot water was problematic for her hair. 

The hot water thing also made her think using a hairdryer/ straighteners probably wouldn’t help so she stopped using those and just let it air dry. 

Use a silk pillowcase, she never noticed any hair on her pillow.  Lots of people on this site have already suggested this one presumably because of less friction. 

She took high dose biotin supplements for a few weeks up to starting chemotherapy but stopped during chemotherapy. ******Maybe check with GP or oncologist before taking any supplements as they are the experts*****

She also tried to eat a high protein diet throughout treatment.   

She tried to keep her head cool - it was winter but didn’t wear a woolly hat because she noticed if her head got warm she started shedding more. 

She did have one episode of quite significant hair loss which was around 5 weeks after the first dose of EC . It was quite upsetting and I think this would be the point most people would think oh heck here we go and shave their head but I decided to stick with it and it actually stopped after a day or so (or at least slowed down massively) so I might be inclined to hold fire with the clippers if you have a couple of days of fairly significant hair loss, it’s not a given it will continue. 

She used revitalash on her eyebrows and eyelashes, it worked well and didn’t lose eyebrows and kept most of her eyelashes. You could also have your eyebrows tattooed in a natural looking style before chemo over your real ones. 

Hope it works for someone!  if anyone has any different tips or experience please post!  Eden thanks for your tips on your profile!  It's a really good summary of side effects and how to deal with etc - thank you!

Andrea