AFRO HAIR & Cold capping

Hello LittleChicken 

I'm Steph and I'm part of the Community team here at Macmillan. May I wish you another warm welcome to the Community. Although I’m sure it’s a membership you did not want to have to join, I hope you will find the site to be a safe place of comfort and support.

I'm just posting here to bump your post, with the hope that more members will see it and be able to respond. In addition to posting here in the breast cancer forum, you might also want to post your question in our new forum 'Living with cancer as a Black person'. It's a space where black people can come together to share experiences and support, regardless of cancer type.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to offer some links to further information that may help. In addition to peer support through the Online Community, Macmillan have some information here on cancer hair care for afro hair and scalp cooling. 

The Beauty of Support - Talking hair, culture and cancer in Black women's hairdressers introduces the Beauty of Support project: an initiative in South East London which aims to start conversations about cancer between Black women and their hairdressers to break down taboos and help people access support. The pages link to further information for Black women about cancer.

You can also call the Macmillan Support Line to talk everything through with someone who is there to listen and find emotional and practical support. Our Support Line teams are available 7 days a week, 8am-8pm on freephone 0808 808 00 00, email or live webchat.

Cancer Hair Care are a great resource for all hair related support. They have guides and videos for afro hair here.

I hope that this helps you find the information and support that you're looking for and that you hear from other members soon.

Please do let us know if you would like any further help, you can email us privately at community@macmillan.org.uk 

Cancer Hair Care is also very helpful and will give advice.  All the best

Just an update on my cold cap experience. I have very thick natural Afro hair and decided to use scalp cooling cap from the start. On chemo day I wash my hair and blot it with a towel so it remains wet but not dripping. I then saturate it ( ie. Totally smother it ! ) with Philip Kingsley “Elasticizer Extreme”” for curly coiled Afro hair ( the deep purple stripe) which I left in throughout my infusion. i did not wash it out until late the next day - then reapplied the Elasticizer again as a leave in conditioner.  I wore my wig on top of my wet hair when travelling to and from the hospital. I noticed that I have lost hair on my chin, underarms and pubic area, but nothing from my head!!!  So far I’ve had 9 weeks on weekly Taxol and 3 rounds of 3-weekly Herceptin. No thinning or hair loss from my head. No problems tolerating the cold cap. I’m really pleased.  The Elasticizer is ultra expensive but I think it should work ok using any deep conditioning treatment cream, massaged into the scalp.