Chemo and cold capping

Hello LuckyD

I am sorry to hear that you are starting chemo for breast cancer in December. I had chemo for womb cancer in 2022. I used the cooling cap.

I kept most of my hair and it worked well for me. There was still some shedding but without using it I believe I would have lost all my head hair about 2 weeks after my first chemo. I did lose all body hair from 2 weeks so for me it was a sign it was working. Keeping my hair was important to me and although I had some thinning I did not need to wear a wig, use scarves etc. I actually had regrowth during chemo and I believe it protected my hair follicles leading to thicker and healthy hair regrowth. I was also concerned about the potential of permanent hair loss through chemo- although rare it was still something that worried me. 

I will pop a link below to some posts on the Chemotherapy forum about hair loss/scalp cooling. I have put my own experiences on there in more detail but others have also added their experiences. 

Hair Loss and Hair Loss treatments - Macmillan Online Community

Here is some more information that maybe of help.

Scalp cooling | Macmillan Cancer Support

Here is a link to the Paxman site. Although this is an American website- it is useful as it explains the science better than I can. Paxman seems to be the one they use in UK hospitals and the one I used.

Paxman Scalp Cooling | Changing the Face of Cancer

I hope this helps. 

My feeling was to give it a try and see how it was- it certainly worked for me. There were other people using it on my chemo days and they all seemed to keep some of their hair. Scalp cooling is very much a personal decision but I would recommend it and I would do it again if I needed to.

Good Luck

If there is anything else you need, please do ask- but the link to the Chemo forum post will have a lot of the detailed information that should help you make your decision.

Jane

Hi LuckyD, sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I had EC-T. EC is harsh on the hair and I did loose about 80%. I cold capped throughout all 8 cycles. My hair started to grow back whilst I was having docetaxel. It’s now thicker and curlier than before. I understand although cold capping may not stop you loosing hair it does help with the regrowth. It’s worth giving it a go as if it’s not done on your first cycle you cannot add it in after. It does add more time on your treatment time and it’s the first 10mins that are the hardest. I used to have a paracetamol to help and then get engrossed in nice cups of tea and games on my phone or watch the nurses to take my mind of it. For me I’m glad I did it .

W️ishing you all the best.

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Thank you for sharing your experiences and the links for further reading. 

Thank you for sharing. For some reason, I'm more concerned about hair loss than I thought I would be.

I found it hard loosing my hair. To me it’s part of my identity and something I could hide behind. I used to have long hair. 
whilst I hate looking in the mirror without my hats or wig my hair is growing albeit slowly. I do get sad sometimes as I just want it back to how it was. It’s a slow process but it will get there.

You could look at wigs (Maggies centres or MacMillan centres can help). Whilst you still have your hair they can see the colour and style and look for suitable wigs to help. I love my wigs and my beanie hats and am glad I have them.  
I also bought hair serums and organic colour power build shampoo, revamp and conditioner. I think they have helped too with the regrowth.

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Hi, I’m a newbie here. Started my first chemotherapy and immunotherapy for breast cancer yesterday. I decided to give the cold cap a try despite hearing lots of horror stories about the pain and cold. I don’t actually feel too worried about hair loss at the mo, I feel I can rock a headscarf or a hat. They advised if I was going to try it, then it had to be from the beginning so I decided to suck it and see. I only have 1 days experience to go on but I found it really fine, apparently I had icicles on my head afterwards but I didn’t feel much more that discomfort with the weight and fiddly to wear my glasses over it. Good luck with your treatments x 

Hello

I am nearly finishing my 8 rounds of chemo and had the Paxman cold cap for the first 4 rounds of EC.

I could tolerate it, but you have to wear it 45 mins before chemo treatment and then another 45 mins after (approximate) it adds on to the day.

Lost 80% of my hair I would say, it comes out but I kept a lot on my scalp and my fringe stayed for a while.  Have been wearing berets, although I have a wig, I can't really get on with the wig it just doesn't feel like me and itches!  I decided not to do the cold cap on my 5th round of Docetaxel which I was told by chemo nurse is less harsh on hair follicles; I kind of got a bit fed up - its not comfortable I will be honest  and I thought the same my hair loss was going to be inevitable but I did keep most on my scalp no bare patches during EC -   so it is WORTH IT.  However when I decided to stop the cold cap there was no going back to deciding to have it again after not having it.

Soon after I decided not to have the cold cap I thought I should have a tidy up of wispy bits - all long and short wisps, it didn't look good, this was a good decision day for me, because it looked much better!  I still wear berets though.

AS you can tell the cold cap was a massive question mark all the time with me, I would 'erm and err over and and over' - no one can tell you what is best.  I have found now that my hair is growing back during Doxetacel.  Its a long time with absolutely  no hair on your head if you have to complete 8 rounds or more, so I say try the Cold cap and see how far you can go with it.  Hope you find this helpful.

Good luck xx

Veej