Cold capping on EC

The effectiveness is likely to depend on your hair type. Mine (fine and straight) fell out despite trying cold cap, starting on around day 15 of my first EC cycle. By the time I came to cycle 2 there wasn’t enough left to persevere. I hadn’t enjoyed it anyway - it takes up a lot of time and is initially very uncomfortable. My hair seemed to start to regrow when I switched to Paclitaxel. A year later, having got my hair into a decent condition, I needed more chemo, NAB-Paclitaxel this time. So I tried cold cap again but again lost a lot of hair quite quickly. The Paxman literature has statistics for various hair types and various chemo drugs. My hair type combined with EC got the worst results. 

Hi, I did cold capping during my carboplatin and docetaxel chemo from Dec to April. I've been very lucky and managed to keep 90% of my hair, losing some sorting the second round only.  It feels very sore as they put it on but a friend recommended thick socks and a hot drink.  I flings by distracting myself chatting to other people I was able to get through the hardest first few minutes then it got a lot easier. Is highly recommend giving it a go! 

Sorry about the typos, my eyesight is more blurred since the chemo! 

I’m glad it worked well for you and I hope it does the same for me. I hope I can cope with it the pain and not give up. 

Hi RKD, I had EC (worse one for hair loss) and used cold cap throughout my 4 cycles of that and the 4 cycles of docetaxel. I lost about 80% of my hair and looked like Gollum. Whilst the first ten mins are the hardest bit to get through I would have paracetamol to help. It does make your stay during treatment a bit longer but I found playing games on phone and generally chatting kept me going. I also found sitting by a window helped too especially if it was a nice day outside then it didn’t feel so cold. I used a surgical cap when I had bald patches, that helped too. I found when I started docetaxel my hair started to grow back. Now I have a full head of thick curly hair albeit still short. Cold capping helps to protect the hair follicles and for some helps to stop some of the loss. 
Wishing you all the best

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. I’m glad it’s regrown for you. Thanks for the tips. I’ll pack some paracetamol and things to keep me busy from when I give it a go x

I’ve just finished my EC (3 cycles - start Docetaxol Thursday) had my hair cut to just over ear length for cold capping to prevent matting. I’ve kept about 50% a bit patchy on top but Still quite thick at nape and side of head and a bit of a fringe - Convincing with baseball cap but needs a ‘comb over’

I’ve washed it once every 5 days, gently brushed out loose hair and worn a bamboo hat in bed to collect shedding hair. It looks a bit of a mess as I’m not blow drying or styling but figure I have a head start once it starts to grow back. ( I know, lampshade looks like hat!)

Lots of tips, that I had not read elsewhere, thank you

HI,

I've had 1 round of EC, then had an allegy so they switched me to TC...i''ve had 2 rounds of TC and have cold capped for all cycles. I don't find cold capping painful, it's slightly uncomfortable for the first 5/10mins but then i'ts fine. You can take a paracetomol half and hour beforehand but so far I haven't needed to. The only problem with it is that it adds quite a bit of time to your treatment. half an hour before treatment starts and then with TC you have to have it on for 90 mins afterwards too! 

My hair really started to thin at the end of round 2...it's very thin on top and at the front of my head (where they place a headband to protect your scalp) but i can just about get away with it by wearing a headband to hide most of it and still look like i've got hair. It's thin and doesn't look great but for now i don't need a wig or to cut it short or to wear a hat....it seems to have stopped shedding this week, 1 week after my 3rd round so i also have a question!!...does hair fall out during each round? Or does the main hair loss occur during the first couple of cycles??

I'm debating cutting my hair short/even shaving but if it's not likely to shed any more then i think i can get away with not having to but just wondered whether you get hair loss after each round, It's definitely stopped shedding this week...but will the shedding come back again?

My eyebrows and eyelashes also seem to be ok...again do these take longer to fall out? After how many rounds? i've got 3 more cycles to go!!!

Hope everyone is ok! xx

My breast care nurse said that the shedding is worse following 2nd cycle but then eases off for the following cycles so maybe it may stop or reduce for you. I hope it does x