Stopping Cold Cap mid treatments

Hi

I’m not 100% sure I’ve understood your question properly but see if this helps and do check with your BCN!

The cold cap works by constricting the blood vessels in your scalp so that less blood - which contains the chemotherapy drugs - gets to your hair follicles - hopefully thereby protecting them.

If you stop using the cold cap, you will run the same risk as everyone else of losing your hair due to the Paclitaxel. I had 12 weeks of Paclitaxel, didn’t cold cap after the 1st session and lost about 85-90% of my hair - i clipped it to a couple of mm once it got very thin (it was revolting - I felt much better once I was a suede head)

I don't think the fact that you have cold capped in the past will make your hair behave any differently in the future - but neither will that offer you any protection.

Based on what you say above, I’d go to the more convenient treatment centre to reduce the burden of travel, but then people have very different feelings about losing their hair. 

For me - just like the rest of my treatment - it was nowhere near as awful as I expected it to be. My hair started growing back strongly about 4-5 weeks after I finished the Paclitaxel

Good luck with the rest of your treatment whatever you decide x

Hi , 

I stopped the cold cap before my 12 paclitaxol. I had lost most of my hair anyway and was so embarrassed at the state of it and buzzed to a grade 3 on clippers . I felt a lot better after the strings had gone . I’ve got 3 pax left to go and check daily for any new growth starting. Do what is best for you. The added travelling time plus the cold cap times will be significantly more . Good luck x 

Thank you so much for your replies.

Can I ask what made you stop the cold cap.

Where you made aware of the risks of stopping the cap halfway through treatment?

Hi, 

I was just so embarrassed with my stringy hair around the base and hardly anything on top . I’d lost probably 80%. The nurses said  there was no actual proof that continuing to cold cap after hair loss protected the hair follicles anyway. That was my choice not to continue. I think everyone reacts differently to the chemotherapy they’re having and to how much hair they will loose . 

Are you not scared that it wont grow back the same, this is my concern, as ive been told so many different things from professionals,that if I stop mid treatment it may not grow back, or  I may have bald patches, sorry to be so blunt about it, i just think sometimes it best to ask someone going through it, than someone who only knows through study.Where you on EC 3 weekly before the Paclitaxel?

Yes I was . The senior nurse on my ward has been working in oncology 30 years and she said there’s no true evidence cold capping works and she’s not met anyone whose hair didn’t grow back . She advised against spending money on expensive supplements as well . It was so uncomfortable and I lost my hair anyway . Apparently the follicles are dormant until the next growing phase without chemo . 
I’ve spoken to Sarah Beeny online and Victoria Derbyshire plus friends and all  of them stopped cold capping . It’s your own choice at the end of the day and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for new growth after I’ve finished chemo. ️

So sorry for my late reply. Thank you so much for this information its really appreciated, as i was getting conflicting information from my consultant and the nurses. The consultant advised me to continue with cold cap because of the high risk, yet the breast care nurses said in her 11 years she had never seen someone who had stopped mid treatment have issues with hair regrowth. I only wish id been made aware of the information before I started cold capping.

You are a true inspiration to anyone that is going through this to make that decision to stop, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for responding to my questions.

I have everything crossed for you, and hopefully we can keep in touch.

Much love to you xx

My friend tolerated the cold cap for 2 EC sessions about 6 years ago and felt thr extra time and pain were not worth the patchy results and stopped. Her hair grew back thick with frizzy curls and then reverted to her normal straight slightly wavy. 
I had all my chemotherapy in 2023, 4 EC and 12 paclitaxel, and didn’t bother to cold cap. It all went and I mostly wore cotton beanies with contrasting headbands.it grew back thick and frizzy and then was just fairly normal again when I started the letrozole then abemaciclib. It’s thinner and drier now, but I’ve only got a bit over 4 months on the abemaciclib now. I’m hoping it will improve then and maybe some more when I stop the letrozole nearly 3 years after that!
All the best to you. xx

Hiya.

Thank you do much for this information. Its so helpful in trying to make a decision.

I am so sorry to hear what you have been on and still going through, you really are going through it. I wish you all the best for your future sessions and thank you again so much for responding xxx

 I cold capped for 1 session of EC but most of my hair came out, so I didn’t try again. 3 more sessions of EC, 12 weeks of Paclitaxel. It all fell out. It all grew back. 7 months later I needed a load more NAB-Paclitaxel. It mostly fell out again. It grew back normally. I can’t understand why stopping after a few cycles would make a bigger problem than not using it at all. Trust it will grow back. Texture may be strange for a while, colour may be lost, it may curl when it didn’t before or vice versa but it’s unlikely you will remain bald.