Help with Cold Capping and Chemo

Hi Kgold70

I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis of breast cancer. 

My own cancer was endometrial but I went through scalp cooling.

This link has some info that may be of help.

The Changing Faces of Cancer- Scalp cooling, Hair loss and Regrowth. - Macmillan Online Community

I wish you well for your treatment and for the scalp cooling.

Jane

Thank you so much jane2511.  I really appreciate you!

kgold70

Hello I am Black British and had scalp cooling during 5 months of chemotherapy. I just finished March 2026. My hair is natural, 4C. I never washed my hair the day before because I always had to wash my hair when back home. When I got to hospital, staff would wet my hair, add regular conditioner and then I'd wear a hairband around my hairline and then the cap would go on. If your hospital doesn't do this for you, then yes make sure your hair is as wet as possible and then add conditioner. The hospital used Faith in Nature fragrance free conditioner, for sensitive hair and has no parabens. I now use this at home myself so if you can, use a regular conditioner that has as much natural ingredients as possible.

Hope this helps. Do check whether your hospital will do this prep for you as will save you going around with wet hair before your appointment.

Thank you so much for responding!  Didn't know about the head band. How would you wear your hair to chemo?  Do you part your hair in the middle and have four straight braids or do you just have it out and wet it down and add the conditioner?  Just want to know how I should have my hair upon arrival since I am transitioning from a relaxer and will have about 3 months of new growth at the root. Were you able to keep most of your hair?

You  get the runners’ headbands bands yourself from Amazon. Faith in Nature is great - I use mostly their products at home but the hospital uses a spray conditioner and i have Urtekram Find Balance spray at home. As a curly haired not-black person I find curls cover and distract from the thin and balding patches to some extent.

I didn't know about the hairband either but it is essential. Gives you a decent chance at keeping your edges. The hospital gave me one at my first treatment session and just asked me to bring it back every time which I did.

My hair was out and down, no braids, no ponytail either. Cap might not fit well if you have braids. It needs to sit as snuggly to your scalp as possible. 

I'd say I've lost at least 50-60% of my hair sadly. But I suspect I would be completely bald without the capping which is something I didn't want at all. Pre chemo I used to wear my hair up in big afro style puff but I can't do that anymore. I use a hairpiece puff now. So whilst I have lost more than I wanted, particularly the centre and front of my hair, I still have enough that I can cover the very thin parts. And because I have the same hairstyle, no one can really tell the difference.

It's not great feeling when your hair is coming out but I'm still glad I cold capped. I kept enough to not need a wig. My hair is starting to grow back and one nurse said cold capping helps with the regrowth.

Make sure to ask them about the length of time you should be cold capping for your hair type. For the first session, the nurse was just going to set it for the standard time but luckily there was another nurse who happened to be nearby and she corrected her and said that due to my type of hair, I'd need to cold cap for longer. For each session, I had 16 sessions in total, I had different nurses. Not all of them knew so I had to keep reminding some.

Thank you so much for more details.  I will definitely ask for more time than the standard time and I know I will lose some, just hoping not all.