Interlace and hair loss advice

Hi Nora 

I have finished the same regime as you are having . I have thick wavy hair and it was sitting on my shoulders , I decided to have it cut quite short   as I was doing the cold cap and thought having it shorter would make the cold cap fit better to my scalp so hopefully give me more of chance of keeping some hair . It worked for me but I lost 5- 10 percent of my hair but not in clumps just bit thinner . I found using the cold cap was ok obviously it’s cold and does freeze your head but after about 10 mins it just goes numb ! . I guess you’ve been told that using the cold cap puts extra time on treatment as it’s goes on before chemo so your heads cold before they give chemo and it stays on a bit after chemo finishes . The next chemo doesn’t cause hair loss ( although some might do ) so you don’t use cold cap and it’s not offered because it doesn’t . I must admit my hair did go a bit frizzy and very dull but once chemo finished it’s grown back to being wavy still but at least it’s still hair and it’s now back to normal . I didn’t lose no eyebrows but I did lose some eyelashes but not all , but strangely I lost them a couple of times after chemo finished but they’re back to normal now . This site is really good you can get lots of advise and hear how others treatment went . I think I was quite lucky in that I didn’t have to many side effects . I did only have 4 out 6 chemo radiation as my blood count was not good enough to have 6 chemos . I hope your treatment goes well for you . People on here are amazing and so kind etc . Good luck 

val 

Hi Val

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, it really means a lot to me. I’ve only just found this forum and I’m starting treatment next Tuesday, so I’m feeling pretty nervous, especially about losing my hair. It’s reassuring to hear that the cold cap worked for you and that you were able to keep most of your hair. I’m so glad it was successful as this gives me hope as a curly/wavy hair person. This community feels like a supportive place, and it helps to know I’m not facing this alone. I hope your treatment has gone well and that you’re doing okay now.

It is very supportive and you can ask lots of questions here and sometimes hearing from people that have had this treatment and come out the other side and reading there journey is so helpful . I wanted to try and save my hair as I’m older and have young grandchildren and didn’t want to scare the life out of them seeing nanny bald lol . Good luck with starting your treatment and hope it goes well for you . I was diagnosed in late nov last year and finished my treatment with brachytherapy in March . Doing radiotherapy everyday seemed really daunting when being told that it’s 5-6 weeks daily but I found it went quite quick . I had also made plans for big family Xmas for 12 people before I was diagnosed but I was determined to still do it (?although they all thought I was mad ! ) I had chemo Xmas eve and I still managed to do big Xmas dinner etc with help but I think that is what kept me focused at the beginning of treatment . 
I sit here now and think wow where has that time gone and more importantly I got through it . Best of luck 

Val 

Hi NoraB67a03b and welcome to our group.

I was hoping that someone who had been through the induction chemo and used the cold cap would reply with some help, so I’m glad to see you’ve had some very good info from Granny55 .

I just had the standard chemoradiation treatment so didn’t have the right experience to be able to help this time. I see you’re starting your treatment plan next week, so I’m glad you’ve found the group, and hope you’ll find it helpful as you go along.

I had Cisplatin chemo with my radiation, and that doesn’t cause hairloss, but I did find that my body hair (though not eyebrows or eyelashes) disappeared-no need to shave my legs until after my treatment finished! 

Please feel free to ask any questions and share any worries-many of us have been through treatment and come out the other side so we’ll be happy to offer support to you. 

Sarah xx

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences, SarahH21 and Granny55.Perhaps it’s the nerves, but I’ve felt quite emotional reading through all the posts and the support here. There are so many different experiences to draw strength from. I agree with Val that it’s a good idea to focus on something beyond the treatment - for me, that will be looking forward to Christmas, which (fingers crossed!) should coincide with my last week of Cisplatin + EBRT. My brachytherapy is scheduled for the final week of the year, so I’m hopeful that 2026 will mark the end of my treatment, hopefully with not much hair loss.

Hi Nora

My treatment after my original diagnosis ended on Christmas Eve, and to be honest I was exhausted and spent Christmas Day in bed that year, sleeping. 

Obviously treatment has different effects on everyone, so you may be absolutely fine, but just be prepared in your head that you may not be firing on all cylinders right at the end of treatment-it’s really quite intense over a relatively short period of time. 

But it’s absolutely right to focus on having something to look forward to. You do, however, need some time to recover, so just bear that in mind.

Sarah xx