A Close Shave: The low down on hair loss and what you can do to try and prevent it.
For most people having chemo - losing your hair is inevitable. This is because the chemo drugs attack fast growing (or rapidly dividing) cells. These include hair, skin, nails and others but most importantly CANCER cells!
Not everyone will lose their hair as targeted treatments may not affect your hair cells, so definitely ask the question before you shave it off!
I decided to shave mine off in advance because I knew it was going to come out and had heard that losing it if it's long can be uncomfortable.
If you decide to do the shave, make sure you use clippers with a guard. DON’T do a wet/close shave. This is because you may make small cuts and can increase your risk of infection which whilst on chemo is the last thing you want!
The chap who normally does Dan’s (my partner’s) hair did it for me at the beginning as I’ve got such thick hair and didn't know where to start. He did it for free and I think a lot of hairdressers will do it for free, because you know - cancer! It grew back so quickly quickly needed to shave it twice more before it started falling out so I bought some clippers for around £20 off amazon that did the job.
It took around 4 weeks from me starting chemo to losing my hair. Because of the time gap, I know it sounds silly, but I thought I'd gotten away with it, that I'd be a medical marvel and get through chemo with a full head of hair.
When it did start coming out, it was coming out in spades. It was mostly in the shower whilst washing my head/hair, so be prepared for that. I didn't think it would affect me (as I felt I’d taken control and shaved it) but I cried. A lot.
I felt well with the cancer and had felt fine with the chemo, and I didn't look “ill".
Until now.
I was starting to look like a cancer patient and that sucked.
On the plus side, after 4 weeks of treatment I didn’t need to shave my legs and pits. I wasn’t having to pluck my eyebrows daily. I’m slipping in and out of that shower in less than 2 minutes. Drying my hair and getting ready has never been so quick!
BUT the gals down below didn't go until about week 8...
My eyebrows and eyelashes only really started to thin in the last 4 weeks (12 weeks into treatment) and I think this is due to a change in chemo drugs.
My arm hairs (as in hairs on my forearms) are still going strong... and I'm almost at the end of my chemo. Go figure!
I'm really glad I shaved my hair before hand;
A. To get used to it being short.
B. When my hair started coming out even at a super short length I found upsetting so would've found this a lot harder if I'd had long hair.
C. My scalp was quite sensitive at the beginning of treatment and I think the weight of hair may have made it more uncomfortable.
How to prevent hair loss:
You can use cold caps during treatment, these work by cooling your scalp by delivering icy cold water in tubes to your scalp to try to reduce the blood flowing to your hair follicles. By reducing the blood flow to the hair follicles you're reducing the amount of chemo that gets there and so reduces the risk of hair loss. You have to start this immediately (with your first chemo session) and continue throughout.
Some people can't tolerate it as it is bloody cold and can be quite uncomfortable, but others breeze through it and manage to keep a good chunk of their hair. If you opt for the cold cap, you are likely to still lose some hair, just not all of it, so please bear that in mind.
Some people find that losing their hair slowly with the cold cap is more upsetting than losing it quickly, as it can be a drawn out process.
And remember that it will only help with the hair on your head! You may still lose body hair, eyelashes, eyebrows etc.
Speak to your chemotherapy team about cold caps if you’re interested.
There is no evidence surrounding different shampoos, lotions, serums etc preventing hair loss during chemotherapy so I wouldn’t bother changing from what you normally use and save your money!
If you decide to go for the shave, here are some fabulous Instagram accounts for shaved head inspiration
Famous women who shaved their hair include;
Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Sinead O’Connor, Cara Delavigne, Kristen Stewart to name but a few.