Compare the Hair

Like most chemo patients, I lost my hair.  It started to flee from my head just as I was getting my second infusion, two weeks after round one.  Once it started to go, I went ahead and had my friend Becky come over and give me a buzz cut, as I thought it would make the whole process of losing my hair a little less messy and less disheartening.

One question that seems to arise, though is this:  What will my hair be like when it grows back?

• Will it grow in splotches?
• Will it be really curly and frizzy?
• Will it be thinner?
• Will it be the same color?
• Will it have the same texture?

It seems to me that all I knew of were survivors whose hair grew in curlier and wavier than what they had had before.  For some, their hair grew splotchy, although evening out later.

My hair was salt/pepper in color.  My hair was coarse.  My hair had a natural wave to it.  My hair was thick.  I often had women tell me they wish they had hair like mine because the salt/pepper mix was evenly distributed and my hair had a nice wave to it.  I wore my hair somewhat short, and so all I did was "wash and wear."

When my hair began to grow back, it at first looked whiter/greyer than it had been.  I thought I would be all right with that, considering what I had endured.  That would be something to be expected because of the trauma to my body.  My hair did not come in in splotches, and so about 10 weeks after my final chemo infusion, I had enough hair to opt to no longer wear a wig or hat when I went out anywhere.  I did not mind that my hair was short.  I just was glad to be able to let go of the coverings.  About a month after that, I had my sister-in-law give me my first trim, primarily around my ears.  The hairs she cut were white and fine.  Anyone who rubbed my head -- and it was funny ones who were curious and did -- DIFFERENT!

The challenge has been how to style it.  I do not like to put stuff in my hair; but, it tends to hang straight.  My hair is still soft.  My hair is thick, but not in the same way it was because of the texture of my hair now.  The curls I would get at the ends of my hair in the back when my hair was getting longer no longer happened.  I could, in a sense, go longer between haircuts. 

Some think that my hair is more a brown/salt color than it was.

So, take a look here and see what it looks like.  The pictures are pre-chemo and post-chemo.