Good evening my friends!
It's time to talk hair! If you follow along on the FB page or on Instagram, then you now know that I have hair...and brows...and lashes!! This is big news! I've been bald since early June so this is progress. My lashes and brows fell out a while after my hair did but now, I'm happy to say, the whole family is back together. It may not be pretty, but at least it's something.
So, you might be wondering why someone with fingernails longer than her hair might feel the need to share hair care tips. Well, these tips are geared more for my chemo sisters and brothers who are following along. Losing your hair is a little traumatic, no matter who you are. Oddly, I was more scared about losing my lashes and brows because it removes some defining features from your face. Luckily, I planned ahead, researched and found a great tutorial for the brows - it's actually posted on the blog here...somewhere...do I have a "Helpful Links" page? lol. I'll have to check it out and make sure it's still up. Brows were easy, lashes were pain in my ass (excuse my French). I have two sets of false lashes, they were fine. I just never forgot I was wearing them. They felt weird to me, so most of the time I didn't wear them...so I had no lashes...so I still looked, well, incomplete.
(Let's pause for a story)
A few months ago, my vision had gotten so bad that I thought I'd better go see the eye doctor. I was worried it was somehow related to chemo. During one of my infusions, I was chatting with my roomie and she asked if my vision seemed worse. I told her YES!!! At that point, I thought, maybe there is something to this and I should get checked out. Turns out that my issues are more likely related to age than treatment. Well, dang it! Anyway, as I'm chatting with the doc, he has those lovely super duper close up pictures of my eyeballs on the computer screen. He laughs a little and says, "Wow, your lashes are pretty pitiful." Don't worry, he's one of us, so it's ok if he says stuff like that. My response was, "Well, duh!!" He felt so sorry for me, he wrote a prescription for Latisse. Yes, that stuff that's supposed to grow lashes. He said it works great. It was originally used for glaucoma patients and they noticed that their glaucoma patients had spectacular eyelashes. Now they market to the lashless. I never had the prescription filled. It wasn't worth $150 bucks a month me. If it would be worth it to you, make note of it and don't be afraid to ask your docs. I think he said it takes 2-3 weeks and then they come in nicely.
(end of story)
My hair has been trying to grow back in since before chemo ended...so sometime in late August, early September, I started to see some follicular action. It started growing but the coverage was pretty light. Since I head heard stories about how coarse and unruly the initial regrowth could be, I started planning. I knew I couldn't stop the chemo fuzz, but maybe I could tame it. My goal was to do everything I could to make sure my hair was as soft and under control as I could get it. Chemo Fuzz is what comes out first. I'm sure everyone has different experiences but I had a feeling mine was going to be wiry, a little coarse, insanely curly and probably silver. I pondered what to do and I settled on ordering the Wen products. My thinking was that this hair is brand new, I need to be gentle with it and who needs all those suds anyway. I LOVE THIS STUFF! The hair that came in initially did have weird texture - it's still there I guess but the products have made it so much softer. When I was bald I couldn't stop touching my head. Now I can't stop touching my hair. I'm pretty happy. The deep conditioner is my favorite - I use it at least once per week (sometimes twice). I like all of the products but that's the best. So there you have it. My attempt to prevent baby orangutan hair!
It's time to talk hair! If you follow along on the FB page or on Instagram, then you now know that I have hair...and brows...and lashes!! This is big news! I've been bald since early June so this is progress. My lashes and brows fell out a while after my hair did but now, I'm happy to say, the whole family is back together. It may not be pretty, but at least it's something.
So, you might be wondering why someone with fingernails longer than her hair might feel the need to share hair care tips. Well, these tips are geared more for my chemo sisters and brothers who are following along. Losing your hair is a little traumatic, no matter who you are. Oddly, I was more scared about losing my lashes and brows because it removes some defining features from your face. Luckily, I planned ahead, researched and found a great tutorial for the brows - it's actually posted on the blog here...somewhere...do I have a "Helpful Links" page? lol. I'll have to check it out and make sure it's still up. Brows were easy, lashes were pain in my ass (excuse my French). I have two sets of false lashes, they were fine. I just never forgot I was wearing them. They felt weird to me, so most of the time I didn't wear them...so I had no lashes...so I still looked, well, incomplete.
(Let's pause for a story)
A few months ago, my vision had gotten so bad that I thought I'd better go see the eye doctor. I was worried it was somehow related to chemo. During one of my infusions, I was chatting with my roomie and she asked if my vision seemed worse. I told her YES!!! At that point, I thought, maybe there is something to this and I should get checked out. Turns out that my issues are more likely related to age than treatment. Well, dang it! Anyway, as I'm chatting with the doc, he has those lovely super duper close up pictures of my eyeballs on the computer screen. He laughs a little and says, "Wow, your lashes are pretty pitiful." Don't worry, he's one of us, so it's ok if he says stuff like that. My response was, "Well, duh!!" He felt so sorry for me, he wrote a prescription for Latisse. Yes, that stuff that's supposed to grow lashes. He said it works great. It was originally used for glaucoma patients and they noticed that their glaucoma patients had spectacular eyelashes. Now they market to the lashless. I never had the prescription filled. It wasn't worth $150 bucks a month me. If it would be worth it to you, make note of it and don't be afraid to ask your docs. I think he said it takes 2-3 weeks and then they come in nicely.
(end of story)
My hair has been trying to grow back in since before chemo ended...so sometime in late August, early September, I started to see some follicular action. It started growing but the coverage was pretty light. Since I head heard stories about how coarse and unruly the initial regrowth could be, I started planning. I knew I couldn't stop the chemo fuzz, but maybe I could tame it. My goal was to do everything I could to make sure my hair was as soft and under control as I could get it. Chemo Fuzz is what comes out first. I'm sure everyone has different experiences but I had a feeling mine was going to be wiry, a little coarse, insanely curly and probably silver. I pondered what to do and I settled on ordering the Wen products. My thinking was that this hair is brand new, I need to be gentle with it and who needs all those suds anyway. I LOVE THIS STUFF! The hair that came in initially did have weird texture - it's still there I guess but the products have made it so much softer. When I was bald I couldn't stop touching my head. Now I can't stop touching my hair. I'm pretty happy. The deep conditioner is my favorite - I use it at least once per week (sometimes twice). I like all of the products but that's the best. So there you have it. My attempt to prevent baby orangutan hair!
Life is good!
Love to all,
Andee