Have you discussed using a cold cap with your cancer team? I had my first chemo for Inflammatory Breast Cancer on Thursday and tried it. It is not a pleasant experience - you wear a cap which freezes you scalp to about -3 centigrade and the theory is that it closes the capillaries so no chemo drug gets to your scalp (where it’s not needed) and thus reduces the risk of hair loss. I have been told it has a 70-80% chance of preventing total hair loss. I may still get some thinning.
I won’t lie, it is a horrible experience but more tolerable if you take painkillers. You have it on for half an hour before treatment, during the infusion of the chemo and then for up to 90 minutes afterwards. I hope it’s worth the pain!
Hi yes I was offered the cold cap but I dont want to through any more pain than I have to tbh. The thought of losing my hair is not as traumatic to me as it may be to others so I'm happy to crop/shave. I hope it works for you though. X
I'm new on this cancer chat. I was using the cold cap on my first chemo, which was not too bad and I didn't loss much hair, except had a bad experience of headache for a few days afterward.
However, on my 2nd chemo last Friday gone and I loss lot of hair the next few days. It seems the cold cap is not working for me. I seem to coping well with the sign affect, however I'm not coping well with the loss hair. Therefore, I guess it is best for me to shave off my hair and that will be one less worry for me. Using the new wig for the time being.
This is all new to me since learned that I had a breast cancer in Sept this year. Today, I contact my local hair salon but they don't have this service - shave off my hair and request a trim on my new wig. I would be appreciated if you would give me some direction how to do it and where to find the shop that can trim my new wig?
