[KimT]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by KimT on Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:31 pm

Thank you everyone for your responses! I have been thrilled to get so much input.

I have not yet had my harvesting. I am scheduled to start mobilization on the 24th. I am pretty sure that they will not be giving me Cytoxan for that. I asked and they said I would not lose my hair from the harvesting, but I would from the chemo given just before the transplant.

I think one thing I was concerned about was mentioned ... if I shave it, and it is very short, it might be itchy. Because I will be shaving it before I am admitted and I will be 2 or 3 weeks ahead of when it will really fall out, it will be growing in some before it falls out on its own.

But the bottom line is, itching or no itching, it's the emotional thing.

Thanks to all your help, I am pretty sure now I need to do this on my terms. I too want to say "screw cancer" in my own way. I want to be strong. I want to set a good example for my kids by facing things head on. And most of all, I have to maintain my sense of humor. If there is anything funny about this, I am going to find it. It has been my attitude all along ... from the pic of me eating a banana split when I posted on Facebook that I had an incurable disease (life is uncertain, eat dessert first!), to the picture with eyes popping out of my head when I talked about side effects ... I have been laughing the whole time.

And I think the party will be fun. I will cry ... then I will have friends sign my head with a sharpie. And we'll get a picture so I can read it later!

Thanks for your good wishes. I'll stay in touch!

[NZMum]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by NZMum on Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:30 pm

Hi Kim,

I am going to start my SCT on 8 August as well! I had long hair and had it cut short (not clipped)a couple of weeks after diagnosis. Thought I should just get it over and done with because people kept asking what would happen to my hair.

Planning to have it clipped prior to SCT and I love your idea of a celebration with friends! It sounds so much better than their shock when they first see you. I would forget that my hair was cut, so each time it was like a new shock but I love the length it is now! I plan to get a wig but don't know if I will wear one as I don't even like hats much. Besides everyone will know it is a wig so think I might go for something outrageous!

Taking friends wig shopping sounds like an excellent idea and has me actually looking forward to the prospect.

Best of luck for next month, hope it is not to stressful and you have a speedy recovery!

I would donate my hair ... it might make someone else happy!

[Beacon Staff]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by Beacon Staff on Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:48 pm

Hi Kim,

Glad you've gotten a lot of advice.

You -- and anyone else who lands here looking for perspectives on the issue -- may find the discussions in these earlier forum threads helpful as well:

"Should I buy a wig?"
"Stem cell transplant (SCT) - hair loss?"

Also, searching on the keyword "hair" from the forum search box also will turn up a few additional discussions that may be helpful. (The forum search box works best if you just search for one keyword, such as "transplant" or "smoldering", rather than a phrase or lots of keywords. For more complex forum searches, use the forum's Advanced Search functionality.)

Good luck ... and please keep us posted on how things are going.

[KimT]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by KimT on Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:45 pm

Thanks, Beacon Staff. I had searched before but had not confined it to one word. Will do!

Thanks again to everyone. NZMum and I will have to check in as things get going!

[Beacon Staff]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by Beacon Staff on Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:52 pm

Not a problem, KimT. We know that using the search box effectively is not as easy as we would hope, which is why we mentioned it in our posting. Providing more guidance on how best to use it is something that's on our to-do list.

Best of luck with everything. We look forward to updates and hope that all goes well.

[Wayne K]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by Wayne K on Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:48 am

Kim,

For me personally, I would rather have the itching without the hair mess. It's amazing how aggravating a small amount of hair that migrates everywhere can be -- or at least it was to me. I thought cutting it very short, a buzz cut, would be enough, but I think the short hair might be worse that the long.

I would use an electric razor as close to the hospital entry date as possible.

I don't know what the experience of others is, but I got my first dose of melphalan the day I checked in.

[coop223]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by coop223 on Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:20 pm

About two weeks after my Cytoxan, I was sitting out back. I scratched my head and I noticed my hair was coming out. I immediately went to a barber and got it shaved. No big deal, no more hair loss or hassle. It eventually grew back after my SCT. No big deal, at least for me.

[Eric Hofacket]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by Eric Hofacket on Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:50 am

Kim,

Check to see if you can cut your hair at the hospital where you will be getting your stem cell transplant if you want to wait to till the last minute to get your hair cut. In my case I started losing some hair after I was administered Cytoxan. After the melphalan was given for my SCT, the hair really started coming out.

Since I was in my room and in the bed most of the day, it kind of starting becoming a bit unsanitary even though they were doing a great job of keeping the room clean and changed linen every day. Who wants to sleep in a bed full of their own hair which has fallen out or see it all over the floor? It was not just the hair on my head but a great deal of body hair too.

I was in City of Hope and one of the services they have for patients is hair cutting, so I asked to get my head complete shaved and they sent someone right away to do it. It was easy to do and made things a lot cleaner. I think most hospitals would be able to do this, it is probably something that commonly needs to be done.

[Blackbird]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by Blackbird on Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:39 pm

I shaved my head after my hair started falling out. In retrospect, I wish I would've shaved it ahead of time because the view in the mirror after my hair started falling out and before shaving it was, um, not pretty. Patchy looking hair pretty much sucks, to be blunt. Once I got used to the bald pate, it wasn't bad. Then, again, I'm a male and baldness is common on this side of the aisle.

On the bright side, think of how much money you'll save on shampoo and conditioners!

[DallasGG]

Re: Should I shave my head?

by DallasGG on Mon Jul 07, 2014 2:12 pm

I"d shave it at the first sign of it falling out.

I had my stem cell harvest about a month before my transplant. 17 days after I was given Cytoxan for the harvest, my hair started falling out in the shower ... everywhere! Pretty gross. I shaved my head the next day because I didn't want to have to deal with hair falling out day after day.

My head stayed shaved/bald until about 1 1/2 to 2 months after the transplant, and then it started growing back. I never really got used to looking in the mirror and seeing a bald head staring back ... LOL! Every so often, I'd think, who's that?

It's now 5 months after my transplant and I cut my hair today for the first time since the transplant. It was interesting how it grew back. It was finer, darker and wavier. After I cut it today, even though it is still slightly darker, it now feels and looks the same as before all of this started. I do keep my hair pretty short though (slightly longer than a buzz cut), so for someone that keeps theirs longer, I'm guessing it will take a bit longer to fully grow back.