Pro Hairstyle Tips if You Have Cancer

A heap of hairsbreadth connected your pillow. Knotted strands successful your ablution drain. There's nary sugar-coating it: Breast crab tin instrumentality a toll connected your hair, but you tin conscionable the hairsbreadth nonaccomplishment and thinning head-on with immoderate other TLC and astute styling.

Start With Healthy Hair

“As soon arsenic you're diagnosed, halt harsh styling practices” similar bleaching, coloring, and utilizing high-heat tools similar blow-dryers, oregon curling oregon straightening irons, says Jerilynn Stephens, a longtime Los Angeles-based hairsbreadth stylist who was diagnosed with ovarian crab successful March 2021.

Strong hairsbreadth from the get-go has a amended warring accidental erstwhile attraction begins, Stephens says. Hair nonaccomplishment and thinning starts astir 2-4 weeks aft you commencement chemo.

Get a Good Cut

A smart, shorter caller 'do does much than springiness you a caller look. It tin assistance fell thinning hair, dissimilar agelong locks, wherever nonaccomplishment is much obvious.

Style gently:

• Use a soft-bristle brush.
• If you propulsion it up, usage scrunchies alternatively of hairsbreadth elastics. Opt for a debased bun alternatively of a precocious topknot, which holds your hairsbreadth excessively tightly.
• Wash your hairsbreadth little -- only erstwhile you must, and with a super-gentle shampoo.

Baby your scalp. Even arsenic you effort to sphere your hair, chemotherapy dries retired your scalp. Stephens suggests utilizing an integrated assemblage lipid to support and hydrate it. 

Shaved Is a Style, Too

“Sometimes, shaving your caput aft it begins to autumn retired is the astir emotionally almighty happening you tin do because it takes backmost the powerfulness for yourself and tin forestall the trauma of the unexpected,” Stephens says. She finished her chemo successful August 2021.

A person who'd gone done crab suggested Stephens shave her caput to amusement she was bigger than the treatment. “I really had my lad and hubby bash it [too], truthful it was almighty for my family, arsenic well, for america to bash that together.”

How to Manage Your New Hair

When your hairsbreadth starts to turn back, it's much similar a good down than the hairsbreadth you lost. “As it begins to turn more, it's important to get predominant tiny trims to instrumentality disconnected those fuzzy ends, truthful much of the 'real' hairsbreadth tin show,” Stephens says. “However, adjacent arsenic that archetypal babe hairsbreadth is trimmed off, what's near isn't ever what you started with.”

Your post-cancer hairsbreadth mightiness beryllium darker, overmuch lighter, oregon a antithetic texture. Your curly hairsbreadth mightiness person gone straight, oregon from bladed to thick, oregon vice versa. “The cardinal is to clasp the information that you person hairsbreadth erstwhile again, and larn however to benignant the caller texture that you are receiving,” Stephens says.

Post-Treatment Care

• Stay gentle with your hair. No harsh brushing oregon coloring, bleaching, or perming, arsenic the caller hairsbreadth is inactive fragile.
• Use organic, mild hairsbreadth products. Look for shampoos that are integrated and sulfate-free, and products made with indispensable oils and escaped of chemicals.
• Don't combat it. After the accent of crab treatment, don't adhd much angst by trying to benignant your thick, curly hairsbreadth the mode you utilized to deterioration your thin, consecutive hair. “Buy products for your existent texture and clasp wherever you are,” Stephens says.

Extend It

Once your hairsbreadth has grown backmost in, wearing hairsbreadth extensions is an enactment until your ain hairsbreadth has grown to the magnitude and thickness you want.

“Your hairsbreadth should beryllium astatine slightest 4 inches agelong earlier you deliberation astir extensions,” says Lacy West of Laced Hair Extensions successful Salt Lake City, Utah. She mislaid astir 75% of her hair during attraction for an inoperable encephalon tumor.

Tape-ins are typically the champion benignant of extensions to usage connected post-chemo hair, since clip-ins tin amusement successful shorter hair, West says.