Day: February 10, 2018

Bad hair days are back again

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Chemo gives a wide range of side effects, most of which are highly unpleasant and there is nothing on this planet that can make them fun and there is nothing positive in them.

Strike that. All but one are unpleasant and negative. And I’m one of the few people who probably regards even that one as positive.

But for me, alopecia has never been an issue. I have been looking forward to it. It gave me an excuse to chop my long hair off and colour it bright pink, and I doubt if it’s been bleached this often since I was at UKC and changed my hair colour every week or so. I loved that barber shop downtown and with easy access to Directions hair dyes I had a blast!

I bought a whole bunch of wigs in different colours, lengths and styles and have been having fun wearing them all winter. After all, what’s the point of having wigs if you can’t use them? Wearing a wig means never having a bad hair day, after all. And seeing as people are used to my changing colours and hair styles on a regular basis (at least I used to) some haven’t really noticed that they’re wigs!

My hair has started growing back and I am constantly having bad hair days. Not just because I’m a heavy sleeper but it’s winter so I have to wear hats. My scalp has been fuzzy for weeks – not cute kitten kinda soft fuzz, but fortnight old lambs. The hairs have been growing at 1 mm per month rate. But now they’ve gone all anarchistic on me, so some are growing a lot faster.

And I mean a LOT faster.

Some hairs are several inches long whilst most of it is short. I’ve given up hope that my “cancer hair” will be rainbow coloured and there is no glitter in sight. Nor is there any sign of curls.

It’s just grey on grey on grey.

And bad hair days.

And because it’s growing at different rates and I’m having those hot flashes again, I can’t wear my wigs for long periods cos I get all sweaty and itchy (no, the wig doesn’t itch but having sweaty hair that bends different ways itches).

The big question now isn’t whether I will colour my hair again, it’s how long I can stand this grey-on-grey and/or if I get the hair trimmer out first. If I do, it’ll probably grow at the same rate but it will take a long time before I can colour it – but I might grow completely bonkers looking like this.

Look good, feel better aka grown-up make up!!!

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I’ve never learnt how to do my make up. Not properly. Words like foundation, blush, rouge, day/night cream, brow liner, lip liner scare me. I’ve always made do with lipstick, mascara, eye liner and eye shadow. That’s it. No mess, no fuss.

But when oncology has a quarterly make up course for breast cancer patients and you know you’re probably going to lose eye lashes and brow, of course you sign up for it! It’ll be fun, of course it will, and you might actually learn how to do proper grown-up make up.

Look good feel better is a non-medical, brand-neutral public service program that teaches beauty techniques to people with cancer to help them manage the appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment. The program includes lessons on skin and nail care, cosmetics, wigs and turbans, accessories and styling, helping people with cancer to find some normalcy in a life that is by no means normal.

There are affiliates in 25 countries and in Norway, there are make up courses quarterly at the 7 largest hospitals. If you are a female cancer patient at any of these hospitals I would highly recommend attending one of these courses!

We were a dozen or so women of all ages and make up levels, and the only thing we had in common was our lack of hair. We all got an amazing goodie bag filled with stuff I have never ever owned before in my entire life, which was fun, and we got a great step-by-step demonstration on how to do facials and keep the skin hydrated and look good even when cancer makes you all pasty and bloated and white.

I discovered that my upper lashes have mostly stayed put whilst my lower ones were kinda missing. I can see that my brows are sorely lacking in colour and mass so good to learn the curvature of the brow so one can pencil them in!

 

The goodies are from a variety of companies, thank you to KLF (The Norwegian Cosmetics Association) for make up and thank you to the volunteers who make it possible!

Unfortunately no pics of me made up, cos my flatigue was pretty bad and I didn’t really think about it, but I truly enjoyed myself. I think we all did – in the midst of hardcore treatment and a horrific illness, these little snippets of joy are what keep us going!