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.