Can chemotherapy mess with your hair’s ability to regrow?

It's been about two full months since my last week of Temodar. I got a haircut over a month ago but lately my 'do has been looking like a don't, so I made an appointment to get another haircut today.

If you don't know what I look like, you should know that I've had short hair for the past 16 years and frequent haircuts are a must.

mullet.jpg

When I went to the salon today both Karli and Amithyst (the rockin' gals who work at the salon) were blown away by the rate of growth my hair has had. Seriously, it had grown about an inch.

Karli and Amithyst were trying to figure out how this could have happened when I reminded them that it has been about two months since I stopped chemo.

The chemotherapy I took does not make one loose hair, but the poison that is chemo can certainly mess your body up big time. As Karli reminded me, all the bad crap in your body comes out at some point or another, and it often leaves through your hair. I didn't know that.

Actually, the entire time I was on chemo my hair wouldn't dye the way it had pre-cancer. Usually it takes about a half hour for hair dye to process on me, but on chemo it could take up to an hour and a half.

The more you know.

Liz Salmi

Liz Salmi is Communications & Patient Initiatives Director for OpenNotes at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Over the last 15 years Liz has been: a research subject; an advisor in patient stakeholder groups; a leader in “patient engagement” research initiatives; and an innovator, educator and investigator in national educational and research projects. Today her work focuses on involving patients and care partners in the co-design of research and research dissemination. It is rumored Liz was the drummer in a punk rock band.

https://thelizarmy.com
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