Tonight I have been surfing the web, looking for an answer - how long will it take for my hair to grow back? Of course the most common answer is "it depends on a woman's hair". Even I knew that. But I want something more... I wanted to get numbers, length of time, more substantial information than "it depends".
Anyway, most of the sites I visited stated the average is 6-7 months before it grows to about an inch or two. It's been 5 months since my last chemo so I must be getting close to my "normal" hair. But hey, my hair is still thin and short. The length of my hair varies, longer at the back and shorter on top. I also read that it will be at least a year before the hair gets unruly or be long enough to get a haircut in a salon. On the bright side, at least I'm saving a ton of money on haircuts and shampoos. ;)
But THE most shocking thing I read was that eyebrows or eyelashes and even sometimes hair on our head comes off 5-6 months AFTER chemo! It comes and goes. WTF, I wasn't expecting that. Nobody warned me about it. Apparently it is common among cancer patients to have this "hair loss" post chemo. Darn it.
Another shocker is that taking Tamoxifen can also cause hair loss. Tamoxifen is what I'm taking daily for my hormonal therapy. NOBODY warned me about that too! I was told hot flushes was the main side effect but NOT hair loss. My morale went out the window after reading that article.
Why am I looking for this answer you might ask? Because I am sick and tired of wearing my wig. Sure my wig looks like the real deal but it is torture when I'm having hot flushes. My head feels like an oven. I also want to get my real hair back, thick and long. I guess I'll just have to wait.
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