Hair Regrowth After Chemotherapy
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Hair loss can be challenging for many people undergoing chemo. You may feel angry, embarrassed, or sad about losing your hair. As your hair regrows, it may help to talk with people who have experienced hair loss.
Appearance and texture
Check with your healthcare team to make sure it is safe for you to have a head massage. Most hair loss during cancer treatment is caused by chemotherapy. That’s because chemo targets rapidly growing cells, which damages hair follicles and makes the hair fall out. But radiation therapy can sometimes cause hair loss, too, when it’s used to treat head and neck cancers.
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Chemotherapy drugs attack all cells that grow rapidly in your body, whether they’re cancer cells or not. The extent of hair loss can vary among individuals and depends on drug type and dosage. Some people may experience mere thinning of the hair, while others may lose all of their hair. Ask your healthcare professional or a hospital social worker about resources in your area to help you find the head covering that's best for you.
Hair Regrowth After Chemo: What to Expect
Hair loss during chemo is one of cancer’s most diabolical side effects. It’s bad enough to feel sick — who wants to look sick, too? Hair loss can also broadcast to the world a health status you’d rather keep private.
Can medicine help regrow hair after chemotherapy?
Some people might lose all of their body hair, while others experience only mild thinning. When your hair starts to grow back, it will probably be slightly different from the hair you lost. Doctors may, for example, recommend Rogaine for people who have had tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer. Pharmacies usually offer other forms of minoxidil that are cheaper. Wearing a hat and applying sunscreen regularly can protect the scalp from UV rays while the hair is growing back. Damage to these cells can cause the head hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair elsewhere on the body to fall out during treatment.
Hair loss with chemotherapy and cancer treatment is common. Most people do regrow hair eventually after treatment, but the hair growing back may differ in color, texture, or volume. It can take time for your appearance to return to what you were used to seeing. Hair loss is a common side effect of many chemotherapy regimens, but there are ways to manage it. Talk with your cancer care team about whether you can expect to experience hair loss as a result of your treatment.
What are the most common causes of hair loss during cancer treatment?
People undergoing chemotherapy will notice different levels of hair regrowth. Most people undergoing chemotherapy will begin seeing some thin, fuzzy hair a few weeks after their last treatment. Real hair may start to grow properly within 4–6 weeks. If it’s an expected side effect, you can consider how you want to handle it. You might decide to try a short haircut, look into using scalp cooling caps, or start the process of choosing a wig. If you feel self-conscious about hair loss, wearing a head covering might help.
Is there anything else patients should know about cancer treatment and hair loss?
This allows you to plan for head coverings or treatments to reduce hair loss. Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy but is not permanent. Typically, hair regrowth starts two to three months after stopping chemo, and many people fully recover within 12 months. Cancer treatment can be emotionally difficult to handle due to the noticeable physical changes it can bring, including hair loss.
When your hair grows back
The medicines in chemo that affect your hair growth are called cytostatic drugs. Cytostatic drugs suppress cell growth, which may damage the cells that make up your hair roots. As a result, hair tends to fall out at the root rather than just break.
Getting the cap to fit close to your head might require changing how you style your hair. Hair loss typically continues throughout treatment and up to a few weeks afterward. Whether your hair thins or you become completely bald will depend on your treatment. Talk to your healthcare team about the chemotherapy medicines you'll receive. Some drugs encourage hair regrowth after chemotherapy, but the results vary. Most hair regrowth drugs aim to treat hair loss resulting from causes other than chemotherapy.
For example, do not wash it more than twice weekly, and use baby shampoo when you do so. Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses strong medicines to kill fast-growing cells, including cancer cells. It is a common cancer treatment and is often referred to as chemo. Some studies have shown that cooling caps might not work well on hair with tight curls and coils. Tight curls and coils might prevent the cap from getting the scalp cold enough.
Most people find their hair will start to grow back after treatment. Your hair may need to get to a certain length before you can have it cut or apply any treatments. Because everyone’s hair grows differently, it’s hard to say when your hair will look the way you remember it before you started chemotherapy. You’ll probably feel like you “have” hair again within three months. How quickly hair regrows varies from person to person but most people will have a full covering of hair three to six months after treatment. For most people who experience hair loss after starting chemotherapy, their hair almost always starts to grow back once their treatment is over.
Read on to learn more about hair regrowth after chemo, including what to expect and how to care for your hair. All chemo drugs don’t cause hair loss, also called alopecia. If it happens, you’ll usually notice it within the first 2 weeks of treatment.
If you have health insurance, it might partially or fully cover the cost of a wig. Consider calling your insurance provider to learn if the cost is covered. In order to receive reimbursement, you’ll probably need to ask your doctor for a prescription for a cranial prosthesis.
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