new hair

[rengeko]

has anyone been growing out their hair after chemo? i have about 4" and am wondering if it will ever return to normal. it used to be thick, slightly coarse and wavy, curly when long and now it's fine and ringlets, but different from right to left. i am hoping someone can give me some idea of how this works. or doesn't, i guess.

[novemberfoxtrot]

Oh goodness. I'm sorry to hear you had to go through that. I hope that it is over for you!

As for the hair...I wonder if all the follicles don't sprout at the same time. But that wouldn't explain the difference of thickness in individual strands.

[Ocelan]

I had a friend in school when I was about 15 and she had gone through chemo. After her hair had started growing back it was very thin and fine and didn't grow in all places yet but it seemed to be getting better all the time and I believe after a few years it didn't look much different from anyone elses hair.
So it probably doesn't happen all that fast because I'm sure your body has or atleast had more important things to heal and the hair growth has been left in the backround a bit, but with good nutrition and recovery the hair growth should catch up too. So I hope you are through that tough experience and get back to normal life. :flower:

[eros]

Someone I know went through chemo, and her hair DID grow back, but a slightly different texture. I wouldn't worry about it growing,though. I'm sure it will. Goodluck!

[Miss Catrina]

I don't have any firsthand experience, but I have heard it is normal for hair to grow back a drastically different texture at first, and return to it's previous state at least somewhat over time. How long has it been growing back out? I would just wait and see. Even if it's never the way it was before, I'm sure you'll be able to find out the best ways to care for it.

Good luck with your recovery and welcome to LHC! :blossom:

[Natalia]

Congrats on making it through chemo your so strong! My grandmother had the same hair dresser she saw once or twice a week for over 30 years and with the salon being geared towards the older set she saw alot of post chemo hair. When it first grows out it tends to be a different texture and thickness with a metalic tint but after about 6 - 8 months the thickness starts coming back, the texture takes longer about a year, the metalic tint depends on what kind of chemo you had sometimes a few months sometimes over a year. Bear in mind many of these ladies were there for perms so the texture issue may show more on naturally curly hair rather than straight.