Hair and Chemo

At the beginning of lupus chemo, I had a lot of hair loss, which was very distressing. It slowed down after a couple of months.  I really believed I might lose it all, and my hair was definitely very thin.

I searched on the Internet for what other chemotherapy patients, those going through much more toxic protocols than mine, and also lupus patients, for any sort of thing I could do to help my hair look thicker and perhaps even encourage the hair to start going back.  I began to use a biotin shampoo and conditioner every day (I wash my hair every day), and once a week, a shampoo and deep conditioner for gray hair to keep my hair shiny and keep the gray from yellowing.  A lot of chemo patients swear by biotin shampoo and conditioner, though I am absolutely not pushing this product.  I also get my hair trimmed very frequently, as the ends seem to get drier now that the hair is more gray.

Part of this is just time and the ability of the body to adjust to this sort of chemo, some of it was luck, and maybe some of it has been my hair care routine, but I think my hair is beginning to gradually come back.  The part of my hair is always an indicator--lupus, when active, also causes hair loss--and I can see where the hair is filling in. Here is a picture of when the hair loss was at its peak:

As you can see, the hair was very thin and my scalp showed through quite noticeably.

Now, here is a picture of my hair which I took this afternoon:

It still has a long way to go, but it is a lot better, and my scalp even looks healthier.