Chemotherapy Scalp Cooling

Armchair23

My husband had the cold cap during his chemo. Lots of people found it so painfull to start with they gave up. It is literally brain freeze but eases up after a few minutes. He kept his curly brown hair throughout chemo but lost his eye brows, lashes and body hair.

Harrietxxx

Hi,

I am using the paxman cold cap, had my second FEC one week ago today and still have all my hair, early days I know but it would definitely be gone by now without using the cap.

The paxman is the latest type of cold cap and has good success rates. You need to make sure that you hair is nice and wet and has plenty of conditioner on it before the cap goes on. Also, the cap must touch all parts of the scalp so make sure it is nice and snug. I have to wear mine for 30 mins before treatment and 1 1/2 to 2 hours after but this depends on the type of chemo. You can check timings on the paxman website.

As for shampoo, I think ph balanced is recommended like the simple brand but I have invested in a special shampoo and tonic made for alopecia sufferers. It wasn't cheap, 10 quid for the shampoo and 20 quid for the tonic, but I'm not going to be have cuts, colours etc for a while. I can't remember the name, it's from boots in a blue bottle, I will post when I go up to bed. I don't know if this will help but I thought I might as well give it a try, if I'm going to wear that bloody cold thing I want to maximise the chance if it working.

I'm not taking any supplements, these can interact with the chemo so you have to be careful and get them checked by your oncologist.

I am definitely 'shedding' more hair than normal but no one else would know and I would definitely be bald by now without using it :T

I did have my shoulder length hair cut shortish before I started as I figured there would be less weight pulling it down.
Good luck, pm me if you want to

Harrietxxx

The shampoo is called natur vital, as I said, don't know if it will help but worth a try.

Xx