Tips For Dealing With Hair Loss While Going Through Chemotherapy

If you have been diagnosed with cancer, one of the treatment options that you will likely try is chemotherapy. Some forms of chemo result in you losing your hair. This can be frustrating to anyone who is going through this process because you might feel like it marks you as someone with cancer, that it makes you less attractive, and that it diminishes your confidence. Luckily, there are a few methods of dealing with hair loss while undergoing chemo that might be able to help you. Here are some tips that you can consider.

1. Cold Caps

The first thing that you should try are cold caps. Cold caps are frozen caps that you wear on your head during the chemotherapy process and for a few hours after the chemotherapy process is done. These caps are worn very tight to the head so that they can transfer some of the coldness to your hair follicles. This coldness can help freeze the hair follicles and protect them from the chemotherapy, making them less likely to be damaged. 

There are two main types of cold caps that you can use. One is a cold cap that is frozen once and then changed every half hour with a fresh, frozen cap. The used up caps are refrozen. The second type of cold cap is one that is cooled with a gel that is continuously pumped into the cold cap. You can rent the equipment to use the cold caps until your chemotherapy is done.

2. Cut Your Hair Short

Cold caps can be expensive for many families and are often not covered by insurance. As a result, you might want to try other methods of dealing with the hair loss. One is to cut your hair short, in layers. Your hair is not going to fall out evenly from the chemotherapy, so having a short, choppy look can help disguise the fact that you are losing your hair, as well as give you a fun style. This can help you keep some of your aesthetic confidence.

3. Use Tight Bands

You can reduce blood flow to the hair follicles by tying a tight band around your head. This has been shown to slightly reduce the chances that someone will lose his or her hair during chemotherapy, but is not as effective as cold caps. Talk to your doctor about this possibility.

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in cold caps and other methods of keeping your hair during chemo.


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