And out comes my hair...with a hair-shaving poll

Wow, I'm currently going through losing my hair ... gosh, I stopped counting now how many times I've lost mine ... I've been in and out of remission and in and out of chemo treatments so many times that it becomes a blur for me ... sometimes it is the only way for me to get through it all ... as a blur. I went for a 2nd opinion in San Antonio after taking a 6 week break from chemo and I guess that was enough of a shock to my system on taxol that here we go again. My hair is still not that long since the last time I lost it and it's not the first time so emotionally speaking it's not that hard other than that I was hoping to see my hair long again. Except for the first time in which I wanted to hold onto each strand for as long as I could (and IMO I looked like a much older woman with hardly any hair left ... lol), now I shave it almost as soon as it starts falling out because it's harder on me to see it come out each day than to see it bald. I've come to love my sexy wigs and I love that when I lose my hair I also lose on the legs (so no reason to shave usually for 2 months or more) and woo hoo no need to pay for any brazilian wax either. But, I will say that sadly I lose my eyelashes and eyebrows ... the only place I don't lose my hair is on my arms. I'm hoping this time around my sweet guy will help me cut my hair ... will be a bonding moment for us.

Hugs,
~Beth~

I remember eating lunch at an outdoor restaurant with my wife and kids in Mystic Connecticut. I grabbed a fistful of hair off of my head, held it up and said, "Hey look what I can do." I was the only one laughing so I promptly purchased a shaver and became Mr. Clean.
Before then I found it eerie and disgusting leaving gobs of hair on my chair, pillow, couch, clothing.
I didn't shave my legs, but then again that's not the look I'm going for.
I was lucky that I got to keep my eye brows and lashes.
On the other hand, people kept telling me that my new hair would be thicker, but I still have the same old thin spot as before. Somethings even chemo can't fix.

Hey Sarah :) I buzzed my hair really short a week after my first chemo, and exactly 2 weeks after that chemo (when I was supposed to have my second one, but my WBC count was too low), I was sitting at the kitchen table with my mom and best friend and reached up to my head and said, "See, it's not falling out yet!" and grabbed a huge handful of hair, which completely shocked me. I think it finally seemed real though because I could see the physical effects on my body (my first chemo wasn't bad, like we talked about, I was just really groggy). I sat on our porch and cried for a little while after that. Unfortunately, I did still have to shave, but just not as often. Doesn't seem fair, does it? :) Lose your head hair but everything else stays!

Yeah, losing my hair is kind of freaking me out, but not as bad as I thought it would, consider how much I love my hair. I am not trying to brag (and even if I was I think I'm allowed a little bit of bragging, since I'll be bald soon anyway), but I have fabulous hair. Pretty much every one who's ever met me wants my hair. It's a golden strawberry blonde color, like 4 or 5 different colors at once, and it is thick and slightly wavy. My hairdresser and my mother both always say that I have enough hair for two heads, creepy as that sounds it's probably right (this has also caused great consternation in my life, and very often, I have hated what I call my albino Aboriginal Bushman hair).

Up until June, it reached all the way down to the small of my back. Right before my sister's wedding, I got about 8 inches cut off, so it came to just at my shoulders, and I lost half a pound of weight- that's how much hair I have. I would have gotten it shorter, but we had to pull it up for the wedding. My hair is such a huge part of my identity that I wanted to be in control of how long or short it was, so I decided to hack it off in stages. So, I'm done bragging now. I plan on doing on Ode to My Hair on my skirt.com blog later today, so maybe I'll brag a little their, too, whilst their's still something to brag about. :)

Another question for the group- for those of you who had long hair and shaved it, did you cut some of it first, or just shave off the long strands? I trust my husband, but I don't want to look like I just escape from a mental ward with a weed whacker haircut, either!

I just realized I totally wrote my there's wrong above and put their's, which is appalling as I am a grammar/spelling/syntax freak. Sigh. Here's to chemo brain.

I shaved the day I could pull out a substantial amount of hair---here are the pics from that evening (notice the glass of wine in hand!). We waited until my husband got home from work---he has shaved his head for years and couldn't wait for me to experience the freedom of a bald head!

I'm not going to tell you that it's no big deal, because everyone takes things differently. I can just say that it was not as bad as I thought, and I wore awesome scarves, and I even conducted a scarf-styling session in the chemo room!

Take care,
Lesley

How did I forget? When I had my hair cut off, I donated it to Locks for Love... For wigs for cancer patients who are children. I hope someone is enjoying it. I miss it.

I did the same thing, and it made me feel really good--helped me to see the big picture :)

I shave it all off as soon as it started to come out. I first put it into cute braids and said goodbye, then nurse Rob shaved it and called me mini-me because he's bald too.

It was a good experience.

It's now officially gone. Thank you so much for sharing your stories. I really think they helped me prepare mentally, because shaving it didn't freak me out at all. Really, it was almost disappointingly anti-climactic, which is a good thing. And it feels AWESOME! I can't stop touching my slightly stubbly head!