Saturday 15 June 2013

Colouring hair after chemotherapy

I had 6 cycles of FEC-T.  My chemo hair is mainly white with some black bands starting to come through.  I love getting my hair back, but no so keen on the colour.

I did some internet research on colouring your hair after chemo.  Most articles recommend waiting 6 months or more, but I couldn't find the basis for this recommendation.  It seemed as if the same recommendation was going round and round various forums, but no one knew where it originally came from.

I also read various recommendations in forums and websites recommending the use of "natural" or "organic" hair dyes because they were "safer" for chemo hair regrowth.  On closer inspection the main ingredients in these products didn't seem very different from regular brand hair dyes in Boots or Superdrug costing a fraction of the price of the "natural" or "vegetable" dyes.

According to review of  these "natural" hair dyes in Choice (Australian equivalent of Which?), many "still contain plenty of chemicals, including the main allergy culprits".  This article concluded that "The addition of certified organic ingredients and other plant extracts doesn't mean it's any better for your health".

I have just started colouring my hair - at 3 months because I really couldn't wait any longer.

I am using a Level 1 hair colourant  (lasts 6 to 8 washes) I bought in Superdrug (NiceNEasy). Unlike longer lasting hair dyes, these temporary hair dyes typically don't contain peroxide, ammonia or chemicals such as PPDs and PTDs and their derivatives.  Given that chemo regrowth does tend to be finer and softer, I thought temporary (but mainstream) hair colour would be a reasonable choice.

Beige Blonde certainly looks much nicer than  Chemo White - I'll have to see how long it lasts though.....

The progress of my hair regrowth along with my hair colouring "experiments" are recorded in a series of photographs with descriptions here.

1 comment:

  1. maggie.danhakl@healthline.com18 April 2014 at 00:50

    Hi Penny,

    Healthline just designed a virtual guide of the effects of chemotherapy on the body. You can see the infographic here: http://www.healthline.com/health/cancer/effects-on-body

    This is valuable med-reviewed information that can help a person understand the side effects they are experiencing from their chemo treatment. I thought this would be of interest to your audience, and I’m writing to see if you would include this as a resource on your page: http://iameclectica.blogspot.com/2013/06/colouring-hair-after-chemotherapy.html

    If you do not believe this would be a good fit for a resource on your site, even sharing this on your social communities would be a great alternative to help get the word out.

    Thanks so much for taking the time to review. Please let me know your thoughts and if I can answer any questions for you.

    All the best,
    Maggie Danhakl • Assistant Marketing Manager
    p: 415-281-3124 f: 415-281-3199

    Healthline • The Power of Intelligent Health
    660 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
    www.healthline.com | @Healthline | @HealthlineCorp

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