How to Cope with Hair Loss Due to Chemotherapy

Hair loss is a common side effect for people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Unfortunately, chemotherapy creates a paradoxical effect of attacking rapidly multiplying unhealthy cancer cells along with rapidly growing healthy hair cells. Hair loss can occur throughout the body – head, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area, wherever hair exists. Many people undergoing treatment find this distressing or even traumatic. A systematic literature review on the impact of hair loss for breast cancer patients revealed a wide range of negative psychological reactions, including a strong sense of loss.

Cancer survivors who lose their hair experience complex losses. Hair loss identifies them to the world as a cancer patient, creating a loss of privacy to decide how to share their diagnosis and with whom. This may generate an unwelcome sense of vulnerability in work, social, and family settings.

For some women, hair loss can create a loss of feminine identity and sense of sensuality. In these instances, hair may represent womanhood, beauty, sense of worth, or identity. Hair is not “just hair that grows back.” It is an identity tied to value and self-perception, making the loss of it more significant.

Hair loss also can create a physical reminder of the lack of control cancer survivors may feel. A sense of losing control can lead to anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger, creating an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows throughout treatment. As Melissa Vogelsinger, a 13-year survivor of advanced breast cancer said, “Losing your hair sucks. I’ve never met a cancer patient that said, ‘Gee, I can’t wait to get that chemo infused look.’”

However, Vogelsinger offers a hopeful perspective regarding hair loss. She stated, “Though I know it is the granddaddy of all side effects for many, the fact is it is physically the least painful and one that almost never has lasting effects.” Finding a psychological reframe to cope with chemotherapy-induced hair loss is hard and requires resilience.

Here are some practical tips on how to cope with hair loss from Vogelsinger, a champion voice for women experiencing breast cancer in Greensboro, North Carolina. These tips are reprinted with permission from her blog documenting her personal cancer journey.

• Try to choose a wig while you have hair so you can best match your natural style and color.
• Take a friend or family member with you and try another color.
• Go nuts and go blond, or black, or red, or whatever you are not!
• Get a funky or daring haircut to try it out…if you hate it, it doesn’t matter it’s going to fall out.
• Have your head shaved when it does begin to fall out — spare yourself the hair everywhere drama.
• Have a wig shaving party… I know lots of husbands that have shaved their heads in solidarity.
• Tell younger children that your hair falling out means the medicine is working (and tell yourself this too!).
• Buy night kerchiefs to keep your head warm — you’d be surprised how your hair works as insulation for your head.
• Let people photograph you even when you think it’s a horrible idea because one day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come.
• And most importantly, remember, it’s just hair and it grows back!

Source: Melissa Vogelsinger, used with permission

Hair loss can intensify the feeling of being out of control, leading to increased anxiety and fear. Under these conditions, focusing on what is in your control can be soothing. Many of Vogelsinger’s tips are opportunities to take control of what is within your power. In reference to going through her own cancer journey, Vogelsinger shared, “I think most women rise to the challenge because they’re given no choice and the sooner they come to recognize this the less stressful this journey will be.”