Will chemotherapy make all my hair fall out? What can I do about it?
A lot of chemotherapy will make your hair fall out. This is because your hair follicles are constantly growing and producing new hair, which replaces old hair. This is a normal cycle. Chemotherapy agents can damage the hair follicles, which are made of rapidly dividing cells, and then there is no new hair to replace old hair.
The hair may fall out, often in clumps, when you are washing or brushing your hair. It does not happen to everyone and it does not happen with every drug. Some people lose only hair on their head, others lose hair all over including the eyebrows. The loss of hair usually begins about two weeks after beginning treatment.
The hair loss is not permanent. After you finish your chemotherapy, your hair will grow back.
Sometimes it even starts to grow back before you finish treatment.
There are also strategies you can employ to cope with the hair loss. Some people, men probably more than women, just buzz off all their hair at the first sign that hair loss is starting, and keep it like that until it all starts to grow in again.
If you want to try and preserve your hair, you must be as gentle as you can with it, avoiding pulling on it when brushing and styling, trying not to use heat on it. Sometimes these measures will help.
See: Alopecia
Women can wear wigs. Men and women can wear scarves or hats. What you choose to do will depend on what seems easiest for you and how you think you will look best.
The American Cancer Society and many other agencies can help with ideas about wigs and how to get them.