Often we don’t think about how important our hair is until we face loosing it. A Cancer diagnosis is never an easy thing to hear. After the initial shock, cancer patients are then faced with many decisions, one being which type of treatment to follow. One of the most common medical treatments is Chemotherapy. For many the most feared side-effect from this Cancer treatment is hair loss.
Why do cancer patients that undergo treatment lose their hair? Chemotherapy drugs are powerful medications that attack rapidly growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs also attack other rapidly growing cells in your body — including those in your hair roots. This can lead to not only losing the hair on your scalp but sometimes also you eyelashes, armpits and public area. Fortunately, most of the time, hair loss from chemotherapy is temporary. Hair will regrow in 3 to 10 months after treatment has ended.
My latest project was to ‘CUT FOR CANCER’. As a cancer patient myself, I am blessed to still have all of my long hair. Being that I had very long, blonde ‘virgin’ (unprocessed or dyed) hair, I decided to cut it all off, and donate it to a good cause. I gave my cut off locks to the Australian Cancer Council to make a new wig for a fellow cancer fighter. With so much extra hair, that I know will grow back soon enough, I felt it was a waste just sitting on my head when I knew it would bring back a smile on someone else’s face. 🙂
