Post-chemo hair growth

Well dammit. Apparently this post actually posted last night before I had a chance to write it.  I'm sorry that you all logged on and just saw some random pictures with no explanation.  I had loaded the pictures and intended to describe them later and then obviously something went wrong and my post settings were impaired.

ANYWAY.

This was me on May 31st, getting my last chemo treatment.  There was light coming in the window behind me so my head is rather glowing but you can kind-of tell that I'm totally bald.

The next day, June 1st, we had family pictures taken.  One of these days I'll post all of those.  You can better see how shiny bald I was.  I lost all of my hair.  All of it.  Head hair, nose hair, arm hair, leg hair, armpit hair, pubic hair.  I was hairless.  Eventually, about six weeks after I finished chemo, my eyelashes and eyebrows came out too, but they were still holding on in this picture. 

I started using a capillus laser cap on June 4th. 

Here's some information from National Hair Loss, which is the company I bought the cap through. 

National Hair Loss introduces a new approach to recovering hair after the devastating effects of chemotherapy. The organization now offers non-surgical laser therapy through Capillus®, a leading medical device manufacturer located in Miami, Florida.

“Women have 2 questions when they find out they have cancer,” says company founder, Carly Klein. “The first is, ‘Am I going to live?’ The second is, “Will I lose my hair?’”

Recognizing that hair plays a critical role in establishing hope and self-image, National Hair Loss specializes in creating personalized hair recovery programs for men and women battling various forms of alopecia and chemo-induced hair loss. Non-surgical and drug-free, Capillus® laser therapy products play a vital role in the process.    

“We use the Capillus272™ Pro in a multitude of ways,” Klein explains. “One way is to help cancer patients rejuvenate their hair loss. In our experience, laser hair therapy has been able to speed hair growth up to 50% in some cases, taking half the time to get your hair back.”

This is me on June 4th using the cap for the first time. 

We actually took these pictures first so that they would be accurate. 

These are pre-laser cap treatment, official "before" pictures.

June 4

Then a month later on July 4

August 4

September 4, with a faux hawk, the day before I turned 40.

October 4, with ribbons added for breast cancer awareness month.

Here's the June to October front comparison

June to October back comparison.

June to October top comparison.

And you had best believe I will be doing monthly comparisons for something like two years with an epic grid at the end.