If you are someone that has lost your hair due to chemotherapy, I thought it might be helpful to see the timeline of how my hair grew back. When I had to shave my head in March 2020, I had no idea what to expect for regrowth. All I knew was that I wanted it to come back. 

Quickly.

So, let’s take a look at how my hair grew back over time. 

Please understand that hair is an individual asset and each person will have different results.

If you haven’t read my post about the day we shaved my head, I encourage you to start there.

One thing that is often not talked about is that when you lose your hair with chemotherapy, you lose all of your hair. Eyebrows, eyelashes, all the hair on your body, it all goes! (Not shaving my legs for months was probably the silver lining of chemo. I was sad that didn’t last permanently.)

My hair stayed completely gone the entire time that I was in active chemo treatment. (I did an additional 10 months of Herceptin treatments. Those did not affect my hair loss or regrowth.)

The first sign of regrowth for me happened about 4-6 weeks after I finished my last big chemo treatment. From there, my hair seemed to grow at a pretty good pace. Sometimes it seemed like I would wake up and it had grown overnight. It was wild!

What I didn’t expect was how different my hair would be. My once crazy thick, dark, naturally curly, and coarse hair was now gray, thin, and a bit on the oily side. 

Of all the things, THAT is what I didn’t expect!

Still to this day, I haven’t had my hair cut or trimmed. It’s probably a small bit of PTSD from being bald for so long! I want to keep the hair that I have! LOL!

Another tip that I think helped with my growth being so consistent is this: My regrowth started around September 2020. I didn’t use heat on my hair AT ALL until around October of 2021. That minimized the damage and breakage. 

Don’t be afraid to try new products – shampoos, styling products, conditioners, etc. This is your NEW hair. Be sure you treat it for what it is, not what your old hair was.