Owning a New Look
- Actress and businesswoman Jada Pinkett Scott, 49, shared that she’s shaved her head after struggling with recent hair-loss; the new look has helped her gain perspective on what’s really important in life.
- Hair loss is a common side-effect of cancer treatment, particularly during chemotherapy.
- Although hair loss is usually inevitable, using scalp cooling devices and cool caps can slow the process. Other people may opt to wear wigs, head wraps, or just embrace the bald look.
According to Smith, the decision to shave off her hair came from a little push from her singer-songwriter daughter Willow. The actress has changed her look numerous times over her career, but it seems that this hairstyle choice has made quite an impact on Smith. According to the Red Table Talk host, she’s struggled with hair loss for some time and was terrified when she would lose large amounts while in the shower. So, with a little encouragement from Willow, she decided to simply shave off her hair instead of dealing with the hair loss.
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Coping With Hair Loss During Cancer
Hair loss is a common side effect of cancer treatment, particularly during chemotherapy. For many people, this can cause a lot of emotional turmoil and a roller coaster of feelings such as anxiety and sadness. However, for those going through chemotherapy and dealing with this side-effect there are a few ways to slow the process.
Use Cooling Caps to Minimize Thinning
There is no miracle drug to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. But there are some things that do seem to slow it. One of the most common ways for people to try to slow their chemo hair loss is by a process called scalp hypothermia: using ice packs or wearing special cooling caps or cold caps before, during, and after each chemotherapy treatment. These devices slow the blood flow to follicle areas to decrease the extent of hair loss. By constricting the blood flow to the scalp, the caps limit the amount of circulating chemotherapy that reaches the hair follicles, protecting them from some of the chemo's damaging effects.
Related: Ovarian Cancer and Chemotherapy: Easing the Anxiety Over Hair Loss
Wear Temporary Cover-Ups While Waiting
Even though cooling caps can slow the process of hair loss, it’s unfortunately inevitable over time. Some women opt to have a shopping spree by purchasing scarfs, hats, head wraps, and more in order to style up their new look. Not only can retail therapy be a little uplifting, but rocking a stylish look can cause some much-needed confidence.
Dr. Renata Urban explains how to deal with hair loss during chemotherapy
Embracing The Baldness
There’s no wrong way to cope with hair-loss, and so whether you opt for cooling caps, head wraps, a wig, or just owning your new look it’s completely up to you. For some people battling cancer, they were able to embrace their hair loss with the help of their family members. This was the case for Brittany Beadle, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at just 18-years-old.
When her hair started to fall out after she began treatment, she figured she'd just go ahead and shave her hair off. Understandably this was a difficult decision for Brittany to make, but she was in for a pleasant, and heart-warming, surprise when her whole family decided to follow suit and also rock the bald look.
“When my hair started falling out, I would put my my hands through [my hair], and I would just have clumps of hair all over my pillowcase,” Brittany previously told SurvivorNet. “I’m like,’ mom, we need to shave my hair.’ After I shaved mine, she goes ‘I’m going to shave mine with you’….my brother, Jesse saw how we shaved our heads, and he’s like ‘oh no that does not look good’ because we never shaved our hair before. He’s like let me help you guys. So he took the buzzers, and he shaved both of our hair for us, and he fixed it up. Then, he’s like, ‘I’m going to do this too.’ He took the buzzers, and he shaved his head as well. So we were just a family of shaved heads.”
Breast cancer survivor Brittany Beadle explains how she owned her hair loss
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