Hair Regrowth

I had my last chemo on March 7, 2014.  Like every other patient who has lost their hair, I began scouring the internet to find out how long it took for hair to begin appearing after the last chemo.  I wanted to know what was a reasonable expectation.  I couldn't find a lot, so I thought I would document my hair growth; and perhaps, it would help someone who is looking like I did.

1 Month Since Last Chemo (April 7, 2014) 

• My Head:  I could feel more stubble on my head.  However, it's coming in blonde; and it isn't very visible.  My hair was dark brown, so seeing blonde peach fuzz on my head isn't too encouraging.  
• My Eyebrows:  I'm still drawing in my eyebrows, and no visible hairs so far.  
• My Eyelashes:  I have eyelashes poking through!  I only noticed it while putting eyeliner on my top lid (I have been lining my top lid heavily to hide the fact that I don't have eyelashes).  They are barely there, but they are definitely growing!
• Body Hair:  I still don't have any hair growing on my legs, pubic area, or under my arms.  I'm okay with this though!

1 Month & 1 Week Since Last Chemo (April 17, 2014)

• My Head:  My hair on my head still feels the same to me.  I look every day to see if it's growing or gaining color, but so far, I don't see it.  
• My Eyebrows:  I can feel eyebrows and you can see it!   Last night, I was washing my face, and I had what looked like dirt smudged in my eyebrow area.  When I tried to wipe it off, I realized it was my eyebrows coming in.  I was so excited to see the beginning of my eyebrows coming back I almost cried.  My eyebrows are dark brown as they were before.  It currently looks like a "5 O'Clock Shadow".  
• My Eyelashes:  My eyelashes continue to grow!  I am seeing more and more hairs as they thicken up and continue to grow.  They are not as dark as my former lashes so far.  They are almost blonde like the hair on my head.  I can put mascara on them when they get longer, so the color doesn't matter to me at this point.  I'm just happy to see eyelashes!
• Body Hair:  I still don't have any hair growing on my legs, pubic area, or under my arms.  I'm okay with this though!

5 Months Since Last Chemo (August 7, 2014)
I am way behind updating this portion of my blog, and to all my readers, I apologize.  I KNOW this is a topic I looked for guidelines on what to expect for hair growth, so I'm kicking myself for not keeping up with this a little better.  I'm going to attempt to catch up via this one update to include photo documentation, which I HAVE kept up with!

• My Head:  I began seeing very noticeable and unmistakable hair on my head near the end of April and beginning of May.  One more came in, it was actually very dark.  I'm not sure why it seemed blonde at first, but the more that came in, the darker it was.  It's now barely over an inch long after 5 months of growth.  It's longer on top than it is on the sides, and I don't have an inch of "bangs" yet. I take Biotin to encourage growth plus I use the Nioxin shampoo and Conditioner, which you can get at any salon.  This is for thinning hair, but it also works great to encourage growth for chemo patients.  It's a little pricey, but worth it. 
• My Eyebrows:  As I stated above, I began seeing my eyebrows coming in a month after chemo ended.  Within a month of them starting to grow, they were pretty much back, but they were not as thick or as filled in as they had been prior to chemo.  I don't mind filling them in when I have my real eyebrows to guide me regarding my natural shape though.  It's very hard to draw eyebrows on a blank canvas and get them to look natural.  Now for the bad news--about a month ago (4 months after chemo), I began noticing it seemed my eyebrows were thinning again.  Especially my left eyebrow.  At first, I felt like I was imagining things, but a month later, I now know I wasn't.  New and much fuller (more like my eyebrows before chemo) eyebrows are growing in now.  The left side is still a little behind the right, but it's not bad.  I just use eyebrow filler, and don't even notice it. 
•  My Eyelashes:  My eyelashes were just barely long enough to start putting mascara on about 2 months after my last chemo.  They weren't very long, but I was just happy to have something.  They seemed to grow out quickly, and they were pretty long.  Longer than I remember my former lashes?  They got darker as they thickened up.  However, as with my eyebrows, I began noticing them thinning out or even falling out again over the past month or so.  New eyelashes were growing in as I was slowly losing what first grew, so it's not like I was completely without eyelashes.  My eyelashes on my right side are worse than my left.  I had read somewhere that some chemo patients lose their eyelashes and eyebrows a second time if they come in right away after chemo, which is exactly what happened to me, but it really wasn't traumatic.  It was a gradual process as new was coming in, so it's been bearable. 
• Body Hair:  Not longer after my last update at one month post chemo, the body hair came back full force.  I wish the hair on my head grew as fast as the hair on my legs and other "regions" on my body.  I would have long hair already!  I'm back to shaving every single day of my life.  I also want to point out that do not be alarmed when you see peach fuzz on your face after chemo.  I promise it was always there.  It just becomes very noticeable when it's growing back in.  I feel like the hair on my arms (blonde and "invisible") is back to normal now.