WE DON'T JUST TRANSFORM WOMEN'S HAIR LOSS WE CHANGE LIVES Victoria's Breast Cancer Story
“I never wanted to be the one who looked sick”
“I started thinking about hair loss on day one, on the day I got my diagnosis, and the word chemo was like a kick to the stomach.”
I remember the day of my diagnosis vividly. My Mum and I sat down, and the consultant said, “I am really sorry that I gave you false hope before, but it is cancer”.
My Mum just fell away and I just looked at her because it was the first time they had said the word cancer to me. The consultant was talking us through everything and said, “you’ve got cancer” and I dealt with that fine. Then she said, “the likelihood is you will need to have a mastectomy because the tumour is almost the size of your whole breast, we will need to take it away”. And I was fine with that.
But when she said the word chemotherapy, that was when it was like a kick to the stomach to me.
The whole way through chemo the worst part of it for me was the hair loss.
When I thought about someone having chemo, I thought of someone lying in bed, they are grey, they look ill and they have got no hair. The thought of losing my hair and feeling like that was the scariest thing for me. The whole way through chemotherapy the worst part of it was the hair loss. There are hundreds of side effects people don’t talk about and some of them are really bad but for me hair loss was by far the worst.
From day one, before my hair even started falling out it was the one side effect I thought about. And soon, waking up to find clumps of hair on my pillow was the harsh reality of cancer treatment.
Thankfully my friend found something that proved to be a solution to my hair loss.
About halfway through my treatment, just as I was preparing to shave my head because I couldn’t cope with my hair any longer, my friend found Hair Solved. I was so grateful when she sent me a link so I could look at the solution for myself.
I have never been a vain person.
I can go out of the house without a stitch of makeup on and I don’t really care. But I washed my hair every day, probably brushed it thirty times a day, I didn’t have to blow dry it or straighten it because it was straight, and I had always had compliments on it. My hair had always been good, healthy hair and had always looked nice.
As much as I am not vain and my hair was low maintenance, my hair was a big thing to me. Although I had never thought about hair loss before my diagnosis it was the one thing that shocked me. It was a lot for me to deal with. Before I started chemotherapy, I got my hairdresser to cut it for me from a long to a shoulder length bob. That was a big step for me because I had never had my hair that short.
Then before the end of chemo he cut it from the shoulder length bob to a short crop. I wish I had done that so much earlier because my hair felt so much healthier and easier to manage. But I kept the length in it for as long as I could because long hair was me.
I just didn’t know myself with short hair and with the Enhancer System I feel like me.
The Enhancer System helps me look like the ‘old me’.
Not long after I had my system fitted, I attended a meeting at work. Before the system, I would never have been able to go and meet my work colleagues and walk into a room with 80 people without any hair or wearing a hat. Whereas with the hair system I could feel myself and everyone said I looked just like me there was no difference. I felt I could really enjoy that meeting being carefree almost forgetting about cancer for two days.
I am often asked what is the best thing about the Enhancer System?
To put it simply it is as much like my own hair as you can possibly get.
I can’t wear the system in a high ponytail and I have to try to remember not to play with it all the time! But I wear it down most of the time and I can wear it in a low ponytail which is great.
There are some massive benefits especially as I don’t have to wash it every day. My own hair was so thin it was greasy all the time, so I had to wash it frequently. I wash my system once a week. Also, if you curl it, the curls really last, up to a week or until you wash it again. It really keeps its style whereas my own hair would last a day.
It is a little bit tight when you have it adjusted but then you know it is secure. Everyone I have told said you would never know it isn’t my hair and that it looks amazing and not like a wig at all.
I never wanted to be the one who looked sick.
I never wanted to go out for dinner with my girlfriends and be the one sat at the table with people thinking “oh look she is ill”. Now I can be sat at a table of ten girls and I just look like one of them I don’t stand out in any way.
My breast cancer journey isn’t over yet and I have radiotherapy and more surgeries planned, but I am positive and confident and looking forward to returning to work.
I hope you will follow me on Instagram at vicsbreastcancerstory and Hair Solved on their Instagram . So that you can read more about my experience of breast cancer and of course my beautiful hair system.
Read more about Cancer and Hair Loss and how our team can help you.