Hair before and after tale :)

I wanted to post this to all those people pre-ops or newly switched. I am going to tell you my experience with the hair 'issue' but I do want to say that every one is different :)

Pre-op I had long beautiful, dark, thick, curly hair. I even won 'Best Hair' in high school *cheer* lol I knew that after my surgery the chances of me losing a lot of hair was high. So before surgery I cut my hair pretty short (11 inches off) and made a nice A-line cut. I also bought very good products for my hair, not because I thought I could stop the loss of my hair but because I wanted whatever hair was left to be SUPER healthy. So I bought some Pureology hydrating shampoo and conditioner (very expensive but you use only a little bit at a time and it lasts a long time) and I bought Argon oil & Moroccan oil, bought a conditioning blow dryer too. I have always pampered my hair but I definitely pamper it really bad now lol

Anyways when 4 months post op came around I started losing my hair :( My brush and drain were always full, I had to mentally tell myself it was going to stop and that it is 'just hair'. So after a few months of losing my lovely hair it started to slow down around month 6/7. The normal person could not tell but I could definitely tell where I had lost it. It was bad up by my forehead and on top. I just kept taking care of it and giving it as much volume tricks I could.

Now 12 months out my hair is the best condition it has ever been in! It is so soft and healthy! I have TONS of new growth coming back. Baby hairs everywhere! They are a bit annoying when your trying to style but I don't get to bothered because I know my hair is coming back! My new growth is close to 3 inches long already and my total length of my hair is just about the middle of my shoulder blades. My hair is growing FAST!  

So a reminder to all you :) 'it's just hair' and this is temporary, good luck!

This is good to know 'cuz I'm kinda freaked out about mine right now.  I could knit a cat with what's in the bottom of the tub every morning.  Fortunately, the only people who have been able to really tell are me and my hair chick.

Just remember keep it with layers, short and dark. I heard this is the best for hiding thinner hair. If you get to a point you are very very unhappy, then get some cute cute hats:)

That's the cut I have right now...short, layered, and flippy.  Fortunately, it was REALLY thick before, so I'm hoping maybe I'll just end up with a "normal" amount.

i have noticed hair loss 5 1/2 years post op. just bought some biotin mix...hope it works! i do need a new shampoo and conditioiner..i wil check online for the pureogly line. thanks for the tip

I have heard different things about this, and was curious if you found that you were lacking a vitamin...or was there a supplement that you took to help? I have fairly thin hair now, and am really worried about losing too much!!! I already use very good products, but didn't know about any supplements you might have taken.

Pretty much any time you have major surgery/trauma you will lose hair.  The hair loss has nothing to do with the DS, it's from the surgery.  My sister and I both have crappy hair.  I didn't lose any more after surgery but my sister was almost bald!

Over the years I have tried every expensive product on the market to grow hair and thicken up what little I had.  You name it, I tried it.  For the first time, I have actually found something that is working.  My hair is better today than it's been for the last 20 years and in the big scheme of things, it's cheap.  I'm using Fall Fighter shampoo and conditioner by Garnier.  It took about 8 weeks to make a noticeable difference.  I probably noticed at 6 weeks but now other people are noticing too.

The product's active ingredients are biotin(b vite) and caffeine to stimulate blood flow to the scalp.  I figured it couldn't hurt me!  And it's actually working!

everyone thinks I m crazy when I say this, or that I'm a dirty hippy, but doing this for a couple of month out of the year really helps your scalp, which I think is really more important than the actual hair itself.  A healthy scalp makes for healthy hair. 

Anyway, for the "shampoo" you take baking soda and make a paste with water, nice and thick, and you rub it into your scalp.  It takes care of dead skin as a mild exfoliant and pulls out all the ick. Rinse it out.  For the conditioner, you mix 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to one cup of water and make sure to pay attention to getting it into your actual hair, not so much on the scalp.  Rinse it out well.  The smell is annoying, but I'm dead serious when I say that no one will notice it but you.  Don't put anything else in your hair, let it air dry and style.  I live by this stuff.  My hair never has frizzies, and it even took care of my dandruff.  It was super soft and shiny.  Totally worth trying :)

I like this idea - I think I'll try it soon.  Baking soda and apple cider vinegar are both ingredients I use in a lot of household cleaning products!