MY LIFE Matters: Health and Wellness Issue - 14

Health COLD CAPPING
IT'S
NOT
JUST
HAIR
BY CLAIRE PAXMAN
M
14
y Mum was diagnosed
with breast cancer at the
age of 36 when I was just
14 years old, and I had no
idea at the time how her
experience going through chemotherapy
and hair loss would go on to shape my life
and that of my family's.
Hair plays such an important role in
self-identity. Those strands that grow from
our scalp are intertwined with our cultural
identities, sexuality, youth, gender identity,
feelings, confidence, and moods-hair is
an external way of sharing our internal
selves. And yet, so often, when faced with
a cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy
treatment, newly diagnosed individuals
are told- " it's just hair, it will grow back. "
There is a brilliant line in the BBC series
Fleabag, where one of the characters has
a haircut that she hates. The hairdresser,
when pushed, responds " Hair isn't everything. "
The entire salon full of women turn
MY LIFE MATTERS
HEALTH AND WELLNESS ISSUE SPRING 2023
around completely scandalised, and Fleabag
replies, " Hair is everything. We wish
it wasn't so we could actually think about
something else occasionally, but it is. "
Of course, when faced with a cancer
diagnosis there are many challenges and
questions that engulf you, and on that
long horrendous list-from the outside at
least-hair may not seem that important.
However, hair loss is constantly cited as
one of the top three greatest concerns for
people facing chemotherapy, so much so
that an estimated 12 percent of people
refuse chemotherapy treatment outright
due to the fear of losing their hair.
For my Mum, Sue, an incredibly strong,
funny, and dynamic woman, and mother
of four, losing her signature curly hair was
the first time in her cancer journey where
she cried. It was the first time she truly felt
and looked like a cancer patient, and it was
difficult for her to not feel defeated. She
had been offered the use of a rudimentary
scalp cooling system at the local hospital
where she was treated-the principal being
that by reducing the temperature of
the scalp, the follicles would be protected
from the chemotherapy drugs and my
Mum's hair wouldn't fall out. The theory
was sound, but the system didn't work.
Two weeks after her first chemotherapy
MY LIFE Matters: Health and Wellness Issue

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