I had six rounds of taxotere in the fall of 2015. My hair is coming in completely normal. Good luck!

I also had 6 rounds of Taxotere. My hair did grow back, but I don't have as much of it as I did before treatment. Of course, I have no idea if this was caused by Taxotere or just age related hair thinning. Losing my hair was what I dreaded the most. I am glad that I never knew that permanent hair loss was a possibility. Good luck. Take care.

I had 6 rounds of Taxotere, Carboplatin and a year of Herceptin. The hair on my head came back fine, only 2/3 of my eyebrows returned and my left eye has less lashes than the right. I had to have my dose of Taxotere reduced by 20% because I had horrible diarrhea. My hair initially grew back frizzy and I had a bald spot in front but it all eventually returned to normal.

my daughter had both cytoxin and taxotere about 6+ yrs ago, she was only 32 yrs old at the time,,, she has trouble with her hair still today,, spots are thin,, spots have no hair,, Before any cancer, any chemo, any radiation, she had a full head of hair! lots of it.. she has tried every product out there to get her hair to grow,, not happening.. she just keeps it short,,
Good Luck to all,,
Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh, how I wish I could tell you that there is a fool-proof, fully accessible, and easily afforded way to make sure we all don't lose our hair during chemo, but nothing has come out for us that I know of. :( Yes, there are ice caps; however, they're expensive, and not all chemo bays offer them. I had 6 infusions of TC chemo as well, rounds 2 through 6 reduced due to neutropenia after the first one. The worst of my hair loss happened after my first infusion but didn't continue after the reduced ones. I didn't lose all my hair, but I lost enough of it that I needed a wig. I had "baby fuzz" during my entire time on chemo and experienced hair growth once it was over. My hair came back pretty much the same as it was before cancer; however, I don't wear it long anymore. I am sure glad I didn't hear how Taxotere could cause permanent hair loss while I was going through chemo; I was an emotional wreck at that time, and losing my hair was the most traumatic part of chemo for me. Did you ask your doctor about the chances of hair loss being permanent? I know most of us did grow our hair back, and I hope you are going to be one of those. Happy Thanksgiving! :) HUGS and God bless!

I had four rounds of cytoxin and Taxotere. My hair is a little thinner. It came back curly for awhile. Now it was is pretty much back to normal. Good luck to you:)

I had Taxotere almost 2 years ago and have very, very thin hair on top which is were I had very thick hair before. I would wear the cold caps and ask about getting Taxol, if I had known.

I had six rounds of taxotere and cytoxin and, yes, my hair fell out. At the two week mark after the first treatment, it starting falling out in clumps, so I had my head shaved and wore hats. My hair grew back just fine. I credit these two drugs with saving my life. There is nothing easy about the process, but now it's behind me. I wish you well.

I had four rounds of cytoxin and taxotere. My oncologist did warn me about permanent hair loss. I was lucky- my hair came back. I would ask about the ice cap. Best of luck!

To everyone who was kind enough to respond. Thank you. It seems the majority had hair growth return which makes me feel better, but I plan to call my oncologist today and see if there is an alternate chemo he can give me, and if there isn't, at least I now have hope there is a chance my hair will return. God bless all of you. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I had Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta. My hair has come back pretty much as it was before chemo, perhaps a little thinner, but I already had some "age thinning" starting. I have heard that using Nioxin hair products as your hair is coming back in post chemo can be helpful. I didn't do that. I see the ads on the internet and TV about Taxotere hair loss, but I think you have to take that with a grain of salt and also realize that the benefits of the drug far outweigh the potential of hair not growing back. As an FYI, I do hope that you have had a port installed - that will make chemo so much easier on you and it can be used by the oncology/infusion nurses for those blood draws that you have every time you get chemo. I have smaller veins and IV's are always stressful. The port removed that entire level of stress for me and saves your veins.

Jouska: I agree with you about which outways what, but if there is any chance another chemo drug is just as effective as Taxotere, and doesn't have permanent hair loss associated with it, naturally I'll go with it. Calling the dr. this am to find out. Also, my port is being put in this Saturday because the one vein I have in my left arm for drawing blood is very difficult at times. Thanks for responding. I appreciate it.

I just finished 16 rounds of Adriamycin, Cytoxin, Taxotere, and Carboplatin in September. My hair is coming back in very nicely and evenly, in fact, in a couple of weeks I'm planning on ditching my hats as I should have nice compete coverage.

Good Luck with your treatments!

Mom2Twins: That's wonderful to know. Thanks for letting me know. That's more hope for me. Congratulations on finishing those 16 rounds. God bless you.

I had Taxotere. I eventually lost most of my hair, including eyebrows & lashes. My head hair came back as did brows & lashes, but the hair on my arms & legs never really came back. It also did a number on my nails which are permanently damaged. It is potent stuff... caused my gallbladder to quit functioning and thyroid issues. I guess if that is what it takes... I'm still here. Good Luck!

I also had Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin. I did lose my hair, however, it has come back just curly. I chose the best known to work chemo for my cancer. I would have been unhappy if I would have had that rare side effect of it not coming back, but I still would choose the best treatment and deal with the after effects later. I wish you the very best in your journey.

Glad you are still around too. I realize everyone experiences different side affects, but I will mention yours to my dr. when I talk with him. In what way were your nails permenantly damaged?

mdybas: "I still would choose the best treatment and deal with the after effects later."....That is something to think about....thanks.

I had 11 rounds of taxotere, 4 rounds of adramycin and cytoxin and lost every bit of hair on my body. It has all come back - started coming back as soon as I was done with taxotere. It came back curly and thick. I then 11 months later had 8 rounds of gemcitibine and carboplatin - lost my hair again and it came back, it's growing in slower and is fine and a bit thinner now. But eyelashes, eyebrows, etc. are all back.

cswwhatnext: Thanks for the reassurance. I am so so glad I have this site to come to during this scary journey.

When my hair started growing back, I regained my eyelashes and thinner body hair, but the hair on my head was the same as it was before. The one permanent change is my eyebrows, once thick like my dad's, are now thin like my mom's and have been since my hair started growing back 3 years ago. The way I see it is I no longer have to tweeze my brows anymore. :) HUGS and God bless!

Hi, I had 6 rounds back in 2004. I did lose my hair during, but it started growing right back after i stopped and i have just as much hair as I ever did. I have seen the ads about permanent hair loss, but i can also tell you that my doctor thought i might NOT lose it. In fact, there was another woman having treatments at the same time i did, and she only experienced some thinning. My doctor told me she thought it was related to metabolism.

I had 6 rounds of Taxotere and Carboplatin in 2010, and my hair grew back thicker than ever.

Hi everyone who has reponded: I spoke with my doctor and he said that I was the second person who asked him about Taxolere. He told me there is allot of miss-information about permanent hair loss circulating with use of this drug and in the 40 years he has been prescribing it to patients, not one of them had permanent hair loss, so this comes as a welcomed relief as well.

I had 4 tx's of both taxotere & cytoxcin 4 yrs ago and my hair grew back. It's thinner today as is my eye brows & body hair but that's from the femara now. I'm sure there must be people out there or there would be no lawsuit but I've never heard of anyone. Good luck with your treatment!

debra223: Thanks for responding. I am less concerned about permanent hair loss thanks to all the responses I received. I picked up a prescription of Dexamethasone 4 mg. the doctor wants me to take the day before, day of and day after I receive each chemo treatment. I think it's for reducing nausea/vomiting side effects and I pray it works.

The dexamethadone worked for me except one time when I stopped taking it too soon. It took about 4 days for me before the nausea passed.

msesq: Thanks for the heads up on it. I noticed there were 3 extra pills in the bottle. They are probably ment for tapering off the medication.

My hair came back within 3 months of finishing the Cytoxcin and Taxotere, albeit blacjk and gray instead of golden red. I fixed that with hair color! Eyebrows stayed very thin.

Thanks Cheygrl for responding. Also, I was wondering how quickly the hair starts falling out after beginning treatment. I want to be prepared as much as possible.

Before I started treatment, I had my long hair cut short to help reduce the weight of it. I started losing it badly 2 days after my second treatment. Then, I just had my husband shave the rest. It was a Saturday, and I didn't want to have it get worse on a weekday and have to go to work looking a mess. You will know what feels right for you. Take care.

Mine started falling out about 2 weeks after my first chemo. I went ahead and had my head shaved just before my 2nd treatment as it was coming out by the handfuls when I shampooed or brushed it. Eyebrows took a little longer to fall out. My eyelashes got short, but never completely went away. I loved the lack of leg and underarm hair to be honest. And showering was so easy without hair to shampoo. I wore caps and kind of a skullcap/turban thing. At home I usually didn't put anything on my head, unless I got cold. I tried scarves but wasn't very good at getting them to stay put.

And this may sound silly, but bald or very very short hair helps your eyes really look big. I had fun with eye makeup when I didn't have hair and when it was first growing back in.

Beachbum & Jouska, your input is helpful. Okay, I'm ready for it.

Kurious, I'll add one more bit of information. When I went for my first chemo I was convinced that it would be like pouring acid in my veins. It wasn't. Some of them have a funny smell or are a bit cold, but honestly it was mostly like getting any IV. They will wait between each drug to make sure you don't have a reaction. You will probably also get IV benadryl and some sort of steriod (pill form). What I did not anticipate was the feeling of your body, which probably to all intent and purpose is a very healthy body except for this pesky breast cancer problem. I remember telling the nurse a few days later that I just didn't feel very good. She laughed and said, you won't, you just had chemo. The nurses are fabulous and can give you all sorts of tips, tricks and insights. It is not anything anyone can really prepare you for because you pretty much have to experience to understand it. You can and you will survive this. Wishing you the very best.

Jouska: well in that case I better get as much decorating done now for Christmas. I am really entering unknown territory! I will reflect back to your post when I get that feeling. Thanks.