Chemo took my hair, but here’s what I did. If you’re new here, my name is Sabrina Skiles, I have breast cancer and I just finished chemo. Wow. I can’t believe I get to write that. I honestly couldn’t imagine saying that when I heard I needed chemo almost seven months ago. The end just seemed so far away. But here I am, as surreal as it seems.

Something else you should know: Like a lot of people, I lost my hair during chemo. I will be honest—I’m not one of those women who feels liberated and free with her head shaved. I have had long hair for the past 10+ years. I loved my long hair. You almost never saw me with my hair up. That was for two reasons. One, I just liked the way I felt with my hair down: confident, free and beautiful. Two, I have psoriasis along my scalp line and in my ears, and I was self-conscious about that.

So coming to grips with losing my hair was superficially upsetting on one level, but deeply personal on another. It was my hair. And chemo took it. Here’s what I did about it.

Letting It Go

I started chemo on September 24. Almost exactly two weeks later, my hair started falling out. And it didn’t happen in clumps. Instead, it slowly started falling out, strand after strand. I would see some on my pillow and continuously throughout the day, which was heartbreaking. This was it. It was actually happening.

Make sure to read the rest over at HealthCentral.com Tales From The Chemo Chair: Chemo Took My Hair. Here’s What I Did.

Don’t forget to check out The Day I Found Out I Had Breast Cancer or The Day I Found Out I Need Chemo or The Top 9 Things That Helped Me During My Breast Cancer