My grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer. It is always a horrible and scary thing. She has been undergoing chemotherapy and has lost most of her hair. My grandmother has always had beautiful curly hair and it is so sad to see her wearing a wig or hats. Seeing her hair falling out in clumps and made me wonder why hair falls out during chemo treatments, so I decided to look into it.
Chemotherapy is the administration of drugs that destroy the rapidly growing cancer cells. But, the kicker is that hair and nails are also rapidly reproducing. Chemotherapy drugs are poisonous to the cells of the hair root responsible for hair shaft formation. Usually, the hair is lost rapidly in large quantities during treatment. And what is sad, is that no hair growth stimulants, shampoos, or cosmetic treatments can stop the hair loss. What’s good though is that once the treatments have stopped, the hair usually grows back. When it grows back the hair can be a different texture and color at first until the hair shaft cells return to normal. After I found this out, it made me hopeful that my grandmother’s beautiful curls will return and that she will still be as beautiful as she always is.