Can chemo actually make your hair curly?

[mohadese]

No matter the reason, you ROCK this hair lol. It really suits your face.

[Rockapella]

My mom is 10+ years cancer free. She had curly-ish hair before chemo and super curly hair after chemo. Recently, half of her hair started growing in straight, but the other half is still curly. Literally half and half (following her part). Super weird.

[Whenevember]

I'm happy you pissed out all the cancer, we love to have you here.

[emilyboulter]

I had chemo straight hair! My hair is normally curly and it came in straight. I’ve just started getting my curls back 5 years later

[TheMunchkinita]

I have a friend that went through chemo at the same time Hank did and her normally pin straight hair came back super curly. She loves it! I hope that it stays that way since she likes it so much 😁

[ElicBehexan]

I worked with a lady who had gone through 2 separate chemo events. I mean, she had cancer, twice, well, three times actually, but the last was a mild sort of skin cancer. Anyway, and this was before I worked with her, but after the first time her hair came back curly. It stayed curly until she had to go through chemo the second time and it came back really straight, which it hadn't been before any of the chemos.

[ARockerNamedKristin]

Change in orientation of the hair follicle makes it easier for disulfide bonds to form in the hair! These bonds make hair curl it's all about protein structure.

[LikelyToBeEatenByAGrue]

There's always perms. Or you could get teeny tiny curlers.

[TinasArtPage]

Very true! I used to have super thin stick straight hair as a kid (in 3rd grade got a perm to have a bit of a beach wave) and then got cancer in 6th grade…. Went through chemo and came out with hair that’s between 2a and 2b with a lot more texture than I ever had before chemo…. I now have to actively work to straighten my hair when I want a sleek style but I love to just throw some mousse and watered down gel in my hair and let it set up the curl then scrunch out the stiffness and enjoy the curls I always envied on others as a kiddo!

[cosmoplakat]

Chemo curl is real! I just got my first haircut nearly 2 years after completing chemo (carbo/taxol)! It was also the stylist's first time cutting chemo curl hair, and she did a wonderful job! I still have about another inch of curl to get rid of, probably around the end of September. I was also told the cells aren't sure which way to go at first, as there aren't any existing cells ahead of them "in line" to follow. ❤

[Druidofthemarsh]

When my hair came back the very tip of each strand was gray.

[GinBunny]

I'm impressed that you can not only research and present material so clearly, but also remember years later!

[chaosstatus]

My hairdresser was telling me about how curl patterns change depending on your hormones, and chemo causes a huge change to your hormones so I think it makes sense

[Hi_Im_Akward]

I remember when you did a Mohawk right before shaving it all off because your hair was falling out from the treatment. It feels like it wasn't that long ago, and now we are all obsessing over your curly regrowth. ❤

[Gemmyrose]

I hope they stick around, those curls look great on you😊

[kittykatbat]

Yeah my aunt looked like she had a very tight perm once her hair grew back after chemo. She was stoked, her brother(my dad) basically had a fro when he was younger, and it made her so jealous.

[stacyhindalong]

I had the opposite happen. My curly hair became less curly. I miss my pre-chemo curls. 7 years out and I’m still learning how to work with it.

[mariewraight]

This is what I think happens, as a hairstylist and a childminder. When babies are young, their first hair seems to be a lot curlier than as they get older. This is because the first hair is tapered and whispy, and if they have the trait of a loose wave, the hair curls up quite easily. When their hair has its first few cuts, it blunts the ends, the hair shaft is thicker and heavier and weighs the hair down. This I’d why sometimes the “baby hairs” on an adult can seem to curl a little. This is somewhat down to the growing, rest and falling stages of hair; while there is heavy longer hair on top of the regrowth, it weighs down the new finer hairs and you don’t really see the curl.
Now with cancer patients, assuming that their treatment has made them lose all or most of their hair, this cycle begins again. All (or most) of their new hair is the thinner tapered hair like that of a baby, hence it’s easier to see the wavy hair trait in this finer state and without heavier hair weighing it down. If the person had curly hair as a baby, chances are they will have it when their hair regrows after cancer treatment. This is what I believe.

[jan-drake]

Curly hair haver here -- the most compelling explanation I've seen for curly hair is that it acts as a radiator. Keeps my thinker from overheating -- tbh cooling does seek to be a limiting factor on thinking for me, so who knows!

Don't rule out things like epigenetics -- if curly hair has a function, it's possible it's an "intended" effect vs. something about the hair follicles being damaged.

We contain multitudes. To the curly-headed you, straight hair was just temporary and it will be temporary again!

[CrippledAnarchy]

My understanding of it as a hairstylist is that anything that significantly impacts the endocrine system has a small chance of changing your hair type. I've seen it happen at puberty, post-partum, starting hrt, and after chemo!