Actress Selma Blair Embraces the Patchy, Grey Hair She's Growing Back After Chemo

Hair loss is one of the most emotionally difficult (and most talked about) side effects of chemotherapy. There are countless support groups and social media accounts devoted to wig recommendations, and researchers are working hard to develop new scalp-cooling technologies to prevent hair loss in the first place.

As hair grows back after chemotherapy, it’s texture and color often changes, and, for many survivors, this can be challenging. But for others, like Blair, it can also be liberating. The actress points out in her post that the highlights and lowlights she used to get were expensive and time-consuming, and that she’s okay with letting them go. Unless, she adds with her usual good humor, "some fancy pants company with a thick checkbook wants to entice me out of dye retirement."

 

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For those few interested at an in depth look at hair growth ,post chemotherapy for #hsct. I cut my hair short to transition myself and my son for impending baldness. Easy. Baldness came. I didn't shave head to that end. Of course it fell out. Shiny. Pale dome. Nice enough. It took two months to begin regrowth And it came in fine and pale and very sparse. I shaved it. It looked too sad. For me. I let it grow back. It was patchy in color and I felt like dying it brown. Ridiculous! I really only succeeded in dying my scalp. After a week, I buzzed shorter with clippers and a few weeks later, here we are ????. A thinnish, patchy charcoal head. I will see how a pixie grows in. Or I will buzz again. It seems to be too much to have long hair again. So I will leave it short and grey, something I have never before wanted to do. I equated it with giving up. And maybe giving up long, brown hair, complete with time consuming and expensive highlights and lowlights isn't necessarily a give up. Give in. Embrace. Sure. I'll try it. Unless…some fancy pants company with a thick checkbook wants to entice me out of dye retirement. Then I will sing about the glories of processed hair! I certainly will. So, until that wished for day, enjoy the head ???? #buzzed #saltandpepperhair #showingmyroots #thecomeback

A post shared by Selma Blair (@selmablair) on Nov 4, 2019 at 1:09pm PST

In the post, Blair also recounts the cycle of her hair loss and regrowth, and the ways her attitude has changed over time — from accepting her shiny dome and the sadness she felt as it first grew back in far thinner than before, to, as it grew, her failed attempt to dye it brown and, then, her liberating decision to go for a buzz cut.

RELATED: Actress Selma Blair Says Her Son Told The Tooth Fairy To Come After She Lost A Tooth During Her Recovery From Chemotherapy For MS

 

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A post shared by Selma Blair (@selmablair) on Aug 6, 2019 at 6:26pm PDT

Why is Selma Blair Getting Chemo if She Doesn’t Have Cancer?

Blair has been receiving chemotherapy as part of a treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks the body’s central nervous system. The MS treatment, called “Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation,” or “HSCT,” involves taking stem cells from the bone marrow or blood, wiping the immune system clean with chemotherapy, then reintroducing the cells to "grow" a new immune system. The treatment has U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for MS, and according to the National MS Society, “Publication of the outcomes from well-controlled clinical studies of HSCT therapy will encourage greater acceptance and use by the medical community.”

 

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Sunday. Rest. Gratitude. I write this with helping someone else in mind… Since chemotherapy and high doses of prednisone I have lost any ability to focus with my eyes.(I find it difficult to be on phone so I am not on social media or communicating w friends through writing very much). Panic sets in. Will this be permanent? How do I get to one more doctor appointment? How will I work and write when I can't see and it's so painful? And then a simmering of knowing. Underneath all the doubt. It will be ok. Take it smaller to each moment. Let the body heal. Nourish. Walk slowly. Burst into laughter. Give my nervous system a chance. I see how wonderful and kind people can be. I see how frightening it can be. Uncertainty. I am choosing to say this too shall pass. And my word… it's so beautiful today. Still cool in the shade and the whole day before us… we can do it. Breathe . ???? ps. My left leg is feeling the ground!!! #hsct Also… I have found much relief in settling my system with @montelbyselect #relax #hempextractcapsules . Thank you @montel_williams ????

A post shared by Selma Blair (@selmablair) on Aug 11, 2019 at 11:01am PDT

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