Hair loss as a result of cancer treatment

Whether your hair falls out or not can depend on the type of cancer treatment you have. Some types of treatment, including certain types of chemotherapy (chemo), are likely to cause your hair to fall out.  

Chemo can cause hair loss. This is because chemo works by attacking and destroying fast-dividing cells. Cancer cells are fast-dividing cells, but so are other healthy cells, like hair cells. This is why chemo can cause your hair to fall out.  

It’s not just the hair on your head that might fall out. Chemo can affect all the hair on your body, including your eyebrows, eyelashes, underarm hair and pubes.

Find out more about chemo and its side effects. 

There are lots of different types of chemo and there are also different ways of having chemo. You might experience different side effects depending on the type of chemo you have. You can speak to your care team if you have questions about the particular treatment you’re having. They should be able to let you know whether it’s likely that your hair will fall out.  

Hair loss from chemo usually starts about two to three weeks after your first course of treatment. Some people may lose all of their hair, others may find it gets thinner or falls out in patches. It doesn’t usually fall out all at once. 

Radiotherapy can also cause hair loss, but in a different way to chemo. If you have radiotherapy your hair might fall out, but only in the area you’re having treated. So, if you’re having treatment on your head or neck, you might lose the hair on that specific area of your head.

When you’re having radiotherapy the beam will travel through the area being treated. This means if you have radiotherapy on one side of your head, you might lose the hair there, but also on the other side where the beam has exited.

If you’re worried about where your hair is likely to fall out, you can ask your care team to show you, and explain how and when this might happen.

Find out more about radiotherapy and its side effects. 

Hair will start to fall out a few weeks after starting radiotherapy and it usually starts to grow back a few weeks after you’ve finished treatment. How quickly it grows back can be different for different people. Some people might find their hair grows back thinner, or in patches. If you’re worried about this happening you can speak to your care team about this.  

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy which uses beams of high energy protons to target the cancer. It’s very accurate, which means you can usually have a higher dose and it has fewer long term side effects.

Similar to radiotherapy, proton beam therapy can cause hair loss, but only hair in the area being treated will fall out.  

Find out more about proton beam therapy and its side effects. 

Immunotherapy is the name used for a group of treatments that help your immune system find and destroy cancer cells.

While losing your hair is a common side effect of chemo, it’s not a common side effect of immunotherapy because immunotherapy does not affect fast-growing cells more generally.

Find out more about immunotherapy and its side effects.  

If you’re having chemo this can affect the hair all over your body. It might fall out in patches, not all at once.  

If you’re having radiotherapy then only the hair in the area that’s being treated will be affected. So, for example, if you’re having radiotherapy on your leg, the hair on your head won’t fall out but the hair on your leg might.  

If you have chemo, this might mean that all the hair on your body falls out – this can include your eyebrows and eyelashes as well.  

Everyone is different and everyone’s experiences of cancer and treatment are different as well. Some people might like to cut their hair short or shave their head before their hair starts falling out, others might want to wait until it starts to fall out before doing anything.

There are also lots of different ways to manage hair loss. You might want to get a wig or use other ways to cover your head, like hats or headscarves. Or, you might not want to cover your head at all – it’s completely up to you and what makes you feel most comfortable.

The Little Princess Trust provides wigs for young people up to the age of 24 who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatment. You won’t need to pay for a wig from The Little Princess Trust – they cover the cost including any cutting and styling of the wig that might be needed. Find out more on their website.  

The NHS also provides wigs. You won’t have to pay for your wig if you’re under 18. If you’re over 18 whether or not you need to pay for your wig can depend on which country in the UK you’re living in. You can ask your care team for more information about your local area and what’s available.  

If you have questions about wigs and different types of head coverings, you can speak to your care team. They should also be able to tell you about any local charities or services that might be able to offer support.  

A cold cap is a cap that people have on their heads during chemo to try and reduce the effects of chemo of your hair. It’s also called ‘scalp cooling’.  

It works by cooling the scalp and making the blood vessels smaller. With some types of chemo this will reduce the effect on your hair.  

Cold caps can’t be used for all cancer diagnoses. People with any type of blood cancer, including Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemia, aren’t able to use cold caps. This is because it can limit how effective the chemo is to treat your cancer.  

There are lots of different types of chemo and cold caps only work with some types of chemo. Not all hospitals have cold caps.  

Cold caps also only work on the hair on your head, they don’t stop your body hair (including eyebrows and eyelashes) falling out.

If you have any questions about whether a cold cap might work for you then you should speak to you care team and they’ll be able to advise on your individual situation. 

Find out more about cold caps on Macmillan’s website.