Anne has given the most honest and simplest answer so far. If I may add though the example our sons’ doctor gave us about chemo:

Your body is a garden the cancer are weeds. In order to eradicate the weeds, you need to "kill off" everything bad and good in the garden, and replenish the soil so that the roses can grow beautiful again.

We asked about preventing hair loss, and unfortunately there were NO methods to stop hair loss.
Patients react to treatments differently. Some lose no hair, some lose all and some, somewhere in the middle.
It may sound lame or mean, but, it’s just hair. I know it may look or feel weird not to have it, but it does not define who you are. To me, it shows your strength!
Don’t waste your money or time, use both to get well, that is the most important thing here.
Good luck.

I’ve not heard of that. Not everyone loses all their hair, some lose very little. Of course it’s a horrible thing to go through, I’m sure lots of people would be prepared to pay good money if it meant keeping their hair. I think most people resort to hats, scarfs and sometimes wigs. If it’s for you, good luck.

I don’t know about lotions to prevent hair loss, but I have heard that keeping your head really cold i.e. in wearing an ice pack on your head can stunt hair loss, when worn during the chemotherapy. I know how awful the thought of losing your hair is, but the treatment is far more important, and rather than spend money on lotions it may be worth investing in a couple of great wigs. Ask the dr about the cold packs, I know someone who it did work for, but you’d really need the doctors ok on that.
Good luck

Several treatments have been investigated as possible ways to prevent hair loss, but none has been absolutely effective, including:
* Scalp hypothermia (cryotherapy). During your chemotherapy, ice packs or similar devices are placed on your head to slow blood flow to your scalp. This way, chemotherapy drugs are less likely to have an effect on your scalp. In general, scalp hypothermia works somewhat in 50 percent to 80 percent of people going through chemotherapy who try it. However, the procedure also causes a small risk of cancer recurring in your scalp, as this area doesn’t receive the same dose of chemotherapy as the rest of your body. Most people who try this procedure find it to be uncomfortable and very cold.
* Minoxidil (Rogaine). Applying minoxidil — a drug approved for pattern hair loss in men and women — to your scalp before and during chemotherapy isn’t likely to prevent your hair loss, although some research shows it may speed up your hair regrowth. In one small study, women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer applied minoxidil twice daily throughout their treatment and for four months afterward. Though their hair eventually all fell out, it took longer for the women who applied minoxidil to lose all their hair than it did for the women who didn’t use it, and their hair started to grow back earlier.

I’ve never heard of such a preparation, and honestly can’t see how it could possibly work. If someone’s selling such a thing for thousands of pounds, my guess is it’s just another example of someone trying to make money at the expense of vulnerable people.

Not all chemotherapy regimes cause hair loss; some cause thinning of the hair, some cause no hair loss. Most cause hair loss though, and there’s not a lot you can do about it.

Other people have mentioned the ‘cold cap’; A cold cap is an option, but not a very satisfactory one.

I decided against using one, and was glad I had when I saw a woman crying with the pain and discomfort of the cold cap she was wearing.

Using a cold cap adds a great deal of time to your chemo session – you have to wear it for a while both before and after receiving chemo. And, as I’ve said, it’s uncomfortable and even painful.

Which might all be worth it if it kept your lovely head of hair the same as it was, but it usually doesn’t. Most people I’ve known who’ve used it have lost some of their hair – up to half in some cases. And hair that remained was usually in such poor condition that they cut their hair really short anyway.

Most people who’ve been through chemo will know about association sickness, where you get nauseous from foods, smells etc you associate with chemo and which you can continue to get months and even years after chemo; I know people who’ve used the cold cap who’ve had association sickness and headaches standing in front of an open freezer or giving kids ice lollies. One woman even said she got nauseous when she saw a cyclist wearing a helmet (the cold cap looks like a cyclist’s helmet).

I also know people who used them for their first chemo session but couldn’t face them again for subsequent sessions.

All in all, not worth it in my opinion.

There’s also some concern about cold caps shutting down blood flow to the scalp, which is what they do. If you had a cancer cells in the scalp area, they could be protected from the from the effects of the chemotherapy. Because of this, some oncologists don’t encourage cold caps, and I understand they’re not widely used in the US for this reason.

Remember, you’re having chemo to try and get rid of your cancer; hair loss is an upsetting thought, but like many people I didn’t find it so upsetting once it was actually happening. It soon grows back, often starting before the course of chemotherapy finishes – for me it feels as if it all happened to someone else, and I have long hair again now