Cold Cap for Chemotherapy Hair Loss Prevention Ice Cap

According to the Mayo Clinic, "chemotherapy works by killing rapidly dividing cells, including cancer cells. But chemotherapy can’t tell the difference between cancer cells and other normal cells that also divide quickly, such as those in hair follicles. When chemotherapy attacks the hair follicles, it causes the hair to fall out.

In some cases, chemotherapy may only lead to thinning hair. In others, it makes all of a person’s hair fall out. For example, studies have shown that most of the chemotherapy drugs used to treat breast cancer cause almost total hair loss in most patients.

While losing your hair may sound like a small price to pay for preventing cancer from coming back, it’s a side effect that’s often hard to take. Not only can losing your hair be tough on your self-image, it’s also a vivid and constant reminder of a cancer diagnosis.

The idea of cooling the scalp to prevent hair loss has been around for some time. When cooled, the blood vessels in the scalp constrict, reducing blood flow to the hair follicles. That means less chemotherapy medication can get into the hair follicle cells. The cold also makes those cells less active, so chemotherapy drugs don’t target them as quickly."

Some folks like to buy two of this product so they can have the most effective experience, wearing one during the chemo treatment and switching to a fresh cap afterwards to keep the coldest maximum temperature.

Pull your own hair out the top in high ponytail (if hair is long) to maximize scalp cooling.