A charity project offers hope to cancer patients battling hair loss, writes Meera Murugesan
LENA Abdullah can still remember vividly the day she was sitting in her living room reading the newspaper when large clumps of her hair started to fall on the paper.
It was something she had anticipated given her cancer diagnosis and first chemotherapy session, but it was still a big shock.
Upset, she went out of the house and shook out whatever remaining hair she still had, into the drain.
IDENTITY LOSS
It was an extremely difficult time for the homemaker and mother of four.
“When I looked in the mirror, it was like seeing someone else. For a woman to lose her hair is devastating. You feel naked because hair is so much a part of who you are,” says Lena who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma five years ago.
In preparation for her chemotherapy, she cut her long hair short but was still taken aback at the way it dropped out during treatment.
After the first month of treatment, she bought a synthetic wig but it made her scalp feel sweaty, itchy and uncomfortable in our humid weather.
It didn’t look natural and Lena felt very conscious when wearing it.
STAYING POSITIVE
Eventually she paid almost RM1,000 for a wig made of natural hair and it worked wonders, both in terms of comfort and ease of use and in making her look and feel good. She felt more confident about going out as the wig looked like her own hair and people rarely, if ever, stared.
Unlike the synthetic wig, it could also be washed and styled, just like real hair.
“It made a world of difference. Losing hair brought me down but the wig made me feel more like myself,” says Lena, whose hair grew back eventually after chemotherapy stopped.
Given that wigs made of natural hair are very expensive, National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) has joined hands with an NGO called Locks Of Hope to ensure more women have access to such wigs.
A GOOD CAUSE
Through the Locks Of Hope hair donation campaign, the public can donate their hair to be made into wigs which will eventually be used by cancer patients.
Those who wish to donate their hair can go to any one of 200 participating hair salons in the Klang Valley to have their hair cut. These salons will have a sticker displayed, to indicate they are part of the project.
Donated hair must be at least 20cm long and should be freshly washed and completely dry and free of styling products. It should not be bleached, permanently coloured or chemically treated.
It’s also important that donated hair must not have more than five per cent grey because grey hair is harder to colour during the wig making process and even after colouring, fades more quickly.
It costs about RM600 and requires eight to 15 locks of hair to make one wig. The process can take between one and three months, says Rachael Siew Zheng Mun of Locks Of Hope.
The ready wigs will be passed to NCSM, who will then loan them out for free to patients.
Since April this year, 250 people have already donated their hair, with the youngest donor being 11. Locks Of Hope hopes to deliver 20-25 wigs by early next year.
MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION
Samantha Lee, a medical sales representative, became a donor because her father and aunt had both passed away from cancer.
She had seen, first-hand, the emotional and physical toll of chemotherapy on cancer patients.
Lee went to her regular hairstylist in her hometown, Port Dickson, and had her long hair cut into a short, trendy style. She then donated the snipped hair to Locks Of Hope.
“It’s a great cause and I am happy to contribute in such a meaningful way,” she says.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Cancer support and care these days is not just about treating the disease but also about helping patients maintain their psychological and emotional well-being during the entire process, says Dr Saunthari Somasundaram, president and medical director of NCSM.
There was a time when people going through cancer treatment would not leave their homes because of the way they looked. Hair loss is the most obvious and for women, the most devastating part of the entire process.
It can have such an impact that some women may even question whether they should go for treatment because they are worried about loss of hair.
Research published by the United States National Library of Medicine indicates that 47 per cent of female patients consider hair loss to be the most traumatic aspect of chemotherapy and eight per cent would decline chemotherapy due to fears of hair loss.
She says that in Asia (including Malaysia), these figures may be higher because culturally, hair is linked to a woman’s femininity and beauty.
Hair usually grows back 4-12 months after chemotherapy but the transition period can be very difficult. That’s why the use of wigs will not only to help existing patients but also to ensure newly diagnosed patients do not rule out chemotherapy because of fears of going bald.
Dr Saunthari says sometimes words alone are not enough to console a patient. When a woman is battling her body and soul, she may need “props”, however small to lift her spirits and make her feel better about herself.
Details at www.locksof hope.org