You would be surprised how many people ask if they can color their hair, acrylic nails, or tattoos. I would advise you to talk to your team of doctors before you do anything major.
Did or are you planning on doing this after chemo or your transplant?
I waited till after my hair was about an inch long before coloring my very salt and pepper hair. My girls would ask me when I was going to do it. Actually, my boyfriend did too. So I colored my hair a light brown almost blonde to start out since it was the first time. I didn’t want it to be too dark even tho my hair is dark brown/black.
After about two months I recolored my hair dark brown which everyone thought was my real color which made me feel good about coloring it again. My team didn’t have a problem with the hair color one bit. Yeah!
I’ve always put on my own acrylic nails and I’ve done it once since this journey began. Again, I would check with your doctor. I only wore my nails for a few days for the Relay for life. I did a poor job putting them on because of my eyes were blurry. It’s really difficult to put on nails when you can’t see.
I was determined to have orange, green, and pink tips. For a long time, I’ve been a fan of the french manicure look. I wanted orange for leukemia, green for my daughter who went through chemo for brain tumors from Neurofibromatosis, and pink for my friend who had breast cancer a few years ago. They were cute but not the greatest shape so I removed them afterward. Oh well, it was the thought that counts right?
When it comes to acrylic nails you have to keep in mind they can make it harder to get a correct oxygen reading. Also, sometimes they will tell you to remove them for surgery. So those super cute nails might not be a good thing or may have to be removed. For me, it’s really not that big of a deal because I do my own so it doesn’t mean I have to make a sudden trip to the salon which can be a real bummer if you’ve only had your nails for a couple of weeks.
Tattoos, hmm, that one is kind of scary for me. Not because I’m scared to get one I have three tattoos. But, injecting the dye kind of worries me the most. I currently have GVHD issues with the skin on my face so the risk of injecting something into the skin I would imagine could cause a reaction. I would definitely run this by the doctor before you make plans.
I would like to get a leukemia tattoo. I currently have two tattoos for awareness. The one tattoo was for a fundraiser and I got a semicolon tattoo shaped like a cat which brings awareness to suicide. The other tattoo is a large green ribbon for my daughter’s Neurofibromatosis. So by rights, I should get one for myself, right? I actually have a few I would like not that I want a bunch of them but we’ll see. They are painful depending on the location but I’ve been through things a lot worse than a tattoo. I’m a tough cookie, sometimes, depending on where the pain is I guess.
To be honest, consult your doctor before trying anything during or after chemo and transplant.
I wish you all the luck!
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