Amy Dowden of Strictly Come Dancing has opened up about the damaging effects of chemotherapy on her hair.
When the hair loss started, the dancer, 33, said her husband Ben Jones would ‘hear her weep most nights’.
Amy, who is battling stage 3 breast cancer, said: ‘I woke up one morning with quite a lot on the pillow, then I brushed it and quite a lot came out. I was traumatised, crying.
‘I would only brush my hair once a day, but I would dread that brush. My husband would brush it for me so I wouldn’t see.’
She continued to The Mirror: ‘Then it started going from on top. Ben would hear me crying most nights and come and comfort me. It was upsetting him as well. He hated brushing it.
‘I would dread waking up in the morning, seeing what was on the pillow. It would be in your mouth, a trail being left, it was so distressing. So I saved myself the heartache and took control.’
Amy chose to shave her hair with the aid of a loved one in September and published the results on Instagram.
She wrote in the caption: ‘“This too shall pass”
‘Taking control- The hardest step so far. I tried my best to save it. I know it’s only hair but these past few months I’ve had what feels like so much taken away from me that has made me not feel like Amy.
‘I’m missing every possible aspect of dancing. I just wanted to keep my identity with my hair and I tried telling myself it wouldn’t go. But I would dread the pain of waking up to the shredding everyday.
‘I’ve not been able to take control of this journey so far, but as you can see with some of my loved ones I took the courage and CONTROL.
‘It’s going to take some time to get use to and learn to love and embrace but, I’m now focussing-not on the hair I’m losing but the hair I’m going to get back and the happy dancing, tea lover who talks way to fast whilst rolling every rrrrr who is still there inside with or without hair!’
