How scalp cooling works

Scalp cooling during chemotherapy has been known to decrease the risk of hair loss already since the 1960s. The problem was the difficulty of providing consistent cooling over a longer period. Over the years, scalp cooling technology has improved, and many studies have proven that scalp cooling is by far the most effective treatment to reduce and prevent hair loss in a number of chemotherapy regimens.

How scalp cooling works
Each hair on our body grows out of a hair follicle. Each person carries an average of 100,000 hair follicles on the scalp. We have small blood vessels in the scalp which supply the cells of the hair follicles with food and oxygen and carry away waste products. Any chemotherapy drugs in the bloodstream will also be carried to the hair follicles.

When blood vessels in the scalp are cooled they become constricted and smaller, and so less blood flows through them. Cooling the scalp during chemotherapy means that less of the chemotherapy drug reaches the hair follicles, and so the hair is less likely to fall out.

The scalp is typically cooled before the start of a chemotherapy treatment and then for up to two hours afterwards.