Alicia Witt Wanted to Keep Her Hair amid Cancer Battle 'So It Could Be My Choice' to Share Diagnosis

The actress ended up losing some of her hair during chemotherapy, and now she's celebrating its regrowth

Alicia Witt is feeling good about her hair growth following her chemotherapy treatments for cancer.

On Friday, the 47-year-old actress shared two selfies on Instagram proudly showing off how much her hair has grown back. The star admitted that she was originally hoping not to lose her hair amid her battle with cancer because she wanted to share her diagnosis on her own terms.

"I don't mean for this to be a vanity post! but - I do want to share because I know that there are a lot of you here who have gone through the same," Witt wrote. "And I'm honestly feeling pretty elated about the state of my hair right now."

"When I completed my treatment for breast disease back in March, I had worn cold caps so that I was able to keep enough of my hair to continue working through my treatments (I did 2 jobs during that time)," she explained. "What a gift to have that privilege, so that it could be my choice to share when I wanted to 🙏🏻 but still, about 45% or so did fall out."

Witt said she's been able to grow her hair back by using vegan hair thickening products.

"I feel this works, and works big time and quickly. The hair I had lost was already long since coming in by then, of course, but it has started growing much more quickly, and much more of it!" she said. "I believe this would help anyone who's looking to thicken their hair - regardless of whether you'd gone thru chemo-related hair loss."

Witt first opened up about her private battle with cancer in June, two months after completing chemotherapy, in a candid Instagram post. She shared videos of the moment she struck a gong in celebration of the end of her treatments as well as a photo of her holding her official certificate. She also posted a selfie and images in which she removed her head and chest coverings.

"Just a little over 2 months ago, i had my last round of chemical therapy prior to my mastectomy," Witt wrote at the time.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeQzPuhO6Qn/?hl=en working hed: Alicia Witt Reveals Private Cancer Battle in Which She Had a Mastectomy and Was Undergoing Treatment When Her Parents died 
Alicia Witt/instagram

Sending love to her "beloved, brilliant, collaborative, communicative doctor," she added that the Tennessee Oncology physician was there to see her ring the bell.

"Although we didn't yet know for absolute certain until after the mastectomy that the disease was completely healed from my left breast, this marked the end of my carboplatin/taxotere, + herceptin/perjeta (the latter two are immunotherapies which will continue, per protocol for HER2+, through the end of this year)," Witt continued.

Alicia Witt Wanted to Keep Her Hair amid Cancer Battle 'So it Could Be My Choice' to Share Diagnosis
Michael S. Schwartz/Getty

She also gave a shoutout to her "tiny crew of human angels" who were by her side during her six treatments, crediting them for "keeping my spirits high" and replacing her therapy cap, which aims to minimize hair loss.

"While keeping hair was obviously the last of my concerns on a larger level, I did deeply wish to keep my diagnosis private until it was 100% healed, god willing," the Orange Is the New Black alum added.

"I'm so grateful to all those along the way during treatment who honored me by protecting my privacy during these months 🙏🏻 and grateful to help share that these caps can truly play a huge role in allowing a patient to reveal her journey on her own time, when she is ready," Witt said.

Related Articles