Chemo hair loss doesn't define me - it's a symbol that I'm strong

When Rhiannon Thomas lost her hair during chemotherapy just weeks after having a mastectomy, her confidence was at an all time low.

But being photographed for a campaign that celebrates the resilience of women living with breast cancer helped her find an inner strength she never knew she had.

"For the first time I feel I look pretty, I look confident and strong," said the 36-year-old mum.

"It's surprising the strength you find when you go through such a hard time."

Rhiannon, a mother to two daughters aged 14 and nine, was diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump while in the shower in November last year.

"I had an absolute breakdown," said the teaching assistant.

"Like, how do you tell your children? I was so scared to just tell them."

Since then she's had a mastectomy, chemotherapy and is currently having radiotherapy.

When her hair began falling out during chemotherapy she decided to shave her head, but wanted to make it as positive an experience as possible for her children.

She encouraged her youngest to play at being a hairdresser and do whatever she wanted with a scissors before getting the shaver out.

"I was like, 'just cut whatever you want because it's going anyway'," said Rhiannon.

"I wanted to make something hard joyful for my children and for myself because I didn't want them to see me upset, and my daughter loved it."

Footage captured on her phone shows the family laughing at home in Abertridwr, near Caerphilly, as her daughter gets creative with the scissors.

But afterwards, in private moments, the radical change to her appearance was hard.

"I remember looking in the mirror and like just crying because it's just you know we don't recognise yourself," she said.

Rhiannon was brought to tears recalling the look on her parents' faces when they first saw her after her head had been shaved.

She took to wearing a head wrap whenever she left the house.

All this sounds very familiar to mental health nurse and mother-of-two Sam Gronow-Walters.

The 44-year-old has also lost her hair though breast cancer treatment.

Her cancer is incurable.

She was first diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer five years ago, which was successfully treated with intravenous chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and radiotherapy, followed by oral chemotherapy.

But seven months later she found another lump and tests showed it had returned.

A mastectomy followed and she was told she was cancer-free.

In 2024, she was told it had spread to her lung. Last July, tests showed it had spread to her liver and lymph nodes.

"You've got to keep going," said Sam from St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

"You've just got to do whatever you can because I want to see my kids grow up."

Like Rhiannon, when she felt she had no option other than to shave her head, Sam's thoughts were immediately how to make it easier on her children, a daughter aged 20 and a son aged 13.

Her son requested she have her head shaved with a bit left at the front in homage to Brazilian footballer Ronaldo's memorable hairdo at the 2002 World Cup - and she obliged.

"To me that that's quite a happy memory, so he'll see that even when I'm poorly I can still have fun, can still smile and I can still make my children happy and laugh," she said.

Again, she was concerned about the impact her new appearance would have on her children.

"I used to ask my son when I took him to school, 'do you mind if I don't wear a hat?'" recalled Sam.

"He was like, 'why would I care?'."

Rhiannon and Sam first met after signing up to be part of breast cancer charity Pink Ribbon Foundation's BOLD Wales campaign.

The project celebrates the courage and confidence of women who have lost their hair through breast cancer.

Alongside nine other Welsh women they spent a day in Cardiff being photographed by Dutch photographer Caroline Sikkenk.

The photos will be displayed at London's Piccadilly Lights next month.

Both women had been nervous about being photographed but said the experience couldn't have been more joyful.

"It was like we'd all known each other before meeting that day, and we still keep in touch now," said Sam.

Rhiannon had never spoken to another women who had lost her hair during cancer treatment.

"I just felt really safe and not judged," she said.

Seeing the photos for the first time was emotional for both.

"I was like, 'oh wow'," said Rhiannon, who was proud of the courage it had taken to be photographed at such a vulnerable time.

Sam barely recognised herself.

"I was like, 'wow, that's not me'," she said.

"I was quite proud to show them to my family to say, 'oh, this is me'."

BOLD began in 2022, when Lisa Allen from The Pink Ribbon Foundation met photographer Caroline Sikkenk at a breast cancer conference.

Caroline had spent years photographing women who had experienced hair loss through illness.

"What struck us about her photographs was that these women weren't being shown as patients," said Lisa. "They were strong, beautiful and completely themselves."

The first BOLD shoot took place in 2023.

"What we hadn't anticipated was that we would create a community," said Lisa.

She said the impact often began before a photograph has been taken.

"We set up a WhatsApp group beforehand, so by the time the women arrive they already feel they're going through it together.

"The friendships and support that grow around it last long after the photograph is taken."

Both women said taking part in the project had given them a new-found strength and sense of optimism.

"I feel like my confidence and my positivity just got stronger from the photo shoot," said Rhiannon.

"I walked out of there just so confident and I felt so free and just like I don't have to hide."

Gone are the head wraps and proudly showing her shaved head has become "the new normal".

For Sam, the photoshoot helped her find self-acceptance.

"This is me now - I wouldn't have long hair again," she said.

"Hair loss doesn't define who I am. It's just a symbol that I'm getting through this and I am strong."

If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this story, information about available help and support can be found viaBBC Action Line.