- IceBeanie Migraine Relief Cap, Full Head Coverage Hot & Cold Gel Hat, Blue

I have been using these IceBeanies to help keep my hair during chemo. I am five treatments (Taxol & Carboplatin) in and my oncologist said that the IceBeanies are working! I like how the IceBeanie has the gel pack all around and on top of the hat. There is very little of the beanie that doesn't have the cooling gel available. Because my head is small and my hair is fine, the IceBeanie fits snugly on my head. It even covers my eyebrows, so it is helping me keep those too! Ultimately, I purchased 16 IceBeanies. My husband sets a timer and switches my IceBeanie after 11 minutes and 30 seconds. (Edit - now we dropped the time to 10 minutes and 30 seconds per hat.) I start wearing them 30 minutes before my chemo infusion, during the infusion, and then 2 hours after the infusion is over. In order to re-freeze the iceBeanies I used, I borrowed my sister's cooler that can plug in and set temp to freeze plus have additional ice packs in the cooler to help re-freeze them faster. (But probably could use dry ice to re-freeze.) I have had some of my hair fall out, but I would say it is more like just normal shedding - at least so far. I am so happy that I decided to try these. My oncologist didn't want me to rent the official ice caps because I would have to stay so long after the infusion for it to work. So, not only is buying 16 IceBeanies a less expensive option than renting from the cancer center, but it lets me leave and finish my "cold capping" process on my way home and at home! Update: I have had 9 infusions of Taxol & 3 Carboplatin now (75% through my treatment plan for these two drugs). My oncologist saw me yesterday and was amazed at how much hair I had. She felt the technique I have been doing is working better than their official ice caps would have for me! (We have dropped the time to 10 minutes & 30 seconds per hat.) The close up picture added below is of me waking up this morning - and while I don't particularly like this close up. I wanted to share how I still have my eyebrows and eyelashes - when now I have lost all or most of my hair on other parts of my body - which my oncologist said is what is expected. (I have no hair on my legs or arms anymore.) Back to hair on my head, I would say that the shedding I have experienced was normal. I am experiencing a bit more shedding now that I am anemic. (Which is something I have struggled with my whole life - and shedding more hair is one sign I know to get checked. So, last week I would say my shedding picked up to a level I experience with anemia - where I lose hair from the crown of my head). But since I can't see that when I look in a mirror, I am feeling great about the ice beanie use! Other tips that maybe helping me - I use a bissy silk pillow case now. Also I switched from my volumizing hair shampoo to Aveeno Scalp Soothing Shampoo and Conditioner. And I did have my hair cut an inch or so since starting treatment. I brush my hair very gingerly now and it was getting tangled much more at the longer length. I also now mostly wear silky, no collar shirts to help prevent my hair from getting tangled. I sincerely hope this helps others going through chemo treatments! Update after 12 treatments - The 3rd pic (red shirt) is how my hair looked 2 weeks after my 12th Taxol (and 4th Carboplatin) treatment. (I also did style it - which I didn't usually do while I was going through treatment.). My hair did keep shedding even a couple weeks after treatment. I just started AC (Doxorubicin & Cytoxan) treatments. (I have done one of 4, so far.). This time I am putting the ice beanies on 40 minutes before the infusion, the whole infusion time, and 5 hours after. I would say my hair loss as been the same as before - more like shedding. Final update: The last picture (where I am wearing a light blue jacket and my hair looks frizzy) is me 4 months after my last AC treatment. Overall, I am really happy I used the ice beanie for my "cold capping" process. In my opinion, it worked better than I expected! I kept enough of my hair / eyebrows that I don't think people would realize I went through chemo where I was supposed to lose all my hair. Additionally, I can see where I did lose hair, it is growing back! (Which is what I wanted to ensure would happen by wearing the ice beanies!) You might be able to pick it out of the picture too, all those whisp-y hairs sticking up at my part. Honestly there are a lot more than what can be seen in the picture because they are starting to be long enough not to stick strait up! I should have taken the pic a month or two earlier to demonstrate how much is growing back but I don't have any... I wore sunglasses on my head to kind of cover it up in the pics I do have. :) Just to share - in case you are trying this method to save your hair - I would say, it is really important to keep rotating the ice beanie for 5 or more hours after the AC infusion. (Since it was only 4 times for me, I just kept rotating them until I was going to go to sleep.) Additionally, when I lost the most hair was about 4 or 5 weeks after my last AC infusion. It was more than shedding at that time. Parts of my scalp (mainly the top of my head) had gotten so weird at that point. I can only describe it like how some babies get cradle cap. It just so happened that I had my yearly PCP and dermatologist appointments about that time. My PCP recommended using head & shoulders / cerve anti-dandruff shampoo (which I was terrified to try) but did help and didn't hurt! A couple weeks later my dermatologist recommended using Nizoral shampoo and I do think that worked even better. After I got rid of the sticky / patchy parts on my scalp, my hair didn't fall out anymore! And I do think that the ice beanies helped keep my eyelashes, however, I did end up losing them twice. (They actually regrew while I was still doing AC treatments! But I ended up losing them again... but now they grew back again and have stayed! :) Sorry my post is so long... But if you are starting chemo treatments that make you lose your hair, I wanted to share how it went for me in hopes that it helps others. :). Stay strong! You got this!!

Pleasantly surprised by this product I think the thing I like the most is that it actually tries to look like a beanie versus look like some kind of medical cat so I feel like I can wear it outside without it looking like a headache cap also, I love how this thing stays cool 24 seven and I could honestly wear it without ever putting it in the fridge. The gel is just super cooling and sometimes I wear even when I sleep because it feels really nice. The only thing I think I don’t like that much is that it has the ice beanie logo on it, which is fine because I know it needs to be there for marketing reasons, but someone who generally loves to design this and the functionality of this so much I would literally wear it out and the ice speedy logo. Kinda makes it look like it’s not just like a normal beanie so I wish it was a little more discreet like if you put a tag on it or something or I don’t know maybe the ice beanie logo like black on black instead of blue and black so it’s still there but like more discreet otherwise 10 out of 10 and it feels really nice and Cooling. And it looks like a actual beanie.

I absolutely love this IceBeanie! It feels so cool and refreshing, especially when I have a migraine or headache. It's comfortable, easy to use, and helps me relax when I need it most. I love the cooling sensation! Definitely recommend it!

Update: Customer service did send me a replacement, although it took a while-- after I sent them the pictures shown here, and they had agreed to replace the beanie, and confirmed my shipping address on October 12, I had to contact them again on October 29 as I still had not received the replacement. At that time they seemed to indicate that they hadn't yet "initiated" a replacement... I received the replacement beanie a couple days later. Regarding the leakage, I was told "Sometimes during Amazon shipping the product can become compromised and damaged." I'm not sure if that's accurate/possible, but they were willing to work with me to ensure my customer satisfaction. Having used the original beanie (with substituted ice packs for broken top pack as I previously mentioned, below) for 12 chemo rounds now (30 mins or less per time), I find the stitching has come undone along one seam- easy fix, but this product still needs some tweaking for that and with the ice packs. I do like how the beanie fabric stretches to better enable you to get it on when it's frozen/rigid, and to keep the cold close to the scalp, though the seams may need greater reinforcement to ensure longevity of use. It would also be good if the pockets for the ice packs had a Velcro closure rather than just slightly overlapping fabric (I tried to show this barely 1 cm overlap in picture) as the fabric is floppy and after removing and then replacing the packs while the beanie is inside out, it doesn't hold them in well when inverting it to then put the beanie in the freezer. An option for a beanie without the ponytail/back of head gap in coverage would also be good, and not just for chemo use-- when I get a migraine it is often caused by/related to the muscles at the base of my skull and icing there helps me. Turning the beanie around doesn't work so great because then the Velcro closure part is pressing into your forehead. The ice packs, once frozen, are very hard/non-pliable so some of them freeze in wonky positions when placing the cap in freezer folded in half, so they're not very comfortable if a part isn't flat and is pressing against your head... I really like the IceKaps brand gel packs because they are much more pliable when frozen, so I almost think using those in the beanie is better than what comes with it currently (at least for my purposes with cold-capping trying to get whole head cold). Overall, I think I would still have purchased the IceBeanie as the fabric is more pliable and the product is less expensive than the IceKaps, but for my purposes I have used both and each gets the job done ok with some improvisation- if you can afford the IceKaps, I'd lean towards them for cold-capping because of the colder ice packs. I have also used the NEWGO migraine hat- reviewed that product separately on Amazon, too. I still have not had any hair loss, and have 4 more chemo treatments with different drugs, so I am hoping to continue that good fortune! 🤞 Original review: I bought this with several other cold cap products (e.g. including 3 of the IceKaps brand) to use in rotation for "cold-capping" during my weekly chemotherapy infusion treatments to try and prevent/reduce hair loss from the drug Taxol, which is commonly used for breast cancer treatments. Well, so far I've had virtually no hair loss beyond usual shedding, which is great, BUT, when I went to replace the non-frozen gel packs in their hat pockets in preparation for next week's treatment (after letting all the packs and hat melt/dry out from my treatment earlier this week) I found one of the packs had two holes from which gel was leaking out. :( And the holes weren't directly on seams which I find is usually how ice packs (though usually much older/more used!) deteriorate/break/leak; the holes looked as if the plastic had cracked while it was frozen; not sure how else it would have happened as it's not like they were under pressure or poked, roughly handled, etc? I've only used the beanie 6 times, wearing it for less than 30 minutes each time, and while it works great in general, it is very disappointing to find part of it is now unusable/ needing to be replaced with an alternative cold pack though finding a long narrow pack is not an easy task- fortunately, the IceKap has such packs for its use and I was able to purchase spare packs for that product separately-- not so with the ice beanie, at least not that I could find. While half the price of the IceKap, it appears the ice beanie isn't as durable. And I had to add an ice pack to the back ponytail area (wearing it under the ice beanie) since for my purposes I don't want a large portion of my head without ice coverage) but had to do the same with the IceKaps due to similar structures. I contacted customer service and am hoping to get a replacement pack; also hoping no more packs leak! I'm barely halfway through my treatments! I will update if I hear back from customer service and they hold true to their 100% guarantee (despite their website saying they can't refund/replace products 30+ days after purchase, just like Amazon.

I wish I could give this more than 5 stars. The material is soft. The "ice" stays soft and cold for a long time. The material is pliable and fits well one your head. Very easy to use. Freezes quickly. It works well for headache pain and helps to keep you cool when you're overheated. Great gift idea also. Fits in a small space so you can take it anywhere.

I honestly did not expect to like this. I thought it would be too much pressure on my head when I have a migraine or other headache. Turns out it’s fantastic. The pressure feels very nice and it’s evenly distributed. I like that I can pull it over my eyes or push it up if I want to see. I am a woman with a somewhat small head, so this might not be as comfortable for someone with a larger head. Stays cold for a decent amount of time, I think it works best to have two so you can have another in the freezer ready to go when the one you’re wearing gets too warm.

After an unexpected breast cancer diagnosis, I was resigned to losing all my hair through my chemo treatments and didn’t look into traditional cold-capping options for hair preservation. Additionally, I was appalled that traditional cold-capping providers were charging upwards of $5,000++ for treatment - without any real guarantees that it will work. (These pricey systems have about a 50% failure rate and typical patients only retain 40-50% of their hair) Fast forward to the week of my first chemo infusion and my husband convinced me that preserving my hair through chemo was worth it - even if we’d now had to scramble to find our own DIY option. We found IceBeanies on Amazon and ordered 15 caps to last through my infusions. From an earlier review, we calculated that we’d need to switch caps every 10 minutes and cold-cap at least another 2 hours after the infusion was over. My husband also had to buy dry ice to keep the beanies cold through the duration of my appointments. Lo and behold, our little last minute experiment worked! Through 12 chemo infusions, I managed to successfully keep about 80-85% of my hair! Looking at me with a head full of hair, you’d never even know I have cancer, let alone going through chemo! My oncologist told me prior to treatment that she’s never had a patient successfully keep their hair through chemo - and now I have, all thanks to the IceBeanies (and my amazing and diligent husband!) If you are open to giving cold-capping a go through your cancer treatments and wanna skip the high cost of traditional cold-capping systems, please give the IceBeanies a try! I’m sure glad I did!

Perfect for headaches...just wish it stayed cold longer is all.

This does what it should do, but it doesn't stay cold for as long as I thought it would at this price point.

Ice packs a little hard at first but once they soften you can mold them to your head. I twisted the cap around until I got the ice just where I wanted it. The cap is a little big for me even when I moved the velcro adjuster but I always lay down when I have a migraine so it really doesn’t matter. This cap is way better than tying multiple ice packs on my head with scarves. I put the whole cap in a ziplock bag and keep in my freezer.

The hat size and material is good but unfortunately it does not stay cold for too long. The gel pads melt fairly quickly and so the purpose is defeacted.

good for overall headaches and fever...but doesn't cover all parts of the head...should have a cold band surrounding the forehead to the back, or a temple won't enjoy the relief.

It worms in less than 15 minutes