Shannen Doherty shaves hair for cancer treatment in Facebook photo

'I would rather be alive and I would rather grow old with my husband'

(Getty Images)

There are few people who could look at Shannen Doherty’s most recent picture and not identify or empathise with it in some way.

Whether the viewer is the person who had to shave their hair off too or someone who watched as a loved one lost theirs to chemotherapy, cancer has touched most people across the world.

The Charmed actress, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, shared a picture of one side of her head after shaving it off with the caption “Step 6”. She recorded the other stages as being comforted by her family before cutting away at her hair.

Doherty, 45, disclosed her diagnosis of breast cancer in August 2015.

Her course of treatment is not yet known, but Doherty has said she would be willing to undergo a mastectomy if necessary.

"Ultimately, they're just breasts right?" she said during an appearance on the Dr Oz show in February. "I mean, I love them, they're mine, they're beautiful, but in the grand scheme of things, I would rather be alive and I would rather grow old with my husband."