I attended a program at the hospital last week called “Look Good, Feel Better,” which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society. The program is free of charge to cancer patients and is held at hospitals all over the county. They are offered through the cancer resource center at my cancer center. The people who run these sessions are professional aestheticians who volunteer their time to help cancer patients dealing with hair loss and the skin changes associated with chemo. The goal is to look help us look our best and feel better and more confident about ourselves as we go through this not so flattering period. The volunteers give two hours of their time to lead women through a whole makeup routine. The session starts with skin care, and includes the proper ways to apply concealer, foundation and blush, how to accentuate the eyes with liner, shadow and mascara, and, if necessary, how to pencil in eyebrows. They even show you how to make an easy to head wrap.
I arrived an hour late, because my weekly half hour infusion got off to an incredibly slow start. Fortunately they were kind enough to let me join the group despite missing the first half of the program. The leader was gracious and didn't seem at all put out at all by the addition of a latecomer. She quickly got me oriented and moved me along the list of things to practice until I was nearly caught up to the rest of the group. First stop was concealer to hide any darkness under the eyes. Next, foundation for making the skin tone even, then powder and blush. From there we went to the eyes. I was encouraged to use more eyeliner than I usually do, and it actually looked decent and not too overpowering. Then I put on a little bit of mascara, which I don’t often use, but it really is helpful with thinning eyelashes. Next should have been the drawing of eyebrows, but the instructor took one look at mine and said that we didn’t need to worry about drawing mine in. She even suggested, very politely, that I might want to get my eyebrows shaped for better effect, by having a professional wax! She was correct -- they have gotten a little bushy and out of hand. I haven’t touched them in ages, anticipating losing my brows, but they haven’t shown signs of giving up yet. Although I have since done a little plucking, I’m encouraging those parts of my eyebrows that I left in place to stay strong and hang in there, literally, for duration of my treatment. That seems much easier than my trying to draw them on! We’ll see how much my luck holds.
She finished up the session by showing us how to make a great turban from the bottom half of a tee shirt. It's a pretty amazing trick, and looked great on her models. The only problem, from my perspecive was that her sample tee shirt was brightly patterned and quite pretty. Mine are generally plain, one color or at most, stripped. I don't think they'd work to the same good effect.
Our instructor was great and very attentive to the dozen or so individuals who were in the class. But I have to admit that, like a kid in a candy shop, one of the best things about “Look Good, Feel Better” was that we were each given a whole bag of makeup to experiment with during the class, and then got to take it all home. All of this is made possible thanks to the generosity of companies like American Beauty, Aveda, Avon, Chanel, Dove, Estee Lauder, Lancome, L’Oreal, Mary Kay, Maybelline, Origins and Shiseido – each of which was represented in my bag of goodies, although I know other companies contribute as well.
It was great to be in room full of women, all trying to do their best to look and feel as normal and good as possible, while going through some strange changes to our bodies. What a great program! My sincere thanks to the ACS, the cancer center and the wonderful volunteers who put on these session. I hope my efforts will make them proud!
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