Published: June 14, 2008 12:02 am         

Look Good ... Feel Better

Program helps female cancer patients with makeup, wigs

Learning how to adapt to what radiation and chemotherapy treatments can do to change a person’s body can be a difficult task, but the Look Good ... Feel Better program works to help women going through this process.

“In talking with survivors,” said Tenna Taylor, community manager for the American Cancer Society, “we found that women who look good tend to feel better. This is one service that is provided to women who just finished, are ready to start, or are in chemotherapy or radiation treatment.”

Linda Schad, program coordinator, explained that the program helps women learn basic makeup tips, learn how to help their dry skin and how to care for wigs.

On Monday at 5:30 p.m., Garrett Memorial Hospital will host this event in its board room and again on Aug. 11 at the community services building at the hospital. It is free and open to the public.

Those attending will receive a free makeup kit worth more than $200, according to Taylor.

Wigs, hats, scarves and turbans also will be available for free. This is all made available, Schad said, through the American Cancer Society.

At Monday’s event, cosmetologist and hair stylist Tammy Eggleston, owner of Shear Fantasy in Oakland, will help patients. Schad said that Eggleston donates her time for the program.

The goal of Look Good ... Feel Better, Taylor said, is to help women disguise the treatment they are receiving. She said that sometimes just simple tips, like how to use makeup to give skin a glowing appearance, can be the difference between looking sick and looking healthy.

“With makeup, we teach them how to not look the part of the sick person,” Taylor said.

She said the program also offers encouragement. While one patient might be early into therapy, she can look at another who is finishing hers and see the progress that patient is making. While one woman may be losing her hair, she can see that someone further along is now regrowing hers, Taylor said.

For more information on the program, contact Schad at (301) 533-4366 or Taylor at (301) 729-2145 for the Allegany County program to be presented Aug. 4.