Program helps cancer patients regain their self-esteem
Published: December 3, 2005
Most kits have $200 to $300 worth of products, including moisturizers, cleansers, cold creams, powders, blushes, lipsticks and eyeliners, said Kirsten Bruce, a Salina-based health initiatives specialist for the American Cancer Society.
“Our main goal is to make women cancer patients look as normal as possible,” she said. “We want them to be able to walk into a store and not have people know they have cancer.”
Makeup techniques covered in the program include cleansing and moisturizing dry or discolored skin; applying foundation, blush and powder; teaching women how to paint on eyebrows (which also can fall out during chemotherapy); how to wear and take care of a wig; tying scarves and wearing turbans and hats; and keeping nails strong and protected from fungal infections and brittleness.
Licensed cosmetologists are required to attend a four-hour training session through the American Cancer Society to be certified to work with cancer patients. They then must be recertified every two years, Bruce said.
Dixie Jones, owner of a salon in Salina is a hair stylist and cosmetologist and has volunteered for 10 years to teach the Look Good, Feel Better program locally. Jones always felt passion for the program, but it became even more important to her after she was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.
“Through my own experience with breast cancer, I knew how it felt to not have hair and to wear a wig, and how sick you can get,” said Jones, 63. “I know what they’re going through now.”
Her cancer now in remission, Jones volunteers for the group program and also conducts private sessions at her salon.
The Look Good, Feel Better program started in Salina about 20 years ago, co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the former St. John’s Hospital. The first volunteer was Salina cosmetologist Shirley Jorgensen.
“My sister had just died of cancer, and I felt a program like this was very important,” said Jorgensen, now retired. “It turned out to be the best thing I could have done to help me in my own grief.”
To Jorgensen, there was no greater satisfaction than meeting an ill, frightened woman and in the space of an hour teaching her how to feel better about herself. Jorgensen got to know many of these women and their families and witnessed many who overcame their cancer.
“I would pass on these success stories onto my new clients, and it helped with their own healing process,” she said.
The most valuable thing the program gave her, Freyholtz said, was the pleasure of looking in the mirror again and liking the person she saw.
“My husband noticed the difference in the way I looked right away,” she said. “Now I can get up in the morning and feel much better about myself. I can be me again.”
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