Make-up and self-image during cancer treatment

You are being treated for cancer and you want to maintain your family, social or even professional activities without having to endure scrutinising looks from other people? Make-up can help you hide signs of fatigue, highlight your eyebrows, give your face colour... Here are some tips.

Taking care of your skin each day during cancer treatment

Finding the right make-up

It is not uncommon for cancer treatments to have an impact on your skin. Whether you are being treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy, your skin is probably drier than usual. Perhaps you have also noticed that your complexion has changed, that it is less radiant, that redness has appeared... There is nothing to stop you from reducing these signs. But there is make-up and there is make-up: the one you should use is corrective make-up for sensitive skin, adapted to your skin, which you can only find in pharmacies and beauty stores.

Adopting gentle hygiene during cancer treatment

Restoring a healthy glow

Signs of fatigue, dark circles, skin rashes... Your face may be marked by the treatments. You can erase these marks in no time with make-up for sensitive skin.

Fluid corrective foundations will allow you to easily even out your complexion and blur the signs of fatigue. Apply with fingertips, a sponge or make-up brush, starting in the centre of the face and working outwards.

And don't forget: a touch of rosy powder on the cheekbones and a touch of coloured lip balm are enough to make you look good in a flash.

Soothing acneiform rashes during cancer treatment

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I found it hard to look at myself in the mirror and I didn't want my children to see me like this. I decided to wear a wig and redraw my eyebrows.

Muriel

Make-up for eyelashes

Some treatments also affect the hair bulb cells and can cause eyelashes to fall out. While waiting for regrowth, you can create an illusion

Sensitive eyes

The loss of eyelashes makes the eyes more vulnerable to light, dust, etc. It is more important than ever to wear glasses when outdoors. But there is nothing to stop you from applying make-up to your eyelashes, provided you take a few precautions.

Creating the illusion of lashes

For example, you can draw small dots on the eyelid with a black pencil for sensitive eyes to imitate the root of your lashes, directly on the eyelid or after a lighter pencil line. When they start to grow back, choose a high tolerance mascara to safely enhance your eyes.

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Redrawing eyebrows

They structure your face and enhance your eyes. Before starting your treatment, you can practice drawing them with a correction pencil to get familiar with your eyebrow line. A photo can also help you to keep their original shape.

Here are some tips to help you redraw your eyebrows:

The points of reference: they start on the vertical line “ nose wing - internal angle of the eye ”, and end on the diagonal line “ nose wing - external angle of the eye ”. To avoid having a round or circumflex eyebrow, find the highest point of your eyebrow on the diagonal " nose angle - pupil ".
Pencil shade: use an eyebrow corrector pencil that matches the shade of your hair or hairpiece, " blonde " for blonde to light brown hair, " brown " for brown to dark hair. And avoid black, which hardens the features, and grey, which ages.
The line: for a more natural result, make small slanted lines as if you were drawing the hairs one by one, powder to fix the correction and finish by blending the line with a pencil brush.

FRIENDLY (AND EXPERT) ADVICE

Taking an interest in make-up during cancer treatment is anything but superficial.

Is this the right time to talk about eyebrow pencils and foundation when you are battling cancer? Of course, and it is important even. The nursing teams are well aware that this is a question of self-image and that it has a major impact on the motivation of patients.

So don't hesitate to put on make-up if it makes you feel better. And not only to correct or conceal: mosaic powders or lip perfector balms are also there to enhance your complexion or your lips.

Don't dare or don't know where to start? You should know that some hydrotherapy centres offer post-cancer treatments, including corrective and medical make-up workshops for their patients. These workshops are open to both women and men for correcting imperfections on the face and body.

The right steps for hiding scars

This difficult period may leave some traces. But some medical make-up products will allow you to hide them. Corrector sticks, for example. Green will neutralise a red scar, yellow a purple mark and coral a brown scar. Then, layer on a compact foundation cream, and set with a veil of translucent powder. Finish with a spray of thermal spring water and your scar will be concealed for the day.