As a graduate of Look Good … Feel Better, I want to share this with you because I’ve experienced the power of LGFB. Initially, I didn’t think it would help me feel better because I didn’t have chemotherapy or radiation. I felt ugly when I looked at my naked body, which no amount of make-up would fix. I was about to be proven wrong.
Sitting in a room with other women, many wearing scarves and wigs, I felt out of place. My survivor’s guilt really kicked in when it was assumed I had chemotherapy because of the length of my hair, which has been short since high school. As a Stage 0, DCIS cancer patient, I didn’t want anyone to think I suffered more than I had. Despite my mastectomy and TRAM flap reconstruction, without the chemotherapy and hair loss experience, I felt like an outsider.
The instructor walked us through make-up application and the conversation flowed freely. As we talked and shared, we became girls enjoying girly things. I fit right in. Then the group encouraged the woman sitting next to me to take off her wig for the first time in public. Because I genuinely liked short hair, I was very sincere when I assured her how chic she looked.
Sharing such an intense moment drew us all into a sacred, caring circle – to which I definitely belonged. It was one of the first experiences that taught me I was not alone. It also was the first time I used my cancer experience in order to help someone else. For more on that part of the story, read my earlier post about that day here.
If you or someone you know is going through treatment, let them know about the Look Good .. Feel Better program. Do you have a Look Good … Feel Better story to share?
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
Comments
I had a very positive
I had a very positive experience and wrote a post about it. Never really considered myself a “graduate” though. Funny. Here’s the link.
http://nancyspoint.com/look-good-feel-better-a-program-to-help-women-wit…
LGFB: Make- Up and a Sense of Belonging
Nancy:
Isn’t it funny that you didn’t think you should be in the class either? Maybe cancer makes us all feel like outsiders until we learn we are part of a new tribe. Ever since that day, I have felt like I belong and am lifted up by being a member of this community. As you learned too from your experience, it’s really about so much more than make-up.
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
Thrilled to hear you enjoyed it.
It’s so fantastic to read your post, Debbie. Facing Cancer Together is an initiative connected with Look Good Feel Better Canada as an online community that continues after the workshop (extending that caring circle). So to hear you had this experience of girly-fun and seeing women embrace their beauty is so, so wonderful.
I was like you at my first session of LGFB – tentative and uncertain. But that melted away. With the attention, the makeup, and the miracle of realizing my eyelashes had returned (thank you mascara!) . . . it made me feel like myself again.
Thank you for sharing this story. I hope it encourages others to attend. 🙂
Where We Go Now 
It’s Just a Fun Time!
Catherine:
I was so happy that I attended my LGFB session, so I really do hope to encourage others to participate. You’re so right that all the nervousness melts away and it’s just fun! Who couldn’t use more fun during such a difficult time?
Survival > Existence,
Debbie