Hi there, this is all new to me. Not just the breat cancer but chat rooms to, so I apologise if I’m not doing it properly. Has anyone out there had semi permenent make up done in particular, eyebrow tattoo’s? I’m about to get mine done just before chemo starts but my breast care nurse doesn’t know anyone who has had it done? can anyone either recommend it or tell me if I’m wasting money?
Hi mjjje
I don’t know if the tattooing works, you may not loose your eyebrows. I had 6 X FEC in feb this year, lost my hair after the 2nd one but managed to keep my eyebrows and lashes. They were quite thick before as i had never plucked them , i think they thinned slightly but no one else noticed.
Good Luck with your treatment
Sarah66
Hi Mjjje, welcome you will find plenty of support on hear. I have had 3 TAC and although have lost my hair my eyebrows and lashes are intact so maybe you should wait and see before jumping in?
Take Care
Sharon xx
Hi mjjje - like the others have said, I think it depends which chemo drugs you will be getting and on your reaction to them. My eyebrows stayed put through 4 cycles of Epirubicin and Cyclophosphomide, but now after three doses of Taxotere are very thin. I use a clinique eye pencil, which looks very natural, and also have Benefit’s browzings kit.
Good luck with the chemo,
Julie
x
Hi, I am having FEC (had 2x and due for 3rd next week). eyebrows thining and may not last but eyelashes in tact so am waiting and seeing. I did briefly consider it at the weekend whilst talking to a friend but (I may well be wrong as all I did was think about it and not research it) I believe its quite expensive and only lasts 3 months. I have spent quite a bit of money buying stuff “just in case” and some of it has been useful in real terms, others in terms of just making me feel prepared but not needed or wanted since (a bang to wear under headscarves springs to mind) so have decided to ignore this desire to buy something else I may or may not need and just see what happens, probably will go for the eye pencil. I did research eyebrow wigs too but decided what with a wig, false eyelashes (if I need them and yes I have brought them already) AND false eyebrows I may be setting myself up for serious embarressment on a windy day!!!
Sorry, probably not much help, but why not investigate cost/timings etc and wait and see. One thing my friend said (she has very little in the way of eyebrows naturally) is to have anything like that done before they go completely otherwise you wont remember where your eyebrow line should be and could end up looking very odd if they do them in the wrong place/shape/style to what you are used to.
Good luck and welcome to the forums, xx
I once gave a facial to a lady that had her brows and lip liner tattoo’d on. It had been done with a steady hand but it looked horrible and that put me off as i would have like eye liner doing at the time. If you want to look like jackie stallone then thats the way to do it. YUK.
Hi mjjje
If it helps you to know, I lost my eyebrows and eyelashes when my FEC changed to Tax. but they were the last body hair to be affected and the first to return so I’d say I was without for only about a month. During this time I had a family wedding (Great timing I know!) and a beautician friend came to my house and painstakingly stuck on individual lashes which looked fabulous … just for the day! - but it worked. - so maybe like the others said you could wait and see. The browzings stuff is good and I had something called Eyebrowz by ‘Benefit’ you could google it and see.
Good luck xx
hi mijje, as above my eyebrows and eyelashes were the last to go and are now coming back with a vengeance after about 3 weeks, they are thickening up nicely now as is my hair I have a very slight covering and i can see grey but hey it is hair, I am hoping I can get the gel out again soon as I like it spiked. Take care junieliz
Oh, how I long for the return of my eyebrows and eyelashes. I lost both when I started taxotere and avastin in February - they went within two or three weeks and are still not back, even though I finished in June. There is a sort of fine fluff, but nothing else. I think I would have like to have had something done to give the semblance of eyebrows - and it would have been worth it for me. And if they are only going to last for 3 months then I would run the risk of looking like Jackie Stallone, even!
Ostrich, I know exactly what you mean about windy days. I used to find myself holding onto my wig as if it were a hat. I have an image now of a sort of Mr Potatoe Head losing all his bits in a strong gust of wind!
Deirdre
I have lost most of my eyebrows now - but it took a while. MY hair is growing back and I have not finished yet - I just use and eyebrow pencil
I don’t use a wig - scarves and hats suit me best.
best wishes
gill
Thanks everyone for your advise on eyebrows! As it happens, ended up going back into hospital today as found a swelling under my armpit, so had to cancel eyebrow tattoo anyway. I’ll wait and see what happens once chemo starts, suppose it’s the least of my worries really, looking on bright side, i’ve saved myself nearly 400 quid!!
£400!!! Is that how much it is! Blimey, my mate said it was expensive but that much!!! Had it been £25 I might have given it a thought but at that price - no way! Whats the point in having well drawn eyebrows when everything else is so knackered looking, LOL!
Funnily enough the lady next to me when I was in hospital was a perm make-up artist…aka tattoo-er!
She had eyebrows, eye and lip liner done and I have to say it looks better when she wears make up than without. Yes, it is very expensive…she makes a fortune from it.
I’m quite fair naturally, so don’t think I would have it done (though she has offered me a freebie) but if I was dark, then I think I would, as it looks more natural.
I’ve had 3 x FEC and am just about to go over to TAX, so am prepared for the big fall out. Cold Cap has worked for me (so far) but I’ve got some false lashes and eyebrow pencil ready…
The lovely ladies on the Look Good Feel Better Course taught me to draw good eyebrows with pencil. Find out where your nearest LGFB is. Such a fun day it really gives you a lift. My eyebrows grew back within days of finishing chemo (like a furry bear I might add) so hairy that plucking was out of the question I had to get them waxed!
I’m shocked £400!!! Gosh, I’m sticking with my eyebrow pencil and hope I get the right place to draw them in. Either that or I will end up with a permanently supprised look LOL
I’m wiping my hair off the keyboard here! Had my head shaved #4 last week, but now hair is raining down everywhere I go, I guess I’ll have to shave down to a #1 baldie…I am not looking forward to this. Struggling a bit, not to get tearful!
Hey ho, good luck with the eyelashes and eyebrows all - still have mine for the time being!
Unfortunately my LGFB course is for the 2nd Feb, 8 days before my last FEC and the way my eyebrows are thinning there is no way they will last that long! Off to practice drawing them whilst there is still a hint of hair there cos as you say tawny owl I can see myself looking permanently surprised or quizzical if I cant get them the same! LOL!
The reason, I investigated the eyebrow tattoo in the first place is because I can’t get onto the look good course until April, and I’m completely useless at putting make up on. Haven’t completely ruled tattoo out, it’s got to be worth it if it makes you feel better surely? I’ve spent all that money on wigs which look quite good but if brows go it’s a complete giveaway! Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sure I would feel better about the whole thing, if people I didn’t know, couldn’t tell about my situation? Maybe it’s because it’s all ahead of me but loosing my hair scares me more than anything right now, perhaps once it actually happens i’ll feel differently and maybe even be passed caring about such trivial things?!!!
I wore my glasses with my wig and I don’t think that anyone noticed the lack of eyebrows. My last taxotere was in February and I still haven’t got many eyebrows back, the ones that are there are very fair. eyelashes are no problem. I wondering if I should use mascarer on them to darkened them up a bit.
love to all
Wizz
Hi folks
I thought I would add my experience regarding eyebrows, in case it is of any help. I have just finished 6 x FEC75 and, although my eyebrows have thinned a lot, there is still enough there for me to be able to disguise the fact with makeup. I didn’t get on with eyebrow pencil but found Revlon powder (two shades in a compact plus brush) very easy to use and quite subtle, My brows were quite well defined before and it has been lovely not to look washed out. I got the Revlon stuff on Ebay, by the way. I’ve been wearing scarves, although I have kept a light coating of hair because of the cold cap, so the eyebrows have been quite important in the absence of a fringe.
My eyebrows disappeared on Taxotere[last one May 2007]and still have not returned apart from some stray hairs in quite the wrong place.I too wear specs and just hope there is more to notice than my missing brows!No one has ever said they noticed so I dont think about it much-the rest of my hair is back except for underarms and I dont miss that!
Vxx