Dear All,
Getting prepared for chemotherapy and was wondering if anyone had any advise for eyelashes and eyebrows?
Many thanks
Hi,
Get yourself to a look good feel better session, they teach you how to do it all there and you come away with lots of lovely freebies.
To be fair, I’ve got one chemo session left and managed to keep hold of most of my eyebrows and eyelashes so far. Enough so I don’t have to do anything about false ones.
Em x
I didnt loose mine till number 4 and i had a few lashes on each eye and a few eyebrows. I found i couldnt attach the false eyelashes to what i had and when i did pull it off it pulled some more eyelashes off!!! i found a liquid eyeliner,black,lining your upper eyelid made you look less odd and eyeshadow on the old brows.
good luck.
Hi
Just to let you know that I had 4 x epi and 4 x xeloda but never lost my eyebrows or eyelashes. Not everybody does. My hair came back in after epi at a furious rate. Not the same as before and very curly but no grey.
Don’t stress about it. Whatever goes will come back.
Mal x
Many thanks Ladies… you would think that I would have learned not to ‘sweat the small stuff’ by now! One consolation is that it will be from easter through to September - I am happy to live in sunglasses, just a little concerned about work.
Marguerite
I bought false eyelashes in readiness, but in fact found it easier just
to put on thicker eyeliner. My aunt refused to believe thatI’d had chemo. I had to show her my head!!!
Hi, due to start chemo soon and wondered if anyone had thought of getting eyebrows tattooed on? My sister had hers done (not due to having bc) but they look quite severe. Would be glad of any advice.
Thanks,
Kiti
Hi everyone - just add my advice re. eyelashes. Most of mine have gone and never had long lashes anyway. I have been using a product for about a year made by Lancome called Cils booster which is the white stuff that you apply before mascara to make lashes look longer. Decided to try it on my almost invisible lashes and have found it does give me some respectable lashes, so I am quite happy. It’s not cheap (£18.50 from Boots) but worth it as one tube lasts a long time. Use brow powder from the body shop and a special brow brush for eyebrows. hope this helps. Marli
hi eveyone Am in dread/anticipation of loosing eyelashes/brows with FEC chemo. One of my lovely friends who is a beauty therapist got me some eyebrow stencils, little polythene patches with eyebrow shaped cut outs to eye pencil through. I also got a CD from ‘Look good ,feel better’ (Google this site)which has some tips for make up generally. Am booked for a class locally but there is a 3 month waiting list.I have very pale colouring and my brows/lashes are very light so am experimenting with liner etc. How vain is that?I feel that the hair loss there will be more obvious might as well have sign on my forehead. (Have a wig lined up so hope that it will hide the worst BC signs) I have only told close friends and a few colleagues so far as I cannot bring myself to discuss it with anyone else and have chosen people that I feel safe with so far.As another close friend (BC 17 years ago) says she can’t even open the front door without her mascara on.What a wimp I am LOL and hugs coming your way
Hi oscarbailey,
What regime will you be on? I had 3 FEC, 3 TAX and only lost my hair on FEC. when I started TAX, my hair started to grow back but my lashes and brows started to go!!
I wear false lashes everyday. No one knows they’re not my own. I use Duo eyelash glue as it’s waterproof and your eyes will be watery with chemo. I tend to use Dimples eyelashes because they’re quite cheap. It costs me about £8 a week for lashes. For the brows, I pencil them in but you can get eyebrow stencils which are really good if your not too confident with a pencil.
You really must line the upper lid inside and out when the lashes go.
For me, losing the lashes were the biggest issue. I have really thick long lashes normally. I’m also a beautician and have worked most of my way through chemo (giving people semi permanent eyelash extensions etc…)and I’m sooooo can’t wait til mine are back!!
At night, I look in the mirror and look healthier than I ever have. Then I remove my make up and lashes…and my wig…then my boob…oh!!! Then I look ill!!
If you haven’t sorted yourself a wig out yet, please look at the Rene of Paris range, they’re so convincing, especially the bobs.
Paula xxx
Paula,
Thanks for the post, I am scheduled for 4 FEC and 4 TAX, so pretty resigned to losing all hair.
I have spent a week ‘googling’ eyebrows - both transfer types and pencils, will have both at the ready. Thanks for the eyelash advice, there doesnt seem to be any advice anywhere. The only ‘alopecia’ lashes are from the States and £20 a pair, so I will be straight to Boots. I know I have more important things to worry about, but if I look good I will be better places to deal with everything and my children will deal with it better.
Re wig, I got a rene of Paris long bob (I think it was the amore range, and the wig is called Tatum). It looks nothing like the pictures on the internet - but really convincing. My 17 year old daughter says it looks like my own hair after a visit to the hairdressers except with a fringe. I have my step son this weekend, he also thought it was a new haircut with a fringe!
I would love to go to a look good session, but they are just too far away and I still cant drive…
Sorry to ask for free professional advice, but do you have recommendations on makes / brands of make up?
Marguerite
Not sure Ican comment about eyelashes but my beauty therapist friend showed me how to apply a mineral eye liner powder from Bare Essentials stocked in House of Fraser( I do not live near a branch) so am experimenting with powder eye shadows. Re wigs Mine is also from the Amore range of Rene of Paris. I got it in Trendco. in London. It was either Pre-Raphaelite long copper coloured curls or something like my own. The girl there was brilliant and spot on with her choice of wigs for me,both style and colour. She brought 4 out (I was a bit disappointed with so few) but we quickly dismissed 2 and I tried 2 on from the display and they were completely wrong, so from the 2 left , same style(Parker) slightly different colours I chose one and it is similar to a style I had last year but with a slightlt swept to one side fringe. I have spent all Sat cooking up a storm as my son, daughter-in-law and grandsons are coming next week-end for 4 days and if I am wearing the wig by then don’t want to be opening the oven door and getting blasts of heat on it.Also wearing a hat from time to time, perhaps I will become a hat person, can’t seem to conjure up any enthusiasm for scarves.Good luck with the lashes would love to hear how you get on. Libby 2010
Hi Marguerite,
I found Urban Decay 24/7 waterproof eyeliners were good. Also, Bobby Brown gel eyeliners are really waterproof, but will still wash off with a Simple face wipe. I usually mascara my falsies to my 5 remaining lashes, but have stopped wearing waterproof mascara because I don’t want to bother them too much removing it!
I was using Naturalites strip lashes which were lovely but were costing too much each week, as I use them once and throw them away. Then I found some called Dimples 116 or 118 which cost around £2 for 2 pairs. They’re great for through the week.
If you have a Sally or Salon Services near you, you can buy Naturalites far cheaper than you’d buy them in Boots and you don’t have to be in the trade to buy from there.
I have the Rene of Paris Tori and Codi wigs in Burgandy and Dark Chocolate which are nowhere near my own hair shade, but thought I’d experiment a bit!! I wear whichever suits my mood!
Hope this helps
Paula xxx