Women battling cancer the focus of makeover fundraiser

A fundraiser to help women who are fighting cancer feel more empowered through cosmetics, hair alternatives and skin care was held on P.E.I. Saturday.

People treat you differently when you don't have eyebrows or you don't have eyelashes or you don't have any hair.- Deana Roberts, cosmetic manager

Shoppers Drug Marts in Charlottetown and Summerside hosted the annual Fall Beauty Gala, a nation-wide initiative to make sure women undergoing cancer treatment stay strong and confident.

Half the money from each consultation goes to Beauty Gives Back, Canada's beauty industry charity. The group offers programs such as Look Good Feel Better sessions that teach beauty techniques to women with cancer so they can manage appearance-related side effects from treatment.

Anne MacArthur has been cancer free for 12 years, but says she'll never forget what it's like to undergo treatment.

"You feel so yucky inside, you don't want to portray that outside," she said.

Back then, she was invited to a Look Good Feel Better session, which are held once a month in both Charlottetown and Summerside stores.

"For instance, there was so many people getting makeup done, their hair was being teased, even if it was a wig, it was still being done. It just made you feel so good that day," said MacArthur.

"Even though you might have had treatment an hour before, you went in that room and got all this done to you, it was like, 'Ah, man, I feel 100 per cent better now.'"

'Helps people mentally stay positive'

Deana Roberts, cosmetic manager, says people don't know what women with cancer deal with on a daily basis.

"People treat you differently when you don't have eyebrows or you don't have eyelashes or you don't have any hair," said Roberts.

Most attending the event had a connection to someone who has lived with cancer.

Hanna Landry has an aunt who battled breast cancer and had amastectomy.

"She was like a mother figure to me, so I have a lot of experience with someone who has had cancer treatments in the past," Landry said.

She says it's important to support the cause because it gives women hope.

"Helps people mentally stay positive, and just to live life to the fullest."