Selfcare Workshops for Young People with Cancer

Cancer and its treatment can dramatically change how you look. It can damage your body and your appearance. Some treatments affect your skin, nails, and hair.

Millions of teenagers worry about body image and this can be a risk for mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Young people fighting cancer are three times more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression because of their body image.

Our “beauty workshops” help the young people we support to embrace their new look, encouraging self-care and kindness. They’re led by trained volunteers from the beauty industry who are able to provide practical advice about changes to the skin, eyelashes, eyebrows, hair, nails and improving body confidence. Our sessions are relaxed, safe and encourage positivity through meditation, breathing and gentle exercise to help reduce feelings of isolation and anxiety. And, importantly, the bring together young people going through similar situations and tough times, creating a network of support that lasts way beyond the session itself.

As we write, we are planning our next event, and look forward to updating you next quarter. For your continued support of our work, helping teenagers and young adults to overcome the challenges cancer brings, we thank you.

In our Beauty Workshops, young people fighting cancer and the long-term impacts it has on their mental health and emotional wellbeing can try skincare and beauty products, they learn grooming, hair care and make-up application techniques with the help of experts. The sessions help the young people to

• Tune in to their body
• Understand their new body, deal with scarring, hair loss and changes in your body shape
• Rebuild their confidence

Chemo can change both the colour and the texture of the skin – it becomes red and dry. And both during and after treatment, all hair-bearing areas, including eyebrow and eyelashes will shed over time.

In an Instagram era where #browgoals are an absolute obsession, young girls dealing with hair loss from treatment can feel more vulnerable than ever. Eyebrows create the frame and balance to your face and make a huge difference to your look, boosting your confidence.

With this in mind, we headed off for an incredible pamper day at Benefit HQ with eleven of the young girls that we support. 

The event was arranged in partnership with our friends at Look Good Feel Better, who started the day with a masterclass, teaching the young girls so many amazing cleansing and makeup tips and tricks.

We started the day with foundation matching to deal with the young people’s post chemo skin changes, followed by sculpting the face with blush.

We had an amazing lunch followed by a tour of the Benefit Office. The girls were given lots of goodies, took full advantage of all the Instagram able spots and heard some quirky stories about how Benefit began.

This amazing day ended with a brow masterclass from one of the top makeup artists at Benefit.   Eyebrows play a big role in your overall appearance and can make a big difference in how confident you feel, so learning tips for quick, easy, confidence boosting brow creation that the young ladies can do at home was a great way to end the session.

Throughout the session, everyone pampered themselves with the amazing goodies that they received, got to know one another and had the opportunity to ask the professionals any makeup or skincare related questions that they had.

By being a part of this event, everyone was able to:
-    Interact and socialise
-    Learn a new skill
-    Improve self-confidence and self-esteem
-    Enjoy an opportunity to relax and unwind
-    Reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness

To everyone who has supported our project, a HUGE thank you. With your continued support we will be able to bring together more teenagers and young adults to overcome the challenges cancer brings.