Look Good Feel Better rolls into town

Beautician Karen Thomas takes Dee Myhre through some beauty steps. Ms Thomas has volunteered her services since the Whangarei scheme started, and is one of seven women in the role. Photo / John Stone

Women dealing with cancer have enough big stuff to get through but a change in appearance is often the most public announcement of their condition and, privately, a painful one.

For many, the disease and its treatment is physically and mentally draining, which can show in hair loss including the eyebrows and lashes, and skin dryness or pigmentation.

Beautician Karen Thomas and Dee Myhre before the makeover.

The Cancer Society has been helping Northland women recover their sense of self for 20 years, through the therapeutic Look Good Feel Better service.

Every year, volunteers at Daffodil House in Whangarei run six workshops for up to 12 women, giving advice on skincare and cosmetics, wearing wigs, tying turbans, and generally being pampered.

"Sometimes there are more women than we can fit in so we have to hold an extra workshop," said local co-ordinator Robyn Warrin.

Whangarei woman Dee Myhre took part in the latest workshop in Whangarei. Ms Myhre said it was an opportunity to be with other people going through similar things.

"Lots of people feel a little isolated while they're dealing with what's happening to them. There's that sense that you're being treated beautifully by other people. We should all be able have that, but at a time like this it's extra-special," Ms Myhre said.

"It's good to have this confidence boost and have fun, and learn things. I had no idea how to draw eyebrows on ... I didn't know they had to be feathered."

Ms Myhre said Breastscreen New Zealand was another wonderful organisation, without which she would not have discovered her cancer. She returned to Whangarei from a teaching job in China to have treatment in New Zealand.

Next week another initiative rolls into Whangarei, a 12m-long container named Look Good Feel Better On the Move, which has been making its way from Dunedin to Northland since April, stopping at main centres to show the public what the scheme is all about. Ms Warrin said the On the Move container was a drive to attract more support and more volunteers.

The container will be parked at local sponsors Mitre 10 Mega carpark in Porowini Ave from 10am to 6pm on Thursday, June 23, and outside New World, Kerikeri, the next day. Mitre 10 Mega co-owner Ondine Waddle said the company had volunteered the carpark space because it wanted as many people as possible to learn about the programme.

All women who attend the Look Good Feel Better workshops are given a beauty pack to take home. The products - to the value of $2.5 million since the scheme started 25 years ago - are donated by the New Zealand Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association.