PHOTO BY RUTH L ITTMANN
lashes and both eyebrows during chemotherapy. Currently,
she adheres to a regimen of taxol, a cancer-fighting chemi-
cal derived from the bark of yew trees.
Ms. Klein, who arrived at the seminar wearing a reddish-
brown wig, says it is "too bouffant. I'm hoping to find a new
one."
As for her eyebrows, she pencils them in, "but sometimes,
they don't match."
"Cancer is a series of losses," Ms. Klein reflects. "You lose
body parts. You lose the ability to do things. You lose your
looks. But, if I put on make-up, a hat and a nice wig, I feel
presentable."
Ms. Feldman used a soft brown eye pencil to place three
dots on her model's brow: one directly above the edge of Ms.
Klein's right nostril. Another,
Karen Shapiro receives a
directly above her pupil. And a
make over from Ms. Feldman.
third, toward the right side of
her brow bone.
Next, Ms. Feldman played connect-the-dots. With short
pencil strokes, she drew an arch, then smoothed the lines
over with taupe powder.
She recommended using charcoal, brown and plum eye
liners at the very base of the upper lid to create the illusion
of lashes.
A cancer patient's complexion might change after
chemotherapy. If it becomes sallow, foundation with laven-
der tones is best, Ms. Feldman advises. If the skin appears
ruddy, chose a foundation with mint green tones.
Ms. Feldman stresses the importance of keeping make-
up clean and new because patients' immune systems are
compromised and they don't want to increase their chance
of infection with unsanitary cosmetics.
Next: the hair concern.
Karen Shapiro of Southfield attended the luncheon with
her friend, Ms. Klein. Serving as the second of three models,
Ms. Shapiro also underwent a make-over. Luckily, she didn't
need a wig. Although she has lost all her hair twice, it has
grown back in rich blond curls.
Not so with many women.
Ms. Feldman says one problem with wigs is that they gen-
erally contain too many tresses. The weight and the big shape
of the wig often causes people to comb the hair down.
Don't, Ms. Feldman advises. That just makes them look
wiggier. The key, she says, is to fluff up the wigs after get-
ting them cut to style at your favorite salon.
Although companies like Revlon are producing wearer-
friendlier hair pieces, many cancer patients say wigs are
downright uncomfortable.
"The minute I get home, I yank my wig off and put on a
turban," Ms. Feldman says.
With a turban, hat, sunglasses, lipstick and rouge, "you
can go from sick to chic."
Ms. Feldman has a husband and two young children who
live in St. Louis. When she was 19, her father died of breast
cancer, which killed yet another male member of her fami-
ly more recently, as well as her maternal grandmother.
Ms. Feldman's sister died of the disease, and in 1990, she
too developed breast cancer. It didn't come as a surprise.
-
T
Laurie Feldman
puts a happier face
on cancer patients.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
he woman whose father died of breast cancer and
who, herself, has undergone multiple surgeries
to fight the disease, looks as though she could
glide down a runway with flowers and a Miss
America crown.
During an Oct. 12 luncheon sponsored by Hud-
son's Department Store at Northland Mall, Lau-
rie Brin Feldman, 37, spoke of looking good in
spite of sickness. She addressed a roomful of
breast-cancer survivors and others who say the female epi-
demic has struck someone they love.
"You do not have to go through this experience looking as
though you have the word 'cancer' stamped on your fore-
head," Ms. Feldman says.
Tools of vanity — lip liner, scarves and rouge — comprise
an Rx for beauty at the least likely of times. Duringthe lun-
cheon, Ms. Feldman used three women to demonstrate how
to put a healthier face on cancer patients.
Carole Chase Klein of West Bloomfield served as one of
her models. Ms. Klein, an attorney, has lost all her hair, eye-
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Wigs, historically uncomfortable, are becoming wearer-friendlier.
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