5 Empowering Beauty Tips For Those Going Through Cancer

Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming and really shake up your world. As well as taking a toll on your body physically, it can also have a knock-on effect on your confidence, self-image and your mental wellbeing.
At UKLASH, we aim to be here for you through every age and every stage of life, finding ways to help you feel bolder, stronger and more confident. In this article, we hope to give helpful beauty tips for cancer patients, with a focus on self-care during cancer, letting you in on a few ways to give yourself a beauty boost and help to make things a little better on those down days.

5 Empowering Beauty Tips For Those Living With Cancer

1. Paint Dark Nails For Protection During Chemotherapy - If chemotherapy is a part of your cancer journey, doing all you can to try and protect your nails from damage during this time will only help your post-chemo beauty journey, and help you get back to feeling yourself quicker. One of the best ways to adopt nail care during chemotherapy is to paint your nails a dark colour. This can help to cover up any discolouration or markings that you might already have and can provide a barrier to the chemotherapy treatment to help protect your nail from future discolouration as much as possible. Luckily, colours such as dark reds, purples and browns happen to be trending this autumn/winter season, which means you’ll have a cutting edge manicure too! One thing to remember is that it’s best to avoid having a gel, BIAB or acrylic manicure during chemotherapy as this can weaken and worsen the effects that the chemotherapy treatment is already having on your nails. Instead, try using classic nail polish and using a nail strengthener as a base to help strengthen and protect your nails from any unnecessary damage.

2. Sleep On Silk To Prevent Excessive Hair Loss - One of the most well known side effects caused by cancer is hair loss during chemotherapy. Although not everyone who receives chemotherapy treatment experiences hair loss, for those that do, it can be very distressing and make a situation that is already difficult, even harder to bear. If you’re concerned about hair loss and are wanting to preserve and protect your hair during cancer treatment as much as possible, one way you can do this is by sleeping on a silk pillow or using a silk head wrap when you go to bed. During the night we tend to toss and turn, and with our head laid on our pillow, we are unknowingly causing a lot of friction on our hair which can lead to breakage and unnecessary hair loss. By swapping out our standard pillowcase with a smooth, silk one, we can help to reduce the amount of friction on the hair and prevent any additional hair loss and breakage that might happen through the night.

3. Microblading & Makeup Throughout Cancer Treatment - We all know hair loss can be a common side effect that comes with going through chemotherapy, leading to the loss of lashes and brows too. We often underestimate the effect brows have on your face - they help to frame your eyes and provide the finishing touch to your overall look. A low maintenance way to give the effect of full brows, even when the hairs are actually gone, is by getting microblading treatment. This is when a small handheld device is used to deposit ink into the top layers of the skin, taking on a similar technique to tattooing to create hair-like strokes. If this is an option you are considering to keep your natural eyebrow shape intact throughout your cancer journey, it’s important to take a couple of things on board. Firstly, this is not a treatment that can be undertaken once you have started your chemotherapy treatment, you would need to pre-plan and have it done beforehand. When undergoing chemotherapy, your body, and more specifically your skin, is very sensitive and vulnerable and by using a needle to deposit ink into the skin, you are putting your body through additional risk of infection, plus it might be even more painful to undergo than it would be typically. We recommend always consulting with your Oncologist or GP before booking your microblading appointment, even if you haven't yet started chemotherapy, to make sure everything is safe and you aren’t putting yourself at risk. The second thing to consider is cost. Sadly, having cancer can not only have an impact on your health and happiness, but also on your bank balance too, so it’s important to prioritise how you want to spend your money. Microblading typically costs around £200-£600 per session, with results lasting around 1-3 years. If these two reasons leave you thinking that microblading might not be the treatment for you, we have a great value, low-risk alternative in our UKBROW Brow Pencil. Arriving in 3 buildable colourways, its ultra-fine tip pencil does a fantastic job at creating hair-like strokes whether there is real hair there or not.

4. Treat Yourself Throughout Your Cancer Journey - Cancer can be tough, both physically and mentally, so splashing out on a little treat from time to time and investing in beauty during cancer treatment can be a great way to help boost your mood and discover how to feel beautiful during cancer! Whether that means investing in gentle skincare for sensitive skin or purchasing a new lip colour to give yourself that little beauty boost, it’s about finding little personal ways to make yourself feel better mentally every day.

5. Use Hair Growth Serums For Recovery Post-Chemotherapy - At UKLASH, we’re experts when it comes to lash, brow and hair growth serums. Of course, when undergoing cancer treatment there is a possibility of hair loss, so trying to counteract these effects with serums can be a great way to minimise the side effects and make you feel like ‘you’ again as soon as possible. Before integrating any new beauty products into your skin, hair or beauty routines it’s always important to consult your Oncologist or GP to make sure it’s safe. Once you’ve been given the green light, you can start to integrate our powerful products into your everyday routine to minimise lash, brow and hair loss! Our UKHAIR Hair Growth Serum is easy to apply and packed with clinically proven ingredients to help repair and protect your hair and encourage regrowth. It combines AnaGain™(Pea Sprout Extract) with Phytic Acid and Turmeric to revitalise and stimulate hair growth at the scalp, whilst the addition of Lemon Fruit Water conditions and protects your hard-earned regrowth! Our #1 rated Eyelash Serums can help to speed up your eyelash recovery after cancer treatment using a powerful combination of active ingredients to accelerate growth during the Anagen Phase of the lash growth cycle, aka the Growth Phase, resulting in longer, thicker and fuller-looking lashes - fast! When it comes to growing back brows, our award-winning Eyebrow Serum can help you get there quicker. It’s fortified with Vitamin B5 (Panthenol), Green Tea extract, and Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17 — an amino acid peptide known for encouraging keratin growth and strengthening your brow hairs for fast and visible results!

Claire's Lash Loss Journey

"I’m on chemotherapy drugs and I seem to go in cycles of my lashes becoming really thin and patchy… UKLASH always seems to be my saviour!!! This photo is the first time I’ve been able to wear mascara in a few months ❤️
This is a photo I took on a recent trip to London. I haven’t zoomed in…. But if you do, you can see how luscious and long my lashes are!!! I’m currently on a chemo drug that makes me lose my lashes around every 6 months, but I keep applying UKLASH and when they grow back I’m asked if they are real lashes!!"