BEAUTY
HOW TO FIND THE BEST
beauty products WHEN YOU’RE GOING THR OUGH TREATMENT
Finding beauty products you feel confident using when you are going through treatment for breast cancer can be a challenge. Which is why campaigner Helen Addis, otherwise known as @thetittygritty, and beauty expert, Lisa Potter-Dixon, are doing some of the hard work for you...
Helen Addis knows how it feels. ‘Dealing with a cancer diagnosis is one thing... but when you’re then told that while on treatment your beauty regime is going to have to change and you need to avoid certain chemicals then it really feels like a blow to your selfconfidence,’ says Helen (top left). ‘I wanted to look and feel as much like “me” as possible. I didn’t want to have to re-think my entire bathroom cabinet and make up bag. ‘After my diagnosis I had to have a mastectomy the following week. I was then quickly put onto chemotherapy and my hair and skin
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changed dramatically. I felt like I aged overnight and wanted desperately to feel attractive and feminine again. ‘I was told by my breast nurses to use mild products and avoid anything heavily fragranced because your skin can get understandably more sensitive. I was also very aware that my body was under so much stress from the chemo chemicals that I wanted to use the most kind products possible... to give my body that extra special care it needed. ‘So off I went with my shopping list to the high street to buy my new products. I walked up and down the aisles looking at the ingredients on the back of the bottles but it was like I was trying to decipher a foreign language. I was feeling so overwhelmed and scared about what I could and couldn’t