It started out simply: In the late '80s, a doctor asked Ed Kavanaugh, a leader in the cosmetics industry, if he could facilitate a makeover for a young woman undergoing chemotherapy. She’d become so depressed by the physical side effects of her treatment that she wouldn’t leave her room. After a visit from a makeup artist, the young cancer patient seemed to have a renewed energy, approaching her treatment with vigor. Kavanaugh started to think bigger.

He went to his colleagues at the Personal Care Products Council (the cosmetic industry's trade association) and pitched a free program designed to help women cope with the appearance-related side effects of chemotherapy. The idea was to give women beauty tips as a way to increase self-esteem and learn to approach their treatment with confidence. And so Look Good…Feel Better was born. The first two programs launched at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Look Good…Feel Better workshops can be found in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and more than a dozen countries around the world.

How It Works
Each Look Good…Feel Better workshop is a two-hour, hands-on tutorial that includes a 12-step skin care and makeup application lesson, nail-care techniques, and a demonstration on dealing with hair loss using wigs, scarves and hats. The National Cosmetology Association, the professional organization of makeup artists, hairstylists, wig experts, estheticians and nail technicians, helps to recruit many of the Look Good…Feel Better workshop leaders. Other volunteers come to the program through the American Cancer Society (ACS), which manages volunteer training and serves as the primary source of information to the public. Workshops are given at care clinics, hospitals, local ACS offices and community centers.

The Personal Care Products Council provides financial support, makeup and other materials. Cosmetic and personal-care companies like Estee Lauder, Chanel, L'Oreal, Mary Kay, Avon, Revlon, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Physicians Formula (among many other Council member companies) donate over one million individual products (all together valued at $10 million) and raise more than $2 million in cash for Look Good...Feel Better every year. Thanks to the product donations, each woman who participates in a Look Good...Feel Better workshop is given a small tote bag filled with makeup and skin-care products based on her skin tone. There’s also a step-by-step instruction booklet to reference after the session. The program has since expanded to help men and teens as well.

To get more information on any of the Look Good…Feel Better programs, call 1-800-395-LOOK, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week or go their web site.

NEXT: Nancy Lumb takes back the femininity that chemo stole >>