Cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, often lead to hair loss or thinning, which includes the eyebrows and eyelashes. Since eyebrows frame your face and accentuate your eyes, losing them can significantly impact your self-esteem and how you perceive yourself. This article provides comprehensive eyebrow makeup tips and solutions for chemo patients to recreate natural-looking eyebrows, regain confidence, and feel more like themselves during and after treatment.
Chemotherapy disrupts the normal hair cycle, particularly treatments used for breast and gynecologic cancers, leading to hair loss, including eyebrows and eyelashes. While this is a common side effect, it can be particularly distressing for some individuals. As Dr. Jonathan Leventhal, director of the onco-dermatology program at the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale, explains, eyelash regrowth after chemo usually begins several months after treatment ends. However, a percentage of people may experience persistent hair loss or sparse regrowth.
Before diving into makeup application, it's essential to prepare the eyebrow area properly.
Several makeup products and techniques can help recreate the look of natural eyebrows.
Use a soft eyebrow pencil to create eyebrows. For blondes and redheads, a taupe color works well. Then use an angled brush to apply matching brow powder with light, feathery strokes. The pencil helps the powder to last. Use a sharp eyebrow pencil so you can draw fine lines. This can look very natural but takes practice. Some eyebrow pencils have a universal colour.
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Eyebrow wax can be used as a base for eyebrow powder. It helps hold the colour in place. It’s good for filling in gaps and keeping them in shape. You can put the wax on first and then the shadow.
Eyebrow gel helps keep your eyebrows from flaking and drying. It also helps keep them in place. You can use eyebrow gels to add colour. These are good if you have just lost some of your eyebrows or they have partly grown back.
Some eyebrow stencils have a single shadow and others have several colours that you can mix and blend to get the right colour for you.
Here’s a step-by-step guide based on Annie’s method to help you achieve natural-looking eyebrows:
Recap: Clean the eye area, pop on a little bit of your primer, line up your stencil and fill in lightly with your colour and then if you want to just a little bit of highlighter. All you have to do then at the end of the day is remove it with a gentle eye make up remover.
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When makeup isn't enough, there are other options to consider.
Think of them like wigs for your brows: sheer pieces with real hairs (the best use human hair). They come in many shades and shapes, and after you stick them on (with a special adhesive), they stay for days. If you’re careful, one set will last for months. These are best if you have no hair left at all, because taking them off can pull out patchy hairs. And be sure to test the adhesive on a small patch of skin first, to make sure it doesn’t give you a rash.
A semi-permanent fix is microblading, an eyebrow tattoo that can last 12 to 18 months. It’s done at the salon by a licensed technician.
As with eyebrows, the right makeup can help what you still have. Eyeliner applied carefully along the lash line, plus a good mascara, can almost completely camouflage lash thinning and loss.
False eyelashes are another easy option, and there’s no single style of false eyelashes for chemo patients. Because they’re a general beauty trend, they’re available in tons of different lengths, colors, and thicknesses, from subtly natural to more pronounced. But test the lash glue on a small patch of skin before applying all over. And be careful when taking them off, so they don’t pull out the lashes you have.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide: Eyelash Primers for Sensitive Eyes
Lash extensions, are not good for people who have gone through chemo. They’re tempting because one session in a salon can last more than a month. But the adhesive used to stick on the single lashes can irritate your skin. And the extensions can block your natural lashes when they start to grow in.
If months have passed after chemo and your eyelashes and eyebrows aren’t growing back, you might be ready for a longer-term fix. (But check first with your oncologist to see how long you should wait to give your natural hair a chance.)
The medication minoxidil, usually prescribed for pattern hair loss (baldness), can also help your brow hair grow back. Minoxidil comes in two formulations - topical (applied to the skin) and oral (taken as a pill). Topical minoxidil is FDA-approved for hair loss affecting the scalp. However, dermatologists may recommend this as off-label treatment for topical application to the eyebrows. Oral minoxidil can also be used off-label for different forms of hair loss, and may be another option for eyebrow hair loss. Ask your oncologist and dermatologist if this is right for you.
Another prescription drug that can make eyelashes and eyebrows grow is Latisse (chemical name: bimatoprost). It’s FDA-approved for use on the skin at the base of the upper lashes once a day for at least two months. It can also be used off-label for the eyebrows. But you’ll want to talk to your dermatologist about possible side effects. It can make your eyelid skin darker temporarily, give you an itchy rash, or permanently make your iris, the colored part of your eye, dark brown. This last effect is rare, but possibly a big deal to you if you have light-colored eyes.
Permanent makeup - a tattoo with a fancier name - is an option, for eyeliner and for drawn-on brows. As with any permanent tattoo, think long and hard about shape and style. (And maybe try microblading first.) You’ll want to pick something that looks natural, so you’ll still love it decades from now!
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