Lucy Richardson joins a Look Good... Feel Better workshop at one of the region’s hospitals for some female bonding over an eyebrow pencil.

FOR some people, make-up is a superficial frivolity, but to the group of women sitting around a table at the Holistic Cancer Care Centre at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, it’s a fun distraction from the ravages of an ugly disease.

After the shock of being diagnosed with cancer, many women are left devastated by the distressing sideeffects of their treatment, which can include the loss of hair, eyebrows and lashes.

The Look Good...Feel Better programme offers free skincare and make-up workshops in 21 countries worldwide and through a network of more than 60 hospitals and cancer support centres across the UK.

The charity, launched in 1994 by the Cosmetic, Perfume and Toiletry Association, is supported by numerous beauty companies that donate luxury products and the expertise of their staff, who believe in the psychological power of a little TLC.

At the Holistic Cancer Care Centre, in Middlesbrough, which introduced the scheme in July, every woman is given a toiletry bag bursting with £500-worth of treats from top brands such as Dior, Clarins, Clinique, Bare Escentuals, L’Oreal and Revlon.

The two-hour session is led by Andrea Mackrell, a regional co-ordinator for Look Good...Feel Better, from Boots, in Durham City, and Vicki Rickaby, based at the Teesside Park branch, in Stockton, who take the women through a simple 12-step skincare and make-up routine.

They are on hand to offer professional tips, including how create a smoky-eye effect, the best way to apply blusher and how to subtly redraw lost eyebrows.

It’s not long before the giggling begins over the grime left on cleansing wipes, to the extent that most members of the group are so relaxed that they have taken off their wigs and headscarves and are swapping stories.

Cath Wheeler, who has undergone a bilateral mastectomy to remove both breasts, insists that she does not have an illness – she has a “problem”.

“You don’t think you’ll find anything funny about it, but you have to have humour in this situation,” she explains.

Jan Howcroft quips that a family friend called her a baby vulture when she lost her hair. “Some husbands and partners do not understand how traumatic it is when you are told you’re having your hair shaved off in two days’ time,” she says.

Steph Helm adds: “I was more worried about losing my hair than the surgery. You can cover yourself up but it’s different with hair, it defines who you are – it’s your crowning glory.”

Not having hairy legs and the freedom to experiment with funky wigs in different colours and styles are just some of the lighter aspects of cancer treatment joked about.

“It got to the stage that my hair was dropping into my cooking, so I had to cut it off, but it was liberating,” says Meg Gilbert, who got her wig from Clinic 36, in Darlington.

“I have had lymphoma and I’ve just finished my treatment. I got my scan results back recently and I’ve had the all-clear, so being pampered like this today is like a lovely reward.”

• Look Good... Feel Better workshops are held across the region at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, on 0191- 213-8356, The Cancer Care Centre at York Hospital, on 01904-721166 and the Holistic Centre at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, on 01642-854839.