When doctors told Cheryl she would lose her hair, she refused to believe them. For many women, losing their hair is sometimes more traumatic than losing their breast. The 33-year-old mother of two, diagnosed with breast cancer, thought she would be immune to the ravaging effects of chemotherapy. “When the doctor told me I would need a ‘prosthesis’, I didn’t even know what that was. He said I’d lose my hair. I couldn’t face it. I started crying. I told him, ‘It’s going to make me feel more sick! And I don’t want to be sick.’”

Christine’s reaction was a little different. When she was diagnosed with cancer, she blamed herself for somehow causing the illness and felt her self-esteem plummet as a result. “It’s an emotional thing we all go through,” said Christine. “Cancer is not a word that you want to say. I wanted to deny it.” She, too, wanted to deny that she might lose her hair. As the owner of her own retail business, Christine was devastated when she did lose her hair. She worried what her customers might think, feeling she needed to look as normal as possible.

Unfortunately, many doctors and nurses are unaware of new options that can help cancer patients cope with treatment side effects. Those options are offered by professionals in the field of cosmetic therapy, a little-known specialty that gives patients more than just a wig. Cheryl’s mother had never heard of such specialists, either. She brought Cheryl two wigs that her grandmother had worn. Cheryl refused to try them on and refused to go to a department store. “It’s too public,” she thought. But she couldn’t hide for long. After her second chemotherapy treatment, her hair fell out in clumps. Her husband, Mark, found her the help she needed in a cosmetic therapy professional, Jeffrey Paul, who offers a special kind of therapy to the cancer patient. “Once you’ve lost something you have, nothing is going to be good enough,” says Paul. “Just putting hair on top of the head doesn’t solve the problem.” The caring professional offers options, guidance, privacy, and support.

Prior to becoming a certified cosmetic therapy specialist, Jeffrey Paul owned a salon and spa. “Everyone thought I was crazy to leave the salon behind, but I knew spiritually that I was being called to do more than just make pretty people prettier,” says Paul. People often ask him how he got interested in this particular specialty. “My best friend’s nine-year-old daughter, who had leukemia, came to the salon and asked me to make her a wig,” says Paul. “She was a gymnast and a cheerleader. She just wanted a child’s life. But there wasn’t any such thing as a child’s wig. So I designed one for her and it was one of the first wigs created for children,” he says. Soon after, the Cleveland Clinic contacted him and asked if he could help design a more natural eyebrow and eyelash to be used as a facial prosthesis for a patient who had a tumor removed behind the eye socket. “We began to work on something that had never been done before-hand implanting eyebrows and eyelashes and pigmenting a colored eye. I added knowledge of cosmetics to the process,” he says. Paul now has a 7000 square foot facility in Rocky River: The Total Approach to Restoring...Beautiful Hair... Again. In addition, there is an on-site Institute where salon professionals can become certified cosmetic therapists. The Jeffrey Paul Institute is the only school in the country offering this type of certification program.

“He was comforting and calming,” Cheryl remembers. “Jeffrey knew how important hair was, and he made me feel like I was going to look good.” Certified cosmetic therapists are trained to work with cancer patients and to anticipate their emotional and physical reactions to treatment. They have a wide range of therapy options, including life-like hair replacement systems (that never fall or blow off), turbans in the latest fashion styles and fabrics, add-on bangs, and hair pieces.

“We simulate the way hair acts and grows from the head,” explains Paul. “We tie the individual strands of hair in wave patterns that imitate the natural pattern of the client’s hair and then match color and texture. A machine-made wig can only copy a hair style; what we do is much closer to the nature of the hair that was formerly there.”

“The hair was beautiful,” says Cheryl. “ I always knew it wasn’t my hair, but other people never noticed. Men still flirted with me when I was out shopping and that made me realize I was still attractive.”

“We are working very hard to educate the medical community who work with cancer patients about these types of hair replacement options,” says Paul. “The medical field is under the impression that a wig is a wig is a wig. Granted, they are not in the beauty industry, but they could be of much greater service to their patients if they knew what some of the options were.”

Cheryl, meanwhile, has been cancer free for three years and her hair has grown back thicker than ever. The hair she bought from Jeffrey Paul remains boxed in a closet. “I can’t get rid of it,” she says. “ It sounds funny, but I figure, as long as I save it, I’m never going to need it.”

As for Christine, three years after her initial diagnosis, she sold her business and went to work for Jeffrey Paul as a certified cosmetic consultant and office manager. She works closely with Paul and his wife, Zina, who also volunteers her time to Look Good, Feel Better, a national program sponsored by the American Cancer Society; The National Cosmetology Association; and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. The free support service is designed to boost self-esteem in women undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments through the use of cosmetics, wigs, scarves and turbans.

“You have to have the strength to face people in crisis day in and day out,” says Zina. “It’s a gift I have that only God can give you...I try to make it fun for clients Just because they have cancer, they have not lost their beauty.”

Christine decided she wanted to help others with life-threatening illnesses feel better about themselves, too. She proudly relates the story of her personal battle with cancer to anxious clientele. With her positive outlook on life, Christine has no doubts about her own prospects for a long and healthy one.

For more information on cosmetic rehabilitation therapy and hair replacement systems, call 440-333-8939. Photos Courtesy of Jacquelyn Wigs, 15 West 37th Street NY 10018