Looking good and feeling better

Published 8:34 pm Saturday, April 27, 2013

Tracy Agnew/Suffolk News-Herald Looking good: Paula Ball gets a new wig fixed by LuAnne Whitley at Remedies Salon last week. The visit was part of the American Cancer Society’s Look Good, Feel Better program.

Tracy Agnew/Suffolk News-Herald
Looking good: Paula Ball gets a new wig fixed by LuAnne Whitley at Remedies Salon last week. The visit was part of the American Cancer Society’s Look Good, Feel Better program.

Paula Ball has lost most of her hair from chemotherapy treatments for her breast cancer, but she got back hair — and some self-confidence — on Monday.

“That’s my hair,” she says, looking in the mirror at Remedies Salon as LuAnne Whitley fits her with a new wig. “I look in the mirror, and this is me.”

Whitley brushes and teases the wig, sprays hairspray on it and trims its bangs. Ball smiles into the mirror.

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“I don’t know where women battling cancer would be if not for programs like this,” she says.

The new wig was part of the Look Good, Feel Better program, a free American Cancer Society effort that works with beauty professionals to help women battling cancer get wigs, makeup and tips on how to care for their changing skin.

Ball was diagnosed with cancer in December, after she went for her annual exam. She is halfway through a regimen of six chemotherapy treatments.

“It really does help you,” she said of the Look Good, Feel Better program. “It’s a very good program.”

Whitley has been helping with the Look Good, Feel Better program for about 20 years. She said she especially enjoys showing women tricks with eye makeup to help compensate for the loss of their eyelashes.

Whitley said she sees the program as her calling.

“God says, ‘LuAnne, do this,’ and LuAnne does it.”

For more information on the Look Good, Feel Better program, visit www.cancer.org/treatment/supportprogramsservices/look-good-feel-better.

The Suffolk Relay For Life is coming up on May 17 at Bennett’s Creek Park. For more information, visit www.relay.org/suffolk.