Look Good, Feel Better is an organization that aims to boost morale to cancer patients by offering free programs that teach beauty techniques tailored to the unique challenges these patients face. On the surface, some may be annoyed by the idea of focusing on the superficial – great, even during cancer treatments, society still cares more about women being hot than, you know, getting better? I may derive great joy out of makeup and clothes, but I can still acknowledge what a complicated topic this is; I don’t at all advocate culture’s obsession with youth and beauty. However, I think I understand just why this organization exists and indeed, why it may be important. During the holocaust, Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin was part of the troops serving to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. His diary detailing the unspeakable atrocities he witnessed has been referenced in several books and studies, in part for this quote:
“It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for those internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.”
This powerful account has always stayed with me. You can find the full transcript on BergenBelsen.co.uk if you are interested, just be prepared for detailed descriptions and photographs of the holocaust. At any rate, when I heard about Look Good, Feel Better, it immediately reminded me of this story.
If this organization also speaks to you, it may interest you to know that Dior is currently hosting an auction to benefit LGFB. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit this organization and its programs. Click here for more info and to bid on luxe items for the cause. You may also want to check out the video below for more information.
#spon: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and LGFB . This could include the LGFB providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.
Go, Dior!
This is awesome! As much as our socitey should not focus on how “beauitful” women are I do agree that sometimes you feel better when you feel you look good. I find when I dress up (which is rare) I feel like a stronger woman ready to take on the world. Thank you for sharing this!