It’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll have seen a #nomakeupselfie or a #barefacedselfie by now. You’ll probably have uploaded one to your Facebook account, too – or been nominated by a friend at least. Since Stoke-on-Trent resident Fiona Cunningham started the movement on the social networking site, millions of women have shed their make-up, uploaded the photo to Facebook, Twitter or wherever, and donated £3 to a cancer charity via text message.
The phenomenon – which wasn’t even organised by Cancer Research UK – has sparked endless conversation. Cynics have argued that shaming women into feeling like their use of make-up belittles them is hardly a worthy cause. Others retort that that hardly matters when over £8 million has been raised for Cancer Research UK – in just nine days. It’s spawned some amazing spin-offs, including a young woman posting her injuries from an assault in a club to raise awareness of sexual harassment. And questionable ones, including #cocksinsocks and #titsinmitts.
But amidst all this chatter about clicktivism, we’ve heard very little from the people who’ve been through cancer themselves – their attitudes towards the campaign and how they feel about what’s long been seen as a complicated relationship between cancer – a disease that often leaves people bloated and losing their hair after going through chemotherapy – and beauty.
‘I bloated over a stone in water weight in three weeks. My brain went very mushy, and in a vanity way, I didn’t like the fact I was suddenly a stone bigger.’
Sabrina Bell was 24 when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two years ago. Operated on within days of this harrowing news – ‘I went into panic mode thinking, “I’m going to die tomorrow”’ – she eventually went through radioiodine treatment. After her thyroid was removed she had to take supplements of thyroxin, the hormone that regulates metabolism, which left her feeling very uncomfortable.
‘I bloated over a stone in water weight in three weeks. My brain went very mushy, and in a vanity way, I didn’t like the fact I was suddenly a stone bigger,’ she tells The Debrief. Returning to the way she used to look after her treatment was important to her. ‘People would expect after you’ve had a life-changing illness, when you are young that you’re going to re-evaluate things, that you aren’t going to care about vanity. Well, I’m certainly not like that. I still dramatise the small things.’
Sabrina did the #nomakeupselfie, and though she felt ‘like a traitor, because I’ve got fake eyelashes on at the moment’ and there was ‘that bit of dread, like “Oh fuck, I’ve got to get involved”’ for her, the money raised for cancer charities is the most important thing. ‘They’re giving their money, so who cares? No-one is going to remember this in two weeks’ time, but the money will still be there.’
Her experience of cancer – losing her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes – taught her to recognise that beauty is far more than what’s on the outside
Other women who have had cancer and cancer treatments agree. They’re of the mindset that the #barefacedselfie is both a novel way to get people donating to a cause – but also offers a tiny insight into how people who’ve been through chemotherapy soon realise how trivial it is to go without make-up.
Annmarie Bowen, 24, who was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 21, made a time-lapse video of how her hair regrew following her last bout of chemotherapy. Though she was ‘freaked out’ at how she looked in the earlier photos, she says that her experience of cancer – losing her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes – taught her to recognise that beauty is far more than what’s on the outside. ‘It’s fabulous. You see all these photos on Facebook and Twitter and not only is it giving to charity, but also it’s giving everyone self-confidence. This is what this society needs,’ she tells The Debrief.
Whereas Annmarie always used to wear make-up on a night out, now she doesn’t wear any. ‘I lost my hair and wasn’t allowed to wear make-up, so I felt like a boy. I lost all my femininity. Then I realised that hair and make-up is not what defines you. I’m glad I could live six months of my life without them because now I know they are just accessories. During chemo I felt beautiful because people were telling me I was. Now I can go out without make-up on, it doesn’t bother me.’
But the whole message behind barefacedness equalling bravery is complicated. For other people who’ve been through cancer and its varying treatments – chemotherapy leading to hair loss, mastectomies, hysterectomies – make-up and wigs can be powerful tools to help them re-embrace their femininity.
‘Finding out you have cancer is daunting and life changing, the added stress of appearance related side effects can be demoralising, which can have serious consequences on confidence and self-esteem at a time when a positive attitude is vital,’ says Carly Boyt, spokesperson for Look Good, Feel Better, a charity which helps women with hairpieces and make-up workshops. ‘Many women tell us that it made them feel more like a woman again, and that it isn’t just about make-up, it’s about regaining a sense of control.’
'Many women tell us that it isn’t just about make-up, it’s about regaining a sense of control.'
Julie Perrin, 47, who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, credits Look Good, Feel Better’s workshops as really helping her recovery. ‘A high dosage of steroids along with the hair loss also meant that I bloated – I got something called ‘moon-face’. You look in the mirror and you don’t know who this person is looking back,’ she says.
‘What I wanted was something that made me look normal. The guy that did my make-up pulled out something from his make-up bag, turned me away from the mirror and put something on my eyes. He turned me around and all he’d done was put sparkly eye colour over basic day colours, and I burst into tears – because that was the first time I’d looked at myself and thought, “Oh my god, I know you.”’
Nicole Walker, 20, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer aged just 17, agrees make-up and hairpieces can be empowering after chemotherapy. ‘When I had visitors come to see me to wish me well, I wasn’t feeling up to it and I was angry because I hadn’t washed my hair,’ she says. This changed when she got a real-hair wig. ‘I knew it was a wig and it was itchy and it wasn’t comfortable. But for people to look at me, they couldn’t see it was a wig. It was amazing.’ She’s also since had her eyebrows tattooed on. ‘I lost my eyebrows – I think they’re so much of your appearance. So I got them tattooed permanently, and I think that’s made much more of a difference.’
‘I lost my eyebrows – I think they’re so much of your appearance. So I got them tattooed permanently and I think that’s made much more of a difference.’
But while Nicole is happy that the #barefacedselfie movement has raised so much money, she believes the awareness campaign is the most important message young women should take from it. Indeed, when she first went to her doctor complaining of feeling sick, fatigued and not being able to eat properly, she was told it was probably just exam nerves. ‘It was all in my head, they said to me’, she recalls. The same thing happened to the other women: ‘I went to the doctor’s and they said it was probably psychological – nervous anxiety,’ says Sabrina. ‘“That's just a fatty lump,” I was told,’ says Annmarie.
So forget whether we should or shouldn’t be going barefaced on Facebook. Perhaps the fact that so many young women are having to fight to prove that yes, they were old enough to get cancer, is the real controversy here. And perhaps the most important thing to start talking about with the #barefacedselfie trend is how to check for cancer, how to detect the symptoms early and to encourage women to feel confident enough to go to the doctor when they know something’s up.
*Text CARE to 70300 to donate £3 to Breast Cancer Care and to help provide free support and information for people affected by breast cancer. *
CLIC Sargent is the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, and their families. It provides clinical, practical and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life. For more information, visit clicsargent.org.uk
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.