October is drawing to a close and so is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as per usual, we’ve seen the pink ribbons pinned on people, products and websites. But shouldn’t we be more aware of cancer, not just breast cancer, every month? Every day even?
A little bit about Breast Cancer…
All types of cancer are on the rise, with 1 in 2 of us being diagnosed with cancer at some point in our lives[1] and breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. Women have a 1 in 8 chance of diagnosis at some point in their lives.[2] Sad but true…..
What’s also sad is that many of the beauty products adorned with the pink ribbon actually contain carcinogens, cancer-causing ingredients. Or ingredients that react with other ingredients in the product over time to release carcinogens. Scary stuff!
First, there was greenwashing, now there’s pink-washing.
We’ve been working with Jennifer Young both on her bespoke beauty offering and Defiant Beauty, the range of beauty products formulated with cancer patients in mind (but also suited for sensitive, reactive and mature skin) for a while now.
You can read our review of Defiant Beauty Cleansing Balm here, but more recently Mr BB and I have been getting into a bed spritzed with Defiant Beauty Pillow Spray. The subtlest of lavender waters, a spray down leaves the bed feeling cool, fresh and lightly scented.
As a thank you for helping out at CAM Expo, Jennifer blended a body oil for me, which I absolutely love! Although she can’t remember the blend created for me, there’s definitely spearmint, and I think frankincense and patchouli, either way, it’s gorgeous!
We’re now also delighted to be working on the promotion of Jennifer’s book – Beauty Despite Cancer Recognise Yourself.
Already working its way up the Amazon best-sellers, in Beauty Despite Cancer Recognise Yourself Jennifer shares her knowledge and experience by showing those living with cancer and beyond how to prevent, reduce, disguise, camouflage and soothe their appearance-related side effects.
A few of our contacts have said they’re not sure about covering the book, purely because they think that beauty is the last thing on the minds of women who have just been diagnosed/are going through cancer.
From the accounts of various Defiant Beauty/Beauty Despite Cancer brand ambassadors, we know that this is far from true. Many say the first thing they think post-diagnosis is about all their hair falling out. All who we have spoken to have said they wished the book had been around when they first went through treatment.
The Defiant Beauty range came about when Jennifer paid a visit to her local cancer centre. Some ladies there asked her “do you have anything for cancer patients?” as they were opening a beauty and wig salon on the ward and were looking for a range of skincare that met their needs.
References
[1]http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/press-release/2015-02-04-1-in-2-people-in-the-uk-will-get-cancer
[2]http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/breast-cancer#heading-Zero