Eivind Bjerke, co-owner of Lucien at Eivind Salon and President Jimmy Carter’s former hairdresser, is a longtime volunteer with Look Good … Feel Better, a program that helps women with cancer cope with the appearance-related side effects. Visit lookgoodfeelbetter.org.
You’ve been with Look Good … Feel Better for two decades?
I actually did the first pilot for the program at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital.
What drew you to the idea?
I was looking for something like this because when I was working with people who had cancer before, the doctor’s care didn’t involve the whole body treatment. Now the doctors call our work an extension of their treatment. They understand when a woman loses her hair, it’s like having a beautiful picture and the frame breaks.
Have you been touched by cancer?
All of us have been touched by cancer one way or another.
What do you teach?
When a doctor tells a woman she has cancer, we presume first she talks to her god, then she talks to her family then she talks to her cosmetologist, her hairdresser. We can put them back in a real comfort zone. We show them makeup, then turbans, scarves and wigs. You can look as normal as people do with their own hair. Sometimes people look better. I’m not in a position to give a lot of money, but I can give my talent.
What’s the impact?
It just helps their self-esteem. Once you learn to do the camouflage — the lipstick is the big one — then when you put hair on, then you look at the mirror and the mirror looks back at you. And it also helps the family. When you are home, you have a child who suddenly sees the mother without hair. It can be scary. It’s done wonders for so many people and it’s done wonders for our industry, because we can give something back.
