Pretty Sick: The Beauty Guide for Women with Cancer

by Caitlin M. Kiernan, Jamie Lee Reardin (Illustrator)

The ultimate resource to looking your best during and after cancer treatment from a veteran beauty industry insider


When beauty editor Caitlin Kiernan received the shattering diagnosis of cancer, she was obviously concerned about her health. But as a working professional, she knew she had to learn, quickly, how to look her best while feeling her worst. Caitlin called on her list of extensive contacts--from top medical doctors to hair stylists, makeup artists, and style mavens--to gather the best and most useful tips to offset the unpleasant effects of treatment. The result is this comprehensive beauty guide for women with cancer, covering every cosmetic issue, from skin care, to hair care, wig shopping, nail maintenance, makeup tricks, and much, much more. Illustrated with charming drawings by Jamie Lee Reardin and peppered with advice from celebrities and cancer survivors, PRETTY SICK will be a welcome and trusted resource, helping women look and feel their best.

Genres: Self Help, Health

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2017

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and lots of tips.

[Kim Clune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having received this book during chemo, I was eager to learn my best options to look healthier than I feel. I couldn’t put this book down, sobbing through chapters of things I have yet to face that my doctors have yet to share with me in such detail.

I am horrified and yet grateful to know about how I may lose my fingernails next, how to manage bloody mastectomy drains for weeks, how radiation can feel like 3rd degree burns, that it forever changes skin and muscle which impedes healing of reconstruction and can expose skin expanders, that the drastic weight loss from all my chemo sickness will probably turn to fat and bone pain once I’m on 10 years of Tamoxifen, a drug that will strip me down to androgyny and yield a painful, uninspired sex life. I’d like to say this book offered hope, but I’m really just in shock at the moment.

Reading through in a single night was the wrong, overwhelming approach. While remedies to ease side effects of various treatments are outlined, I really just want to slit my wrists, because the start of this journey has been absolute Hell, and there are so many more steps to suffer through - heaping pain upon the unrelenting sickness I feel now.

I don’t want to live through any more of this, and I have a year more to go. That said, of course I will do it. And this book will be the perfect companion through it all. But EFF ME. There clearly is no god when Hell on Earth like breast cancer exists.

[Linda Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be inspiring, I speed read books first time and if I find it interesting or useful, I read it more in depth and this is one of those books. I also found some interesting things that even can benefit men.

[Judie Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book from goodreads. Thank you for picking my name. I am a two time breast cancer survivor and I wish I had this book in 2002 the first time and again in 2016 the 2nd time. I've read a lot of books on the subject, but none were as informative and down to earth as this this one. It's woman to woman and survivor to survivor. This book tells you how to make your self look better to feel better. or as the book states, "How to Look YOUR Best When You Feel Your Worst" When I was going through treatment the last thing on my mind was how I looked. That's natural, but this book tells us how to make ourselves look better so we'll feel better about ourselves. This book also talks about cancer side effects that are not very often talked about even if you have women Doctors. Sex is still taboo in this day , the author gives a lot of help on that matter and other side effects of med. treatments. I would recommend this book to everyone fighting cancer, or knows someone fighting cancer. The minuite I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it .Thank you Caitlin for writing It.

[Alia McHugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not, I repeat, do NOT read this book if your cancer is stage 4. There should honestly be a warning on the cover or in the description that this book is catered to women who have early stage, curable cancers and not women who, like myself, have metastatic breast cancer which means I will be on cancer treatments for the rest of my life. I was diagnosed stage 4 at 35 years old and this book made me feel 100 times worse after I skimmed through it. It's a shame because the author really could have made this book useful for those of us who have incurable cancers if it didn't go on and on about being finished with treatment and then being able to go on with your normal life. I threw it in the trash.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My boss kindly gave me this book before I start my cancer treatments so I can continue to feel beautiful. I haven't had to implement any of these recommendations yet, but it's good to know I have a resource. I agree with other reviews that this is very breast cancer-focused, as well as focused on people who were diagnosed early (so that there's an "afterwards") but it can be used however you need to. It could probably use an update since some of her research was pretty outdated - for instance, she references a 2000 study about pedicures, which was long before new clean procedures were instituted. In any case, a thoughtful gift for someone going through cancer treatments.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankfully, I don't need this book -- I won it in a Goodreads giveaway recently. However, it's so interesting and informative that I found myself reading it anyway! And I now have a great gift option for anyone I know who is dealing with cancer. The book covers skin care, dental care, nail & hair care, and on and on. The book reads as if you're sitting with your no-nonsense best friend who is telling you things that you will never hear in your doctor's office. I can't think of a more helpful resource for a woman dealing with cancer.

[Karen McGlothlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read when dealing with cancer!

While freaking out about my breast cancer diagnosis and the impending chemotherapy after the surgery, I stumbled onto this book. I really was looking for makeup tips since I expect to lose my hair and eyebrows in chemo. This book has so much practical info on many aspects of the cancer experience. Down to earth, and earthy advice had me finishing this book in one day!

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. What a great gift for any women who is going through cancer. Tons of tips and tricks that I have used and they work. This book really made me smile knowing the author battled her own cancer. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I am almost there and I know with lipstick and putting one foot forward soon it will all be over.

[Bill Simpsion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good simple clear information for people that need some help like this because going through chemo and other treatments affects everyone a little different. I'm sharing this with my family and friends and local cancer center to help everyone that I can.

[Alex Reneski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Even a man can appreciate the clear and effective tips. A big part of the battle with this disease is attitude, and this book goes a long way in promoting a positive attitude toward both survival and recovery!

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

She gets me! Every phase of this journey, I’d refer to her handy guide and she’d help me through it. Thank you!!!

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for anyone dealing with chronic illness or their love ones. It takes a sensitive, factually, yet entertaining approach to looking your best to help you feel a little bit better.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm facing four months of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage 1 ovarian cancer, I wanted to feel as prepared as a person can be and you have to be careful with the internet as it can really scare the living sh*t out of you if you're not careful. Being a book worm by habit, I thought a book like this would do me good and it did. There's a lot that is beyond my control at the moment and although I'm not a typically girly girl, having stocks of nice body wash and cutical oil, some nice headscarves and some nice bits of make up have in fact made me feel a bit better - go figure.