How to choose the right chemo headwear? It can be a traumatic time with lots of decisions to make, choosing headwear may not be your top priority.
So here are a few tips to help you save time and make your search easier.
Whether you’re looking for the simple practicalities – coverage and warmth, or a fashion statement, however you decide to use headwear, it should reflect your personal style. AND it should make us look and feel great, and above all feel completely comfortable when wearing it. When you’re not expecting to look great with significant hair loss, these simple tips can really help.
So how do you make sure you get your chemo headwear right?
Understanding your face shape is the first step. The shape of your face influences the shape of your headwear. No hard and fast rules but the right style and shape of hat – think volume, height, width + colour, lifts an ordinary hat to a spectacular hat on you.
You can find our What is the Best Hat for My Face Shape guides part 1 and part 2 by clicking the links.
How to choose the right coloured chemo headwear
It’s understandable to think ‘If I buy a black one, it will go with everything’. However colour works a little differently around our faces. Black can be quite hard and draining around a pale complexion.
We often wear black with more make-up, treatment can add fatigue and paleness, my advice would be opt for rich dark colours like aubergine, dark reds and greens, navy, if you prefer to wear black.
Colour plays a huge part in what works and what doesn’t for each individual. If you know the colours that work for you in your wardrobe, buy your headwear in those colours. This way it will go with whatever you put on that day, with a high probability that it flatters your eye colouring / overall colouring.
We all know there is a psychological aspect to colour too. The right colours not only flatter us but can lift our mood. As we head into another UK winter the light changes and we tend to migrate into darker colours, BUT you can always buck that trend! A pop of colour in your outfit can make a huge difference to your self-confidence, in helping you to step out in style.
The loss of hair – eyebrows and eyelashes – has led many women to comment they feel ‘erased’. The defining brush strokes of the face and frame around it have gone. If you are in treatment follow this link to Look Good Feel Better for workshop details and make-up techniques to put them back in place.
Having attended many workshops myself I can’t stress enough the value of these 2 hour workshops, let alone the amazing free goodie bag that you’ll receive. The exchange of experiences and ideas by all who attend is restorative too. The programme runs all over the UK.
For the 1.6 million women in the UK who are now coping with significant hair loss*, a good way to enhance self-confidence is to gain a better understanding of personal colouring and to experiment with colour.
What colours would suit me?
No hard and fast rules, and each individual is exactly that unique and individual – colour analysis is a vast discipline to cover. However here are a few headline tips….
• If you have light coloured eyes, pale blue, grey or light green eyes, consider lighter shades for your headwear. Black would be harsh with your colouring. Choosing a stone or pewter piece of headwear will result in a more flattering look.
• If you have dark coloured eyes you will look better in rich colours and can wear darker headwear.
• If you have green, brown or blue eyes with freckles on your skin or a golden glow, you will look great in warm colours such a chocolate brown, or coral pink.
• Women with grey, blue, green or clear brown eyes with pink undertones to your skin then you look best in “cool” colours such as grey or sky blue.
• Are your eyes bright, often remarked upon by others, or called jewel-like? Whether they are blue, green or topaz, they are usually the first thing people notice about you.
Your best look could be in brighter colours such as emerald, turquoise, or blush pink to bring out the sparkle in your eyes. More muted colours such as taupe and pewter should be livened up with brighter shades from your pallet.
• Do you have eyes that are a soft and muted colour – blue, brown, hazel or green or that often change in colour? You need soft muted colours such as natural beige or cocoa to enhance yourself and avoid being overpowered by colours that are too strong for you.
Colour Matching
| Eye Colour | Subtle Headwear Colours | Vibrant Headwear Colours |
| Light | Stone or Pewter | Light Apricot or Geranium Red |
| Dark | Black or Burgundy | Purple or Scarlet Red |
| Warm | Chocolate Brown or Moss Green | Aqua or Terracotta |
| Cool | Grey or Dark Navy | Sky Blue or Hot Pink |
| Bright | Taupe or Pewter | Emerald Turquoise or Blush Pink |
| Soft | Natural Beige or Cocoa | Jade or Soft Violet |
When you master your own personal colouring you will find people will start talking to your eyes and this inevitably draws attention away from any hair loss.
Try standing in front of a mirror and see the effect that different colours have near your face.
What do I do next?
1. Analyse your personal colouring – take a look at the colours in your wardrobe, if unsure.
2. Work out which colours suit you best – try items in front of the mirror.
3. Canvas your friends – what colours do they think look good on you? Girlfriends are honest!
4. Understand your face shape – to move onto the next stage of which hat shapes – check out the links above.
For more information about colour analysis or to find out more about your own personal colouring with a one-to-one or group consultation contact Liz Scott on 01932 784467.
*Statistical information quoted from ‘The hope and hair restorer…’ Norman Miller, The Times Saturday, November 11 2006.
For further information please contact:
Liz Scott – https://www.facebook.com/Imagetastic/ | Helping men and women know what to wear |
Nicky Smetham | Fashionable headwear and hats for hair loss
Contact: [email protected] | 01306 640123
