How Three Beauty Experts Help Women Rediscover Confidence After a Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis

A metastatic breast cancer (mBC) diagnosis, cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, can bring changes that extend beyond treatment schedules and daily routines. For many women, treatment-related changes can affect how they look and feel—some visible to themselves and others, some felt more internally. These shifts can affect how they see themselves and how they feel in their own body.

For many Black women, navigating mBC post diagnosis can be compounded by racial disparities in healthcare access, making an already difficult journey even harder. It’s also shaped by beauty traditions passed down through generations—the rhythm of wash day, a stylist who feels like family, a signature lip or outfit. When treatment disrupts those rituals, reclaiming them becomes its own form of self-advocacy: finding spaces where you feel seen, asking questions, having informed conversations with your care team. 

Metastatic breast cancer treatment options continue to evolve, but for many women, navigating an mBC diagnosis also means finding new ways to feel like themselves. A freshly shaved head becomes a symbol of courage rather than loss. A bold lip color becomes a small act of defiance. A repurposed, DIY shirt becomes a vintage staple in their closet. These simple rituals can offer comfort, helping women preserve a sense of identity and recognize that confidence does not disappear during illness, it may simply just need to be rediscovered.

To understand how women hold onto their sense of self through physical change, we sat down with three beauty professionals who make it their life’s work to help women own their confidence in style. Deborah McDowell, Founder & CEO of Oncology Aesthetics & Wellness (OAW), celebrity makeup artist Tiesha Williams, and celebrity wardrobe stylist Courtney Mays candidly discuss why emotional support, culturally-informed care, and confidence-building practices remain essential while sharing their own definitions of confidence.

Creating Safe Spaces Through Hair Care

For Deborah McDowell, hair has always represented much more than appearance. Through her salon and nonprofit, OAW, she has created a welcoming environment not just where women can feel relaxed and pampered, but where clients experiencing medically related hair loss can receive specialized education, compassionate care, and personalized beauty and haircare solutions to follow before, during, and after treatment.

Rather than waiting to see if you experience hair shedding, McDowell works with clients to preserve their natural hair whenever possible while helping to prepare them emotionally for the changes ahead. Every appointment begins the same way, with empathy, reassurance, and often a hug.

“We’ve created an environment where women know they’re cared for, where they have [beauty] experts who understand what they’re experiencing, and where they can begin thinking about [next steps],” McDowell says.

For the beauty expert, helping women preserve their sense of self begins long before styling appointments. It starts by reminding them who they are, no matter what changes.

At OAW, McDowell’s approach extends far beyond the salon chair. She works with clients to help them understand their potential haircare options and to create personalized solutions to meet their desires. From custom wigs and hairpieces to extensions, protective styles, and scalp care, every service is designed to help women feel prepared, not overwhelmed, as they navigate treatment.

Preserving confidence isn’t about any one thing; it’s about ensuring every woman knows she has options, support, and a community that sees her beyond her diagnosis.

Makeup Is A Form of Self-Expression

Hair is important, but it’s only part of the confidence conversation. Makeup is often another routine ritual used to rebuild confidence.

Celebrity makeup artist Tiesha Williams discovered her love for beauty as a child after experimenting with her mother’s luxury makeup collection. What began with applying a pink blush and lipstick here and there eventually grew into a career centered around helping women embrace their natural beauty through every stage of life.

Today, Williams uses her platform to encourage women to meet themselves with grace rather than criticism, especially those navigating visible health changes. “I meet my clients’ skin concerns and insecurities where they are, and focus on highlighting their beauty strengths,” she says.

For women undergoing treatment for mBC, skincare may require extra attention. These physical changes can make even the most familiar beauty routines feel unrecognizable. Rather than hiding from those changes, Williams encourages women to begin by taking care of their hydration. She explains that well-hydrated skin creates a healthier canvas for makeup application and helps women feel refreshed throughout the day. Small adjustments like incorporating facial mists, gentle moisturizers, cream-based products, and lighter coverage can make a noticeable difference in both comfort and confidence.

“Most of us are not getting those [recommended] eight hours of sleep, and then you add any health conditions into that [and] that stress really starts to show underneath the eyes,” Williams says. “So for me, the most important thing is the few products that I use when I’m looking and feeling fatigued. Even if you don’t have one foundation, color correcting just a bit and brightening underneath the eyes makes you look alive and awake, and then a cute gloss.” 

For Williams, makeup isn’t about hiding the changes treatment brings. It’s about reminding women that beauty continues to evolve alongside them.

Dressing For You, Not the Diagnosis

Hair and makeup may help women reconnect with themselves, but clothing is often the piece that pulls it all together.

Courtney Mays has spent years styling some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment, helping clients communicate confidence long before they ever speak. At over six feet tall and proudly plus-size, she’s spent her career showing women and men what it means to embrace individuality instead of conforming to traditional beauty standards.

Her philosophy is simple: “Fashion should be about celebrating who you are, not hiding it.”

Whether working with professional athletes or women navigating significant life changes, Mays believes personal style should evolve alongside the person, despite their circumstances.

Instead of encouraging women to hide the physical changes brought on by treatment, Mays reminds them to reconnect with the parts of their wardrobe that make them feel most authentic. Whether that’s a structured blazer, oversized menswear, bold accessories, or comfortable elevated basics, personal style can become a daily reminder that illness doesn’t erase personality.

“You wear the clothes. Don’t let the clothes wear you,” Mays says. “But I also think sometimes it’s not about the clothes; it’s just being your authentic self, not allowing your circumstance to impact your mood, showing up with positivity and light in every situation, and I think that sometimes the clothes can add to that and give that extra boost of confidence.”

Rediscovery Reimagined

Throughout each stage of the journey, confidence doesn’t have to come from returning to who you were before a diagnosis. Instead, it can be found in embracing the woman you’re becoming one moment, one ritual, and one act of self-care at a time.

As McDowell reminds us, confidence can begin with small acts of self-care that ground us in who we are. Williams shows that beauty evolves with us, proving that skincare and makeup aren’t about concealing change, but highlighting the strength that’s always been there. And through Mays’ approach to personal style, confidence becomes something you wear with intention, as a reflection of authenticity, resilience, and self-expression rather than perfection.

Together, their expertise reminds us that beauty isn’t confined to a single moment in the mirror. It’s found in every stage of the journey: choosing to care for yourself on difficult days, adapting to a changing body with grace, finding joy through familiar rituals, and showing up exactly as you are.

A metastatic breast cancer diagnosis may change the body, but it doesn’t have to diminish the spirit, resilience, or beauty that’s always existed. So don’t be hesitant to wear a bold red lipstick, customize a specialty wig, or rock a style that’s undeniably you.

As McDowell, Williams and Mays remind us, beauty was never about getting back to who you were; it’s about showing up—fully—as who you are now. And for certain people living with metastatic breast cancer, treatment options like TRODELVY® (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) can be part of navigating what comes next. Talk to your healthcare provider to see if TRODELVY is right for you.