My mother is 80 and has dementia, and it’s unfortunately time to take away her makeup, which is (not surprisingly) one daily routine that she remembers to do on her own. But she can’t apply mascara, eyeliner, or use brow pencils well on her own, and I’m not with her daily to do it for her (and I rarely wear anything, so I barely know what I’m doing). The mascara especially is applied too thick, it’s just a drugstore brand, and she’s constantly picking at and rubbing her eyes.
She’s lost some eyelashes, and she plucked her eyebrows to very fine lines when she was young, so she also doesn’t have much to work with there either. I’m wondering if we could do something semi-permanent like lash or brow tinting to help her feel like she’s got some modicum of makeup on, but I’m not sure if it’s a safe procedure for a much older woman? I’m not even sure she could get through the procedure without someone (me) there to keep her comfortable and to help her understand what they are doing. She’s fine when getting her hair done, or getting massages, but the lash tinting looks a little scary to me, in terms of bandages and tape, etc.
Whenever I search for makeup advice for seniors, it’s for people who are still… fully functional. Any advice or resources? Is there a ultra-lightweight mascara that she could wear that won’t build up and clump in her eyes?
It’s very hard to navigate preserving her health vs preserving her sense of self and femininity. Thanks in advance.
Yes and yes. My mother had a drawer in her night table and it always had the same things in it, but she would go through that drawer several times a day. It was her ritual. I would have never emptied that drawer because there was nothing she could harm herself in it, so it was her way I guess of self soothing. And she would always tell any girls she saw to put some lipstick on lol. She was very big on lipstick . Sometimes we would put some on and it made her so happy that we listened to her. It seems like little things but it’s not to them. It’s a cruel thing that some of our dearest go through but in the early stages those people are still struggling to hold on to some part of themselves . After she had to go into a nursing home she was ok for a bit but soon lost most of herself. So in hind-site, letting them do safely what they can , is one of the last loving things you can do for them ✌️