NORTH COUNTY -- The seven women sitting in a Tri-City Medical Center classroom recently were quiet and reticent as the class they'd come for began, saying little to their neighbors who were strangers until that moment.

Less than 10 minutes later, though, one participant pulled her wig off to reveal a bare head, and another woman quickly followed suit. And by the time the class ended two hours later, laughter and jokes flowed easily as the female cancer patients complimented or advised each other on their new "looks" like longtime teen friends.

"Look Good …. Feel Better" is a free program held regularly at Tri-City in Oceanside, Palomar Medical Center in Escondido and Pomerado Hospital in Poway that teaches female cancer patients how to use wigs, makeup and fashion accessories to restore their looks while they are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

"Humor me and try this one on," one woman said to another as she handed over a platinum blonde wig cut in a style that Carol Channing made famous. "I want to see how it looks on you."

The result sparked a round of hearty giggles and several approving comments.

Looking in a handheld mirror, wig recipient Pat Blake of Carlsbad angled her head this way and that before declaring she liked the results so much she didn't want to take the fake hair off.

"It's really different than any way I've worn my hair before," she said. "My husband will be shocked. But I think I may wear this one home."

The American Cancer Society, the National Cosmetology Association and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association Foundation sponsor "Look Good … Feel Better," which is taught by licensed hairdressers and cosmetologists who volunteer their time.

Upon arrival, participants are handed bright-red zippered makeup bags filled with makeup donated by well-known cosmetic companies such as Clinique, Avon, Merle Norman and Estee Lauder.

Class time is spent learning the "do's" and "don'ts" of using makeup to camouflage appearance problems and enhance the entire face, with the women breaking open their gift bags for hands-on practice on their own faces. The recent Tri-City session saw Blake, 76, serving as a model while Lisa McKissack, a stylist with Hair Biz in San Marcos, showed the rest of the class how to use to use items in the makeup kits to moisturize dry skin and cover up discolorations brought on by cancer treatments.

Creating eyebrows and eyelashes to replace ones lost to the treatments, using color to play up eyes, lips and cheeks, fashioning turbans out of fabric cut from old T-shirts, and using wigs, hats, scarves and hair pieces to disguise hair loss were some of the other lessons offered.

When the class ended, no one seemed ready to leave. Blake, who was diagnosed with uterine cancer in February and underwent surgery before starting a series of radiation and chemotherapy treatments, said the program had uplifted her spirits.

"I haven't felt this good since I was diagnosed," she said. "This is the first time I've been out among other women who have had cancer. It's been a real shot in the arm."

Women who attended a similar class at Palomar Medical Center in April said they also felt the program was beneficial. Susan Peters said she initially dismissed the idea of participating in "Look Good … Feel Better" shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in January but changed her mind after starting chemotherapy.

"I didn't think much of it cause I'm not a makeup person," said Peters. "But the more I talked to people in my support group, the more I found out how important it was to camouflage 'cause you lose your eyebrows and eyelashes too."

The volunteer teachers said they love watching women who are often shell-shocked by their diagnoses relax and smile again once they realize they can still look good.

"It makes you feel gratified," said Jeannette Duva, a Poway hair and nail salon owner who leads some of the Palomar Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital sessions.

Call (619) 682-7414 for information on signing up for as a "Look Good … Feel Better" volunteer or participant.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.