If you’ve been to revitalash.com and visited Our Story, you know the loving, tragic, and ultimately uplifting story behind the creation of RevitaLash® Cosmetics and the life’s work of its founders Gayle and Dr. Michael Brinkenhoff. Their dedication and heart continue to be at the company’s core through support of organizations that help breast cancer victims, and medical researchers, seeking better treatments and ultimately a cure.
Imagine. Diagnosed with breast cancer.
Recommended treatment? Chemotherapy.
Determined to beat it, you undergo a grueling series of chemical injections. Not at first, but quickly, the side effects begin… nausea and fatigue, of course. You can handle it. But emotions become frayed when your hair begins to change, becoming brittle and breaking, including your eyelashes and eyebrows. And even though it might seem to make no sense, the changes you see in the mirror can be the most devastating.
While undergoing treatments, you become friends with your fellow female travelers navigating the cancer journey. One day, you mention that the damaging effects to your lashes have hit hardest. But to your surprise, the other chemo patients feel the same way. Lashes are a potent, personal symbol of beauty, confidence, and femininity. Perhaps that is why their loss of beauty was the last straw.
This is the story of RevitaLash® Cosmetics, and the foundation for everything the company has accomplished and all it stands for.
When she found out her friends felt the same way about their lashes, Gayle Brinkenhoff turned to her devoted husband, Michael, a practicing Ophthalmologist, to help her revive the beauty of her precious lashes... and restore a bit of confidence and, well… joy into her life.
Dr. Brinkenhoff’s breakthrough response has evolved into what we now know as RevitaLash Cosmetics - born of love for his wife and the tragedy of cancer that leaves so many women shattered and with little hope.
The rest is, as they say, history.
The Need for Beauty
Gayle’s treatments kept cancer at bay for many years. But from her experience, she took on the challenge of restoring a positive sense of self to her fellow cancer fighters. From the first day after finishing her treatments in 2006, Gayle began her new life’s mission - charitable work that she went on to champion until her untimely death in 2012.
As RevitaLash Cosmetics grew into a global phenomenon, so did the commitment to Gayle’s cause. Everyone at RevitaLash Cosmetics knows the history and embraces the challenge of easing the physical, and less talked about – emotional effects of cancer treatments and supporting research in the quest for a cure.
Stepping Up During the Covid Crisis
Let’s face it. Economies are down. Many corporations and most American families are experiencing tough financial times. Money is tight. Covid has made volunteer work almost impossible. As a result, donations have suffered.
For RevitaLash Cosmetics, this crisis has provided a chance to do more, not less. After all, cancer hasn’t stopped. Chemo patients continue to fight. Gayle would have been the first to say, “Now is not the moment to cut back, but the time to step up.”
Thanks to loyal RevitaLash Cosmetics customers who have boosted sales to near-record levels, charitable support will actually expand in 2021, despite the crisis our world faces.
The Battle Continues… You Can Help
Please join with RevitaLash Cosmetics and others in the cosmetic industry by contributing your time (safely) or money to these worthy organizations that we are so proud to be partnering with. Even the smallest contribution can make an enormous difference.
City of Hope and the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara: These institutions are dear to the heart of the RevitaLash Cosmetics family. Both are pursuing ground breaking breast cancer research and achieving immense strides in new therapies and dynamic treatments for this dreadful disease.
Simply From The Heart, Diva for a Day Foundation, and Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara focus on quality of life — taking a holistic view by supporting patients with self-image and basic resources during what are already trying times. The goal is simple but powerful: to help lift spirits and keep patients motivated through emotional support and caring.
In 2021, RevitaLash Cosmetics hopes to identify an additional organization benefitting children of cancer patients, as we have all seen first-hand the profound toll the illness can have on families — especially children. We know this is something Gayle would want and that the opportunity to make a positive impact is waiting for us.
If you feel moved to do so, please help. Working together, 2021 can be the year that reveals light at the end of the tunnel in the struggle against breast cancer.
