“As a woman, your biggest thing is your face. And my mother was just completely devastated; she had no eyebrows, no eyelashes,” Ballou said.

Dedicated to her mother, Ballou created Lashes of Love for women going through chemotherapy and radiation, fighting cancer. While many companies make wigs and hats targeted for cancer patients, Ballou didn’t believe the hairloss market targeted eyelashes, but “applying of her lashes with their hats or their wigs or their beanies will help their self confidence grow,” she said.

Each of the five lash sets-which include two reusable, fake lashes--are named after cancer survivors in Ballou’s life. According to Ballou, each set can last up to 30 uses with proper care.

“Angel named a lash from her product line, Lashes of Love, after me. It's really an honor for me especially as a breast cancer survivor,” Breigha Pachak said, who was diagnosed and treated for stage one triple-negative breast cancer in 2016. 

While all of the lashes represent a different cancer survivor, each set spans a different length and volume. The Fifi lash, for example, is the longest and fullest set and is dedicated to Ballou’s previous boss, Fifi Landry, who supported Ballou when she first began her career in beauty. Landry completed chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2019.

“Every single lash I created is named after someone very special to me,” Ballou said. “every lash is created after one of my friends, my mother, a boss of mine—they've all went through this.”

In addition to supporting women going through cancer treatment, Lashes of Love donates proceeds from its lash sales towards National Breast Cancer Foundation. 

Julio Sandoval is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.

Victoria Carodine is a digital content producer for Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at victoriacarodine@rmpbs.org.