Concealing outside scars to heal what’s inside

Owings Mills (Map, News) - From acne to burn scars — Linda Seidel gives women and men a chance to forget about their markings.

For 30 years, Seidel has made scars fade, concealed cleft lips and found practical solutions to wine stains, other birthmarks and medical conditions.

“Even with a keloid scar tissue that sticks up, once you put matte on it so it’s not shiny, you stand back and you can’t see it. It’s camouflage,” Seidel said at her Owings Mills studio.

Evelyn Hill, 56, a saleswoman from Silver Spring, visited Seidel’s studio 15 years ago. She was in the middle of a “bad divorce” and suffered from vitiligo, a skin condition in which pigment disappears, leaving white but otherwise normal patches.

“It literally changed my life the day I walked into that office,” Hill said. “I can’t be without the makeup today. It gives me so much confidence when I go out. I’m not self-conscious about the way I look.”

Seidel’s interest in makeup began as a teenager because she had acne and felt bad going out in public, but it wasn’t until she was working at a beauty salon called Andre’s on Charles Street that she met her first customer with facial scarring.

“I put down a base to even up the skin tones, but when I started doing the glamour portion, putting on the blush, it collected around the edges of the scar,” Seidel recounted. After several attempts, the customer left, crying.

A week later, she read about a plastic surgeon in New York who was developing a cosmetic that concealed scars and went to investigate.

Her first referral from doctors at the Johns Hopkins plastic surgery department was a lady with a wine-stain birthmark covering half her face and body, Seidel said. “I started creating a portrait after I concealed the birthmark on her face, and she started to cry. She thanked me for giving her back her life.”

Since then, Seidel has developed a line of concealing and camouflage makeup.

Seidel teaches people how to conceal marks that make them uneasy or keep them from fitting in, then offers free critiques after they begin trying it.

Other customers tend to be mothers and grandmothers, bringing their daughters in for help to learn how to “do it right,” and adults who never learned.

khille@baltimoreexaminer.com

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