For nearly 25 years, Émilie Faccini was a pharmacy technician.
A passion job, she says, but one that ended up lacking meaning for her.
“I find that it is a profession that is dehumanizing, business sometimes takes precedence over everything else, I needed to refocus and leave this environment,” she explains without regret.
Last October, she took the plunge and opened her boutique aimed at people suffering from various forms of cancer.
Located on rue Camille Lenoir, “this special place” in downtown Reims, it is intended to be a response to a lack of specialized shops dedicated to care.
On the border between the boutique and the tea room, we find in “Le Boudoir des Amazones”, a reference to these mythological warriors, champions of a matriarchal society, breast prostheses, turbans, wigs, adapted underwear, a range of cosmetics reserved for weakened and sensitive skin before or after remission, pocket covers for patients requiring a stoma, etc.
Also read Hair prosthetics as an alternative to an itchy wig
“The goal,” explains Émilie Faccini, “was to have everything in the same place to avoid patients having to go to different pharmacies or specialized shops, but it is also a place where we can take the time, I receive mainly by appointment, we preserve the privacy of the person.
» In a space that the forty-year-old has completely fitted out, sliding doors allow you to protect yourself from the view of passers-by.
This is where she receives her clients, for an hour or more, depending on exchanges and requests.
With training in oncology care images, Émilie Faccini also provides advice on choosing your wig, turban or breast prostheses according to the skin tone, morphology and sensitivity of the patient.
“Additional” training which allows this place to be included in a global care pathway, “substantial and formal” work.
“I do not replace the work of psychotherapists but when I see my clients, I make sure that they keep smiling, that they regain confidence, I am there for them, so that they rediscover their femininity.
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Since the opening of the store, Émilie Faccini has been approved by Social Security, she practices third-party payment, on the references she offers in store, depending on the amounts allocated and the care path of each person.
Even if she only receives, “for the moment mainly only women”, the one who practices “emotional sales” does not exclude receiving men and children, for whom the approach is still different.
“If we talk about alopecia, for example, a man who loses his hair is taken for granted, society allows him to be bald, for a woman it's different, hair is part of the stereotype feminine.
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Le Boudoir des Amazones (
boudoir-des-amazones.fr)
, 55, rue Camille Lenoir, Reims (Marne)