Testimonials

Customers’ experience with Shiseido Life Quality Makeup.
（Some articles include Shiseido employees）

Makeup can be
the key to
a positive
outlook on life. Takeshi Miyaji

We interviewed Takeshi Miyaji to hear about his life after suffering serious burns and his experience with Shiseido Life Quality Makeup.

I suffered burns over
90% of my entire body
in a fire.

14 years ago. I was preparing a deep-fried dish, and was heating oil on the stove in a pan. I looked away just for a few moments, and it suddenly caught on fire and the kitchen was ablaze. In an effort to prevent a major disaster, I tried to move the pan, but ended up spilling the oil all over my body. As a result, I was immediately hospitalized, unconscious and in critical condition. I woke up lying on a bed in the ICU, after spending about three weeks in a coma. After regaining consciousness, some time had passed before I looked at my severely burnt face, but the moment I saw myself, a feeling I cannot even describe with words overwhelmed me. I think the closest to what I felt was despair. Considering that I had lost the skin all over my body from burns, I had to repeatedly undergo skin transplant surgery while remaining in a life-threatening condition.

Things were extremely hard for me back then, and I sometimes thought that it would have been easier for me if I had just died in the accident. The skin tissue that hardens after suffering a burn is called scar tissue, and the parts where the scar tissue has thickened is called a hypertrophic scar. These hypertrophic scars would harden and solidify, making it difficult to move my body. These scars were partially the cause of symptoms such as being unable to expand my chest, or bend my fingers. It was also painful and itchy. On top of these physical discomforts, there was also the emotional pain of experiencing flashbacks of the accident.

I became a different
person,
and I was terrified
to face other people.

I learned about Shiseido Life Quality Makeup through an introduction from the hospital. Even after I was out of the hospital, I visited regularly, and during a consultation, I was told by my attending doctor that Shiseido had makeup to help reduce the appearance of scars and was asked whether I would be interested in trying it. Thus, I met with a Shiseido staff member at the hospital.

The reason why I decided to try makeup was because there was a period when I suffered social phobia. I was not the same person I used to be, as I had scarring on my face and body, and I was terrified of facing other people. This person with all of these wounds was not the person that I used to be. I believe that all people fear something new and different, and are afraid of what others may think. By putting on makeup, I thought that maybe it would help me feel better, or that it would impact me in some positive way.

My first makeup
experience…seriously?!

My first experience with makeup surprised me. I felt rather bewildered the first time I tried on makeup. Although the scars would disappear, seeing my face with makeup on felt very awkward. Needless to say, I had mixed feelings. While there was a part of me questioning whether it really would help lessen the discomfort that people felt when looking at me, I also held a sense of hope that it really would improve my appearance. Even though my mother complimented me on the way I looked in the photo with makeup on, I was not ready to take what my family said as the truth, so I was like, “seriously?!”

I have gotten a lot more accustomed to applying makeup now. I think this is largely owing to the fact that the staff explained the reasoning for the makeup techniques to me in a way that I could understand. When I do wear makeup, I start by drawing my eyebrows and applying foundation on my face. Next, because there is a patch of scarred skin on the left side of my mouth where hair does not grow, I add a bit of color similar to my beard. When it is on too thick, it becomes sticky, so I only apply a sheer layer for a natural looking finish. Rather than wearing makeup whenever I leave the house, I wear it when I go to work, or when I attend a relative’s wedding. I wear makeup when I want to look nice.

I’m grateful for everything.

I am a bit of an oddball, and I would prefer to see other people happy rather than to fulfill my own happiness. I repair computers for work, and it really makes me happy when I succeed in fixing a particularly complex job. I am especially elated when I am able to recover photographs from data files. I often receive requests from my customers saying, “I’ve lost all the photo data on my smartphone, but are you able to retrieve it? There are some pictures of my kids in there.” While working on recovering the data, I imagine the joy it would bring them when I succeed, which I find very fulfilling.

The reason why I decided to get involved in the Shiseido Life Quality Makeup activities, such as participating in this interview, is from my hope that it will help someone. While I was in the hospital, I witnessed many people who were experiencing a hard time, and so I thought that it would be nice to be able to help other patients like me who are suffering from burn scars or other wounds. I used to be a volleyball player when I was a student, and regardless of whether I failed or lost, I would always feel regret if I did not try my best to pick up the ball and stand strong again. I think that perhaps this experience has helped me. In my case, without any doubt, I think it would have been more painless for me to have died in the fire, considering that I had to restart from a condition where I had no skin on my body. However, I do not dwell on what could have been. Now, I have come to appreciate the various things in my life, and I am pretty grateful for everything.

* This interview was made possible thanks to the kindness of the interviewees who support the aim of this activity and was posted in February 2020. We wish to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to all the people involved.