Do you cope with severe stress by primping or changing your appearance?

I wrote something about this, when my relative was dying of cancer I was coping with my feelings on the matter by dyeing my hair and painting my nails and doing more colorful makeup- the colors make me feel at least something remotely positive even though it's something small.

I found it pathetic at the time because it seems kind of vain? But I guess sometimes it seems to be the only thing you can do, because everything is so bad, just little pleasures like changing your appearance can be a coping mechanism? It could also be trying to control my appearance because the situation was so beyond my ability to control.

And not necessarily a healthy one because I dyed my hair almost every month for 2 years. I bleached it twice & it was destroyed.

Is this a normal coping mechanism?

Is it okay to talk about this?