My dear friend, only 36, has been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She is going to have to undergo chemotherapy.
She has a lot on her mind right now and has asked me to help her look for some wigs. My friend, Erin, has absolutely gorgeous hair. She’s a lovely woman and her hair is one of her best features.
I am devastated for her and scared for her and want to take this task seriously. So far, it looks like if you’re Joan Collins circa 1987, there are a ton of hair options. If you are my friend Erin, with lush, mid length hair cut into layers around her face with bangs, there isn’t as many options.
Any suggestions for great wigs for a modern woman with really great hair?
Remember that wigs are still made of human hair- good ones, at least- and need to be styled just like human hair. So, remind her not to be terrified by that Joan Collins mess, because it can be worked with. In fact, there are hair dressers that specialize in styling and cleaning wigs!
Just like my (natural with extensions) hair- I can roll it into little corkscrews a la 1984, but I can also blow it out into something natural and beautiful.
Tell her to go to the local black hair store (I hope I don’t get jumped on for calling it that, but as a white girl, that’s what I always thought it was-- now I get my false lashes and extensions there!) and try on some wigs- the owners in each that I’ve been in have all been so amazingly nice.
I dated the guy who runs this company briefly and I did NOT know he had a hairpiece until he told me, and then showed me all the wigs! I haven’t spoken to him in years, but I know he was very dedicated to creating natural looking wigs for people.
My aunt recently underwent treatment for throat cancer and for a while she was thinking she’d lose all of her hair (it definitely got thin but much of it stayed in place). She figured that when things got to the point where her hair was obviously coming out in hunks she’d have her stylist come over and do it proper (buzz), and we discussed having a party where her friends would also get shorn - my mom was eager to participate as was I (I’m a 39 year old guy with closely clipped hair so not much of a change for me). As far as I know she never considered wearing a wig.
I just wanted to toss that idea out there on the off-chance that it would appeal to your friend. From my perspective it was her way of attacking that particular problem on her own terms - “OK, if I’m going to lose my hair for a while I’m doing it my way, not getting upset every time my hairbrush pulls out a clump”. She’d be on her own turf, with her friends and family supporting her and while it may be a bit cliche I think that if she was going to have to go out bald she’d feel a lot better with similarly styled people around her.
I was even putting together a slideshow of great looking bald ladies (Melissa Etheridge, Joan Jett, Demi Moore in “GI Jane”, etc) for inspiration. Group of tough strong characters who also happen to look good sans hair.
Anyhow, just an alternative to think about - embrace it and control it instead of hiding it if you see where I’m coming from?
My sister lost her hair to breast cancer. Her insurance covered the cost of a good wig (under the label of a prosthetic). Your friend’s local cancer support group can probably point her to someone who specializes in wigs for cancer patients. Lisa often got compliments on how cute her “hair” was, by people who didn’t knw she was wearing a wig.
I don’t have any direct experience with wigs, but I’ve heard that “good” wigs have as many hairs per square inch as scalp. Where “good” wigs go bad is cutting all those hairs to the exact same length. Even after the best medium/long haircut, you have hairs all over your head at various stages of growth. I expect the best wig stylists take that into consideration to create a natural look.
I asked a friend of mine who’s had to wear wigs since she was a teenager for her own conditions and this is what she uses/suggested (paraphrasing):
“Well if they want a full hair/scalp prosthesis if they have lost their hair forever (you can swim/ride roller coasters/anything) go to Peggy Knight, otherwise if they just want a nice wig, Rene de Paris, Tressallure, Revlon, any of the $100-150 range look nice- check voguewigs.com the $30-60 ones are about fashion quality, so if you want to have lots of different styles just get some of those, brand doesn’t matter so much, they only last a bit…”
So perhaps try those people to see if there’s something that matches her style?
My sister used to work in the hats-and-wigs department of some major department stores, and occasionally people would need wigs due to cancer. She really enjoyed helping them find the right wig and felt she was doing some good. So if you have a big store available that sells wigs, maybe your friend would want to visit them in person.