Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

After deciding I will “shed” my hair instead of fighting to save it, my next hurdle is wigs. I looked around a bit and quickly decided on working with Jennifer at Hair with Care (Thanks to Missy for the referral). Her boutique is in my Cancer center so it couldn’t be more convenient and it was very clear after a few minutes with her that she knows her stuff. Not to mention, she is in network. Jennifer spent a few hours with me walking me through the ins and outs of my new melon-piece. We tried many on and talked through the process. This was like heaven for me as I’ve always been obsessed with doing hair.

My Wig Adventure – Not my favorite pictures of myself but I’m publishing anyway

So what did I learn? Here is my dumbed down version:

• Synthetic Wigs – usually cheaper but can be very good. You have to be careful though because you can melt it if it’s not heat resistant! Even when cooking you would want to take them off. Also with these, what you see is what you get: If you don’t like the style – too bad. Another mentor of mine mention it’s good to have some easy cheap ones like this. They can also be less hot in the summer. I’ll probably get some fun short ones like this later.
• Heat Resistant Synthetic – I was surprised at how real these felt. You can style them too, but again, still need to be careful. They are limited too with styles.
• Blends – Some people like to have some human hair in the wig.  These move a bit more like human hair and some more styling capabilities.
• Human Hair Wigs – These are the most versatile type of wig. You can style it just like you would your own hair. There are many human hair manufactures with lots of different attributes – luckily I have Jennifer to find the right one for me. The big factor we talked through is the type of hair, since I’m trying to match my blond (or at least the blond I pretend to be). We talked through two types – there are Asian hair wigs which have been stripped down and then re-colored blond, this means you won’t be able to rehighlight it. And then the type which is best for me is a European non-processed virgin hair wig which will be a more natural blond that I can have my colorist highlight to look like me. (There are other types but we didn’t get into them as much)
• Lace Front – This sounds sexier than it is – this is a style choice but many wigs have a little lace they sew the hair line into so it lays naturally. I am getting a lace front added to mine
• Sleep Caps – apparently it can be cold at night, so it’s good to wrap your noggin.
• Other Accessories – They have so many hair pieces. There are “Halos” of hair you can put a hat over. Hair designed specifically to be pulled into pony tails. Hats with hair and bangs sewn in… You name it.  And lots of fun wraps and beanies.
• The Shedding – She also gave me some coaching on the Shedding processes. Most likely with my treatment, I will shed my hair in 10-14 days (so sometime next week 4/30-5/4 it will fall out). She recommends not letting it happen and instead cutting it (she’s not the first one to tell me this). Apparently pulling out clumps of your hair can be traumatic.  Now in my head I’m thinking of all the terrible jokes I can play on Shawn while holding a clump of my hair…. Maybe run out of the shower screaming…. She also said not to shave it and instead to cut it. The process can be painful as well, so this will help reduce some of that. Sooo sometime next week will be D day. TBD if I’ll post a bald picture. It would need a lot of photo shopping as you know how I feel about pictures of my face.
• Spoiler Alert – I know we all want to know – how do you keep a wig on in a wind storm. There’s a magical hair band called a wig grip you put on first – it’s velvety and you Velcro it at the nap of your head. It then creates friction for the wig. I should be able to withstand most things like a convertible, though I think the Scream Machine is out.

After all this, you won’t be surprised to learn I’m going to start with a European non processed virgin human hair wig. We’re going long, as I love my long hair. Jennifer is ordering a few for me to try on to decide – hopefully this weekend. Once we pick the final one, she’ll fit it and most likely take it in (apparently, I have a petite head). We want to wait until I have shed my hair to do the final fitting. After that, we can cut, color and style it. I also learned it is best to have it professionally washed as you can void a warranty. Luckily, Jennifer can wash and restyle it for me while I’m in Chemo. I’ll only need to do that every month or two – so about the same frequency I wash my current hair 😉

Wigs in Every Shape and Size