Follea

Blonde Babbling! Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You, I’m Blonde!

by Y on October 4, 2012

Hi everyone, I did a car cam update yesterday whilst on my way to meet a friend from The WHLP for lunch. I’d like to say it was a short quick update, but I don’t know what it is with me and my babbling issues, once I start talking about my hair, I just can’t shut up. LOL. I find that the car is the easiest place to give updates, because I’m usually stuck in traffic doing nothing 🙂 Last Thursday I made a trip to Follea, and found myself a new beauty to bring home. She deserves a post dedicated to all her loveliness, so this will just be a little preview of my golden princess…. Tatiana. She’s been the star of my week, and all my other girls have been sitting on the bathroom counter darting dirty looks at her as she leaves the room each morning 🙂

In other news, I definitely think I’m going to have my hair stylist gal come over next week to cut more hair away from head. I wanted to do it before, but even more now after I saw the video because you can see my short hair behind my ears at times in the video and it’s more obvious with Tatiana than my other girls because of the stark color contrast. So adios to more of my follicles next week, they have trip to trash can ville in store for them. C’est la vie.

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Follea, Me and a Wig Makes Three – Snips & a Wig Blocking Demonstration

by Y on August 23, 2012

Here is the video footage that was taken this past Tuesday whilst I was at Follea getting my lifestyle wig cut-in. This video provides a much better view than my previous one of Anya’s new haircut and also includes a “How To Properly Block Your Wig” clip. The importance of blocking your wig (attaching it to a head) prior to washing it is to prevent inversion (hair coming through the inside of the cap) and also to make sure you don’t tear your cap. We’re learning together, because I really didn’t know why I was suppose to put the wig on a styrofoam head before washing it, but now I do. 🙂

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Wig Washing Part Four – Freedom, Follea Style (Lifestyle That Is…)

by Y on August 17, 2012

Here we are at the end of the series, part four. It was originally only intended to be one 5-6 minute clip of a washing wig demonstration, 4 videos later here we are 🙂

I have been getting some questions about the hair specs, so I’m going to clarify it all below. I probably at some point should have a page for my “girls” that gives this info to those interested in knowing what I’m wearing.

Neither of the two wigs in the videos are lace front, I do own the Aero-2 lace front, but she (Mila) sat this one out. I’m not sure what kind of front these wigs are considered, standard maybe? Not sure. I do place all of my wigs slightly behind my hairline, which helps to make the hairline look very natural, because even if you only have a little bit, the little you have on top and sides just helps to blend the wig in better.

The wig on my head (Natalia) in the video is the Follea Lifestyle-2 medium length wig, which has an overall length of 15″ and a layer at 10″ – The color is C5030 and the cap is all hand-tied.

The wig I’m washing (Anya) and at the end wearing, is also the Follea Lifestyle-2, but it is the long length. It has 19″ overall length and a layer at 14″ – The color is also C5030 and also all hand-tied.

So there it is, I titled this post “Freedom, Follea Style” because these wigs have given me back something I had been missing for so long… me, after just having written some of you gals back a little while ago, I’m reminded of that point and so happy about the place I’ve reached in my hair loss journey, and lets face it that title is better than “String Her Up and Throw Her On.” 🙂

And with that, I leave you with Part Four. Happy Friday! Cheers! Who has the wine?

Part Three: Changing The Part on Anya and More Wig Talk From My Kitchen

Part Two: Caring For Your Human Hair Wig

Part One of The Wig Washing Video Series

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Another Trip To Follea – Wig In The City – Video

by Y on August 5, 2012

A few days ago me and my fiancé piled into the car and headed towards Follea so that I could pick up my newest girl! She had arrived and she was waiting for me. We decided to take a camera with us and shot a lot of “Q & A” type interaction in the car and I ended up with quite a bit of footage that I’l have to figure out how to best present to everyone. I don’t want to bore the heck out of everyone by posting one really long movie. In the meantime, I put together a highlight reel of the day to share with everyone. I posted the video to Facebook a couple days ago and then redid the audio music and changed a couple elements for the YouTube version.

The reason I’m starting to do more videos is because I *think* it’s what may help women who are struggling with the decision to wear hair, I want to show what wearing hair can be, and share things that I really would have loved to have seen myself while in the process of exploring and learning about wigs. If there is anything that would be helpful to you, you can always send me an email and if it’s something I feel comfortable doing or sharing, I’ll definitely try to include that in a future video. I’m very new to wearing wigs, but I’m loving it and I never thought those words would come out of my mouth or through my fingertips on the keyboard 🙂

Happy Sunday! xoxo

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Love For Mila – Video of Me & The Follea Aero-2 Wig

by Y on July 29, 2012

Today I’m having lunch with my mom, she hasn’t seen Mila yet in person, although I did send her a photo last week. So I decided that I would let Natalia sit this one out and proceeded to get this girl ready for the day. I took this opportunity to snap photos and video of Mila (Follea Aero-2 Lace Front) in greater detail.

I’m short on time this morning so I’m not going to write much, I’ll let the video speak for itself….

XOXO

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Where’s Your Hair & Where’s The Wig? I Don’t Get It

by Y on July 25, 2012

I am frequently asked, how far back I place my wigs and where it joins my hairline. My mom asked me this same question when I told her I was wearing a wig, she said, “where’s your hair and where’s the wig? I don’t get it.” I pulled up my hair to show where everything was, but the color of the wig and my hair are such a close match that it is still hard to demonstrate, but I wanted to give it the ol’ college try anyways. I showed an upclose shot of my wig in the video from July 1st, (Show & Tell Sunday – Video and Slideshow) but I didn’t actually lift the hairline of the wig up to show where it is placed on my head.

The beginning of this video is me attempting to show how I blend my hairline and then the last portion of the video is just more pics of me and Natalia. Yes, it seems I snap a photo of myself with my new hair whenever I get a chance, I’m so glad I got the iPhone with the extra hard drive space.. ha. I pity the thief that steals my computer and is greeted with a gazillion images of me and wigs. This IS normal right? 🙂 As my friend BrooknixEllie says, “It’s the NEW normal.” Amen to that.

OMG I just realized I have a typo in the video, I put “WONG” Instead of “WRONG” oh well 🙂

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Follea Aero-2 Lace Front Wig – Video

by Y on July 22, 2012

Rubber ducky you’re the one…

Hi everyone! So this past Tuesday, I purchased the Aero-2 glueless lace front wig from Follea. My longer “Lifestyle” wig is on order, I’m not sure when it will be here and I was seriously chomping at the bit to be in possession of a long wig. I mean seriously, if I’m going to be wearing a wig full time, as I am now, I need to have OPTIONS and I can’t even remember when the last time was I really got to “enjoy” long hair.  Also, in addition I’ve been dying to get my hands on a glueless lace front. Everyone is always talking about lace fronts, I’m frequently asked about them and I wanted to see how I could get this type of a wig to work for myself. Lace front wigs are generally meant to go at or slightly in front of your hairline, it’s meant to replace your hairline with a very natural look. However, I have a wonky hairline, it’s kind of hard to explain it, but I really need to place the wigs slightly behind my hairline in order for them to blend and work perfectly. This is not the easiest task with a lace front, it took me 4 days to get it to work for me. I don’t attribute this to be a fault of the wig, rather more of a result of how I’m choosing to wear it, my head etc.

The Aero-2 lace front is a less expensive wig than my Natalia, as such there are some key differences. The back is a machine wefted closed cap. It has a lace top, lace front and a hand-tied top. Natalia is ALL hand-tied. Both are comfortable, but I think the hand-tied wig feels a tiny bit better. The hair is also European hair, but has been processed, so it isn’t virgin hair. And no, virgin hair doesn’t mean that the the girl who grew out the hair was a virgin (haha)  it means it has had no chemical processing, like hair coloring, perms etc. It is hair in it’s most natural and luscious state.  The hair quality of the Aero is still amazing though. Can you feel the difference if you put both wigs together and touch each? Yes, you can. One is uber yummy silky sweetness, and one is OMG WTF, this is insane, spank me crazy and call me Santa Claus, I think I’ve died and done to heaven. How’s that for painting a picture? Where this wig shines in my view, is that is lays pretty flat (in a good way)  on top of your head, and that makes it look extremely real and natural. That is a result of the lace top, with the lace there is less space between the hair of the wig and your head, less material (?) I don’t know what the technical way is to represent that in words.

A lace front has.. wait for it… lace. I found this to be a tricky situation for myself when I was working to put it behind my hairline because it is sitting on top of my hair and it seemed to lift the lace up from my scalp at the very front of the wig hairline in one spot, ever so microscopically. I also had suspicions that the WiGrip was creating an extra “lift” to the lace that wouldn’t be present if you didn’t use the WiGrip on this type of wig, but since I can only wear a wig with a WiGrip the point was a bit moot to try and  make it work without it. To me this “lift” I was seeing made that section of the wig noticeable.  If it was on direct scalp I would imagine this issue wouldn’t be present. This was an issue I was having when trying to style it with a parted hairline straight down, it wasn’t an issue to clip the hair up in the style you’ll see at the end of  the video below.  So on Wednesday I got frustrated with the lace wig and made her sit in the corner facing the wall on her styrofoam head. Bad girl!   Natalia was waiting for me, like the trusted bestie she is, I thew her on and went on with my day.

I returned to visit the Aero wig the next day, she looked at me and I looked at her and believe there was that wild west music from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly movie playing in my head, you know the dueling music…. “How is this going to go down little missy?”  Uh, not good. Same thing as the day prior. I felt that yet again I could see a tiny bit of the lace lifting as a result of it being on top of my hair behind my hairline and being used with the WiGrip. Also, to the girl who asked me if you can see the WiGrip though a lace wig, the answer is yes… it isn’t really bad, but you can see it though. I have no problem with how it looks,  it sort of looks like you got a bit of hair dye in that area of your scalp. As someone who used to religiously dye my hair red in college, I can attest to the fact that sometimes dye gets on your scalp and does give your scalp a bit of color, it’s not a big deal. But yes you CAN see it. [click to continue…]

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A Day With Follea – And A Story of Finding Myself Again

by Y on July 19, 2012

If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know I went on a wig shopping spree determined to find something. I was let down a bit when I realized that the wigs didn’t stay on for me without clips or combs and much like topper clips, they hurt, only worse because the wig is heavier. I was defeated. Seriously defeated. It felt like the option of wearing a wig securely and comfortably was going to be out of the question for me. Hair loss was leaving me out in the cold, yet again. It was one heck of a depressing week before I had discovered that there are companies that sell headband grips that keep the wig in place. The company that makes the one I use (WiGrip) is made by Milano Wigs, they have a showroom in Los Angeles and I went their one day to check the grips and the wigs out. I tried the amazing headband and found hope again. I also ended up buying two wigs from them when I was there. I just still didn’t feel completely confident though, The Freeda wig and the Milano wigs are good, they really are good quality wigs.. but they weren’t me. I was beginning to get a little discouraged about this process and decided I would make an appointment (which I later cancelled)  to go to see Flora (as in Designs by Flora) in New Jersey, I was hopeful the maybe I could find something better there. At the same time I was on my search for my wig, my WHLP friend, Bonnie was on her search for her hair too. Through our email messages she had shared with me that it might be worth it to check out Follea hair if I could find a place that carries it. Honestly, I’d never really heard of them or their wigs. Bonnie’s clear excitement about the hair, got me excited to want to maybe check them out myself. I googled the company and found they are located a hop, skip and jump away from me in Beverly Hills… and there is where life began.

Finding Follea

Follea hair, oh let me count they ways I love thee. Soft, silky, european sexy hair. I find myself sitting watching TV in the evenings with my wig on my lap, and I just sit and stroke the hair, it’s somehow soothing to me, I don’t know… call me a freak 🙂 It reminds me of the feel of my own hair before I began to loose it. The way it moves, falls, blows in the wind, pure yumminess. It’s been two months since I’ve purchased my wig from them and while wearing a wig IS a process and a journey all by itself, I have finally found some peace in knowing I can walk out into the world with my head held high, I can look into the mirror of any well lit bathroom with a smile and I can rest my wigless head at night knowing, that the best of life is yet to come.

These past two months have been eye opening for me, a strong realization about the fact that wearing a wig really isn’t bad at all, it does have to be the right wig for you or I think you’ll be fighting with the wig and it will just add to the frustration of the whole process. I am incredibly enthusiastic about wanting to help women take this step when the time is right for them, sooner rather than later and not waiting and suffering like I did. I think we really know when the time is right for us. It’s the moment you feel you can no longer face the world, that your couch begins to get a nice deep dent in it from you sitting there at home rather than going out and enjoying life with your family and friends. When your hair takes away the joy from your life, you can take it back. Wigs are a great option and I think there is a cloud over them because they somehow have a bad stigma, bad wigs gave way to that. A good wig can be your best ally in your hair loss struggle, you can still treat your hair loss how ever you choose to, and wear a wig to go out with confidence into the world. I can definitely say I wish I made this choice sooner. [click to continue…]

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Show & Tell Sunday – Video and Slideshow

by Y on July 1, 2012

A few weeks ago I put up a few photos of my new wig and then a short while after that I took them down for various reasons, one of which a family member had emailed me a link to my own site (this one) discussing an article I had written years ago and that “I” should check it out. I felt panicked that with the photos of myself on the site that this person would for sure, instantly, make the connection and realize this was my site, so I quickly pulled the pictures down offline. A lot of women where emailing me because they wanted to see the photos that everyone was referring to so I then put together a private gallery and emailed the link out to several women. Well, I’ve since come clean to the family member who I was concerned about and I want to share some more photos and video with everyone so that women can get a better idea of how the wig sits on my head and also those photos that where once in the private gallery are included in the video as well. So my apologies to those who have already seen them, that part will be a repeat for you. [click to continue…]

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Follea Lifestyle Wig: Hello! A Very Wiggy Week

by Y on May 27, 2012

This past week has been a busy busy wig week. Last Sunday I went to Milano Wigs in Los Angeles to buy the WiGrip. The WiGrip is this handy dandy little strap that ties around your head like a comfy headband and keeps a wig in place without the need for clips or a comb. Amen! I kid you not, this little invention is amazing. I’ve seen several other similar grips online, they all look the same and probably function exactly the same as well.

Whilst at Milano Wigs I was taken in by the massive amount of wig supply they had there, a showroom filled with a ton of wigs that you can just try on by yourself. At first I felt awkward, out of place and a bit timid, but pretty soon I was flinging those bad girls on my head left and right. I think the plastic wig head fumes got to me and I ended up purchasing 2 wigs, that quite frankly are likely not going to see a lot of wear time. The wigs are quality wigs, don’t get me wrong, but the color isn’t exactly right for me and they don’t look as good on me as my Freeda Wig (Rina), or my new Follea Wig… but more on that later.

I think what is pretty fantastic about Milano wigs is their partline, sharp and distinct, they look amazingly real. Also it doesn’t have that knotted tight hairline problem which I experienced with Rina. It lays quite flat and looks very real. I also found out that this shop does coloring, cutting and repair on any wig, not just wigs purchased from them, so I ended up taking Rina in to try and have the hairline knotty bundle smoothed out and perhaps be made to look more natural. I get her back next week, so we’ll see how that goes. I am thinking I might also have Rina colored to better match my hair color and also have some long side swept bangs put in.

I’ve been on a wig rampage, determined to find that perfect, ah hem.. “hair enhancement” aka wig. I was quite interested in seeing two particular brand of wigs because of their reputation for quality and awesomeness, Follea and Flora Wigs. Flora is located in NJ and also in NY and since I’ll be in that area soon I thought I would take the opportunity to set up an appointment with Flora which I did do, but ultimately ended up canceling it this past week because I bought a Follea wig and there really isn’t room in my budget for two wigs in this type of price bracket, but I’m still very interested in checking out Flora’s wigs at some point. I’m curious how it compares with Follea and what the pluses are to each of them. [click to continue…]

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