Wigs

They Say It Takes 30 Days To Break a Habit…

by Lina on September 14, 2012

Lina’s Update: 

Hello to my wonderful sisters. I thought I would update you on my hair wearing process. Today marks exactly 5 weeks since I first shaved my head and have worn my wig “full-time”. The few posts that I have made I noticed a lot of struggles out there and I wanted to let you know that I have not abandoned you, on the contrary, you are all on my mind.

So, quick recap: I shaved my head because after 25 years of battling hair loss, I had a “melt down” this summer (hair loss plus a lot of life stuff), I was 3 months after major surgery and boom – a bout of TE set in – well, no hair to lose any more and out came the clippers (I was drinking wine at the time, hmmm). Well didn’t cry when I did it and haven’t yet shed a “hair tear”. Well, that night I was brave, next morning I looked in the mirror and went, hmm – is that what I really look like 🙂

Well, no going back right? I had to wear my “just in case” wig. Maybe God knew I would chicken out and get frustrated and not wear the wig after a day or two and that’s why he gave me the strength to shave my head – this way I had to commit to wearing hair. I will tell you the honest truth in my experience – I was frustrated with the wig, it takes getting used to: used to feeling like you have hair, seeing you with hair, accepting the fact you wear hair (that’s the toughest). So, first few days, wanted to rip it off, couldn’t look in the mirror because it didn’t look like me. How funny is that? I haven’t looked like me in a number of years – hair or expression. I avoided mirrors for the first few days. I finally washed the wig – much better, positioned her properly on my head (made a big difference), got the wigrip that Y suggested (life saver). [click to continue…]

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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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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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Happy, Sad, Confused – The Emotional Hair Wearing Coaster

by Y on June 30, 2012

I love my wig, I think we’ve established that. But, now comes the rainbow of wonder. I wonder if… you know that rainbow.

As anyone who reads this blog knows I have always pointed towards wearing bonded hair as my personal end-all-be-all solution towards moving past this wretched hair loss nightmare. Many women are able to boldly make that leap, arms wide open and flinging themselves into the air only to find they have wings, and they fly with brave beauty and grace onto the other side and into bluer horizons. Others, like myself, stare off the cliff and look for the ladder, the rope, the bridge.. anything else. So I got a rope, no shame in that and am inching my way towards emotional freedom.

Wearing a wig is a process. Period. You have super highs and you have those “sometime” moments at the end of the day after wearing it for 10+ hours when you are thinking, “Get this off my head STAT.” Moments of realization that this hair beauty has to come off at the end of the night, and you are bummed that this hair isn’t more “part of you.” Then come the soaring highs, the ability to leave the house WITH hair, not just any hair but amazing hair. The ability to “do” my hair in 2 minutes flat, no longer a slave to furiously trying to battle with the blow dryer to make my crappy hair looks less crappy. I have peace of mind. [click to continue…]

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Twitter, Boobs, Wigs and Weight Gain

by Y on June 24, 2012

So after much hemming and hawing I decided in a very non decisive way to start a Twitter account for The Women’s Hair Loss Project. While I never started one before for various reasons, recently I have found myself out and about having funny and/ or interesting ( I think ) thoughts that would be great to share on a platform like Twitter. I also often run across interesting articles related to hair loss that I don’t have time to blog about, but would make for a perfect quick “tweet.”  I’m a private person, like an uber private person, so that has always kept me away from social networks, that, along with the thought of wondering how many women dealing with hair loss would want to “follow” a hair loss twitter page. I have no idea, and I understand completely if no one does. I did try and make the page as nondescript as possible making sure not to include anything “hair loss” in the name, website, icon or background. It is possible that the WHLP could be broadened by Twitter and perhaps more women needing help and support could find us. This is really more of a Twitter test run, because who knows, I could delete it next week, so don’t be surprised if go to the link one day and it says, “Page Not Found.” Here it is, with my lonely first tweet LOL: https://twitter.com/whlpnetwork

Now on to the fun stuff… boobs and wigs. Now how the heck did I tie these together? I’ve recently been thinking about why there is such a stigma associated with wigs, or any hair that is worn that isn’t the universally accepted, “extensions.” Women can proudly can get breast implants and even be commended for doing something for themselves, but talk about wearing hair out of necessity and you get looked at like you have 3 heads. “Why ever would you want to WEAR a WIG?” hummmm…. thinking of a reply, ” Oh it’s just something I’ve always dreamed about, ever since I was a little girl. I had hoped and prayed my hair would just started falling out when I was 21 and then I knew that perfect moment would come at 34 years of age when I would have so little hair I HAD to wear a wig.” How’s that for an answer? [click to continue…]

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Wigging Out! My Freeda Wig Purchase and My Super Highs and Super Lows in 24 Hours

by Y on May 18, 2012

This is so emotional that I am crying as I type this out. I don’t know any better way to sort through my feelings than just writing it all down.

Hummm.. where do I start? Well, I recently turned 34 and after living with androgenetic alopecia for 13 years, I decided to look into the mirror and say to myself, “When? If not now, when?” That question I posed to myself was in relation to asking myself how many more years of my life will I spend not being able to be who I really want to be, portray myself how I want to portray myself and to just feel comfortable in my own skin. How many more years will I play musical chairs at the dinner table to avoid the brightest overhead lightening or run past my reflection wherever it may appear? How many more years will I shutter at the sight of myself in a public bathroom mirror or think how much better I would look WITH more hair?  More hair, the old hair, the old me… so far gone it’s hard to remember that person, it’s hard to remember what it is like to really have hair. How many more years will I sacrifice to “just getting by?” I have lost way more than 3/4 of the hair I started with and I have been just working with what I have, albeit still being able to pull off a thin hair gal look most of the time. I think most people probably just think I have thin hair naturally, or at least I hope that is the image I give off.

I’ve just grown to accept the thin sorry wisps of hair that crown my head, all while the hairs continue to say adios to me throughout the day, falling here, there and everywhere.  What am I afraid of? What do I have to loose to just move forward and make the leap into wearing hair? Ultimately, for me, the holy grail has always been to wear bonded hair, which I would remove weekly for cleanup and reattachment. But, I’m way too much of a scaredy cat to just make that happen immediately, so I decided to get my feet wet first by trying to work with some human hair wigs. Wigs, oh my god! The whole thing is so confusing, this cap, that cap, lace, no lace, glueless lace, mono, multi-directional, clips, combs, velcro… time for some wine. [click to continue…]

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What Alopecia Has Taught Me, Two Months Away From 19 – Taylor’s Update

by Y on April 3, 2009

In September of 2007 Taylor shared her story with the Women’s Hair Loss Project. She has now written to share her update with us.
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As of June 08 I began to be able to stand and walk, after beginning a new treatment that was made available to treat the nerve damage I had in my legs and back from my accident. Now, almost a year later I’m up as if nothing ever had gone wrong. I’m still getting a hang of the whole running thing though, it’s quite the sight. All my health issues completely disappeared, but alopecia decided to come back and pay me a visit.

My hair began to fall out in late November, just before I graduated from college. At first it was just a little more then usual when I was washing my hair. I reasoned that it was because I hadn’t brushed it for a few days so all the hair that fell out naturally had not yet been removed. It became more and more noticeable until there was just no convincing myself that I wasn’t relapsing. I was devastated because I felt that for once my life had been going right, and for the first time in so long I had the opportunity to just be a normal girl and fit in with everyone else. I felt like I was being punished, as ridiculous as it may sound.

One night in the early hours of the morning I came back to the Women’s Hair Loss Project to read what I wrote about my first experience with Alopecia. I felt like a hypocrite, talking about how inner beauty matters the most and there I was falling to pieces because I was losing my hair again. But I had to laugh at how much times had changed since re-reading what I wrote (especially about my ex!). This time around I was very lucky to have such a good support system; my amazing friends Jess and Matt who were there to pick me up off the floor and knock some sense into me. I really don’t know what I would’ve done without them. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt since Alopecia’s… graceful return is that what makes us different, makes us beautiful. Our hardships in life really define who we are as a person, and without them we wouldn’t learn and we wouldn’t grow. Alopecia makes me look unique, which is something I’ve come to embrace. I know so many people who look and act like clones, being a carbon copy of someone else would be a nightmare to me. [click to continue…]

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