Taking the plunge into wearing wigs

Our customer’s own story…

It’s been a long time since my hair might have been remotely termed my ‘crowning glory’. As a child, my gold-blonde, thick, long hair was the source of many a beaming smile on my mother’s face as someone complimented her on her daughter’s hair. What that smile hid were hours of tantrums when she would battle me to wash it, comb it, plait it or even touch it.

Flip forward thirty years, and the signs of hair loss were becoming very apparent. I tried everything to thicken it, but still it filled combs, blocked plug holes and dented my confidence. One hairdresser (who I only visited once) warned me that I would ‘probably be bald in a couple of years’ and sold me a bottle of something that he swore would prevent any further loss. Yes, that gullibility and desperation prompted many a purchase that would turn out, again, to be a complete waste of money. So, I went for the chop – the (very thin) pixie cut -thankfully, my face shape could kind of carry it off. It saw me through my forties, but it would only be a temporary reprieve, as it turned out’.

In 2005, I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, and was placed on some pretty heavy biologic medication that would pretty much wipe out my immune system. One after the other, each of the drugs failed in terms of controlling the disease. I started to make excuses to avoid going out, socially. A couple of friends started hinting, and then strongly advising, that perhaps it was time to think about wigs. And then, in 2018, after starting what is the last chance saloon of currently-available biologics after becoming seriously ill in hospital, the hair on my crown left the building completely and the sides were fast joining the party.

I remembered my mother wearing wigs, back in the 1970s, to enable her to switch up her style when she felt like it. I also remembered trying one on when she wasn’t looking: it was itchy, hot, horribly uncomfortable and smelled. In hindsight, I think it was that memory that prevented me from thinking about turning to wigs earlier. Instead, I bought bamboo hats and stayed in 90% of the time with the cat (my marriage had ended in 2012, but that’s another story altogether). I was, thankfully, working on a PhD that I could complete from home and did all of my shopping online. But then, one morning, an invitation to my oldest friend’s daughter’s wedding arrived on the doormat. I have known the bride since I first held her in my arms at a couple of hours old, in the hospital, and there was absolutely no way I was going to miss the happiest day of her life. It was the prompt I sorely needed.

My sister-in-law took me to a salon that sold wigs, on the pretence that we were going out for lunch, one soggy Tuesday. That was when I bought my first wig – it was nothing like I’d remembered from my mother’s stash all those years ago, but the experience of dealing with the shop wasn’t a good one, and though I now had hair that was passable, I didn’t feel remotely attractive. I couldn’t go to the wedding when I felt like that.

‘And that is when I went online and found Simply Wigs’

I spent hours deliberating, cutting and pasting pictures of the styles to my friends to see if they thought I could carry them off. I didn’t trust my own judgement by this time, so if any of them had said ‘oh nooo!’ – which thankfully they didn’t, that would have been curtains for that particular piece. So, I ordered Ellen Wille’s Flip Mono in Pearl Blonde Rooted and I cannot describe how emotional I became when I put it on, applied some make-up and drove to have coffee with friends for the first time in so very long. I looked like me, again. I found myself being complimented on my hair, (once by a retired hairdresser in the optician’s, and another time by my Nurse Specialist as she hooked me up to my monthly drip), and I gradually felt my confidence beginning to return. The wig was comfortable, cool and sassy and after a few weeks it gave me the courage to try something else.

I ordered January by Jon Renau, in Palm Springs Blonde, and the moment I put it on I knew that this was the one for the wedding. I had the hair I’d last seen in my twenties – only better. On the big day, I had so many compliments from people I hadn’t seen in years, who had no idea that I was wearing a wig. It was the hottest day of the year and we spent hours outside, but I was cool and comfortable all day long – all the way through to the evening reception. The following day, when I got home – exhausted but happy and still wearing my January – my neighbour told me that he had seen me leaving for the wedding and said I ‘looked absolutely stunning’. I cried, but this time they were tears of joy because I knew that now I was going to get my life back and the hiding myself away was behind me.

I’ve just ordered my third wig – Elisha, again by Jon Renau in the same beautiful shade, Palm Springs Blonde. It’s a short, straight bob, with the most beautiful cap design I’ve seen yet. The team at Simply Wigs have been absolutely fantastic. I worked in customer service for many years, and I can honestly say that they have been a delight to deal with: from advising on colour and size, to the pleasure of opening that purple package with its little purple chocolate, to arranging to return a colour that wasn’t quite right for me. Nothing has been too much trouble for them, and that has made taking the plunge into wearing wigs so much easier. I have just been invited to another wedding – this time in Ireland, in September, but I know that regardless of which outfit I choose that my hair will look fabulous.

I’ll post more about the new styles I try when I get a chance – I’m a little busy at the moment, getting out and getting my life back thanks to Simply Wigs!