My New Synthetic Hair

Pat, my lovely chemo nurse told me about Trevor Sorbie's charity, My New Hair, since in my job I had only heard of his hair dressing fame. I spent a delightful day with him, and now it is my very important job to let everyone else know what he does for people like me (bald people, not beauty editors).

By now you know my wigs like they were your wigs I suspect - I bang on about them enough - so while I've covered real hair like there is no tomorrow, the bigger and probably more relevant subject of synthetic wigs (since they are cheaper, more readily available and generally NHS prescribed), has alluded me. But now I have one - thank you Trevor - so let me fill you in...

These were my issues with synthetic wigs:

They are very 'wiggy' and obvious. Trevor cleared this up for me with an analogy that he developed from 5 years experience cutting the things for chemo patients with similar worries. 'If you walk past a woman in the street and I ask you what colour her shoes are, you most likely wouldn't have noticed, unless she had no shoes on.' So wise... And perfectly proven when I left his salon in my new wig, and one of those irritating guys in the street tried to sell me some package for a local hair salon, opening with the line 'where do you get your hair done?' Oh if only he knew...

The NHS one will be sh!t. Let us never underestimate the importance of our hair. Trevor has met no less than three women who have refused chemotherapy in favour of keeping their hair. Although that is mental to me, I have never had to deal with an NHS wig. Of which I should also point out, there is no such thing. Suppliers pitch for the hospital account, and as Trevor points out, if someone is offering a fifty pounder over an £80 equivalent, which is going to win? If we take hospital catering accounts as a similar example, we know where the dreaded NHS reputation comes from. (Not the case universally, some are better than others, some offer real hair, and even wig mecca Trendco is an NHS contracted supplier).

They won't look like my real hair. OK so some are better than others, and obviously the better the wig, the more natural it will look, but that doesn't mean the NHS freebie needs to sit in the packet it came in for the duration of treatment (I know this happens a LOT). There are things you can do, and top of the list should be see someone like Trevor who can cut it to perfection - or as near as possible. And never underestimate the transforming power of dry shampoo - a synthetic wig wearers BFF.

Our first stop was Trendco in Notting Hill. Now this may seem silly, since I am now a chemotherapy and wig veteran, but I was still nervous. Going into a wig shop out of necessity and due to illness is a daunting thing, even at the end of treatment (my initial NHS voucher to pick one out from a place in Paddington was politely declined on D-Day - I couldn't bear the thought of having to go through that seemingly humiliating experience on top of everything else). Trevor knows all this stuff, which is why he takes his charity clients to the shop himself, and it definitely helps.

We went through a process of elimination (no poker straight, nothing blonde, no 'Rachel's'), which is important with synthetic because the style you get is the style you get: Aside from a cut, there is no colouring or heat styling these things, which is good even if it doesn't sound it. The maintenance is ridiculously low - no need to get Katie or Claire round to help me me with this one - you just swish it in soapy water, put a little bit of fabric conditioner in (yes really) and it dries back to it's original style. This also saves on rain-induced anxiety and means I am less likely to leave so disgustingly long between washes. Trevor recommends synthetic over real hair for chemo patients for this very reason - not the wash thing, the effort thing. Since we now know the less bother the better when it comes to anything during treatment.

We tried a few out in a private room, (the highlight of which was Trevor stroking my fluffy head like he was part of my family), and settled on the first one we picked out. It came back to his Covent Garden Salon with us, into another private room, where he cut it into my unique new hair, resplendent with fringe.

So far I was mightily impressed. My thoughts of synthetic wigs had been this: cheap, too shiny, obvious. This one has a monofilament layer under the parting, which makes it look more realistic and feel more comfy. The texture is incredibly natural - ever so slightly unkempt, which is very me - if not a tiny bit shiny at the crown, but I fixed that with dry shampoo, since yes, using products on it is fine.

So now I have and love one, there is only one issue with synthetic wigs, and that is matting. Real hair wigs have the same problem but to a lesser degree. It's where it rubs on your collar I guess, but always along the back hairline. Synthetic mattes on a daily basis and is harder to un-matte. This is where the fabric conditioner trick helps, but even better is T-Range Fibre Conditioning spray that I also got from Trendco. It smells a bit funny but it gets the job done.

Due to the common issue of too few hours in a day, sadly not everyone can get the Trevor Treatment (but you really should try), so he has personally trained 380 hairstylists nationwide to do the same thing. In every county in the UK there is someone who can offer his service, and counting. And he doesn't get paid a penny. The man is a philanthropic genius, and I think I love him a bit.

His words as we chatted on the way back to the salon; "If I can make you leave here with a big smile on your face, then I'm happy."

Mission accomplished Trevor, x

From A Wig-Wearing Know-It-Almost-All

Initially I was a wig-aphobe. I didn't want to have to need one, I didn't want to go out in one, I didn't want to put one on even. This is because I was in mourning for my real hair and a wee bit sulky about my predicament, and also afraid of doing it all wrong. Turns out I was right, Claire had to sort me out in the toilet on my first outing, but nothing is easy the first time right?

First let me introduce you to my American Dreams Wig, it is called Lois (that is how you pick it out from the website, not because I have spent any amount of time giving it a human name, thank you). It costs £86.61. If you are in need of a wig, and are frightened of NHS offerings (I'm sorry to say, you should be), this is pretty phenomenal, considering it's 100% human hair. But not just that, its seriously the best hair ever. If you look on the website now you will think it's the drugs talking, but that's the one and only down point about AD - its such an amazing product, but I bet a lot of people miss out from fear of an instant Chav-over. I mean honestly - this is my one:

Since Claire is officially in charge of my head, she has dealt with all three of my wigs. The first one was good, a bit helmet head-y for me (this apparently is because it is sewn in a spiral around the crown, rather than along a parting, which looks more natural), but good quality. Although I had stuck plasters all along the inside to try and stop it rubbing. And it made me a little bit sad every time I went to the toilet at work because when I had to glimpse in the mirror, I basically saw a wig with eyes. And DadJokes just couldn't stop adjusting it or telling me to adjust it. On the bus this is not ideal.

The extent of my love and gratitude to my Lois wig is thus: I didn't wash it for, erm, I'm really ashamed to tell you this, 3 months. I was afraid I couldn't make it look the same, and there was always an occasion where I needed it so the wash had to wait till tomorrow. Horrendously gross I know, but that is what dry shampoo is for. (When I washed it the water ran grey for about ten minutes. I don't recommend taking this approach).

So now that it is getting a little hotter, and I am also in love with my ginger wig (from Trendco btw, but even with elastic cut out, too tight so I get a headache when I wear it all day. Beauty is pain according to Frenchie, so Ibuprofen is my friend), I asked Claire to cut Lois for me, but not before I asked her to get me the exact same one in a lighter colour. Shamefully I'm like that with handbags too: if you love it, stock up in all the colours before it sells out. Again, not a recommended approach.

So, some tips from an every day wig wearer:

Colour: Initially go as natural as possible so you don't get freaked out by the transition. In fact, make sure you get one way before your hair starts to go so you have 'emergency' hair waiting for you in the spare room.
When your lashes and brows start to fade, it makes you look paler and, weirdly, like a blonder version of yourself, so then you need to go a little lighter (if you have a real hair wig, you can get it dyed, if its synthetic you can get another one for hardly any money!)
If you're like Claire you should go pink, since she says, take full advantage of the situation and have the hair colour you always wanted. Granted most people are not like Claire...

Cut: Get someone to cut it for you if you can be bothered. I quite liked my Lois out of the packet, but thats because I had no hair, so suddenly a swingy, shiny, LA blowdry looked AMAZING. It did not particularly, in fact Claire was stupefied, so she cut it and then it really did. This is the best way to get your wig disguised as a non-wig.
Also, keep cutting it for fun, a change is exciting like new shoes.

Style: Human hair you can do anything to: dry shampoo, tongs, salt spray (these are my three wig essentials), bit of clay in the ends, texturiser, hairspray, irons...Just be happy in the knowledge you can style your hair really easily because you can see the back (result!), plus you can take it off at night, so you never have a BHD, and it will truly last till you wash it. Just do it more frequently than me please.

Fit: They're all adjustable, so although you don't need to worry too much, learn from my Trendco issue and go and try a few on. AD ones have a weird suction feeling when you take them off, so they really do stay in place all by themselves - so headache free.

If I've left anything out, please do email me questions. And tell me how you admire my iMovie skills too, since I am a novice who rolls around the floor in heaped praise of any kind. Thank you x

You can watch Claire working her wig magic on me, plus cameos from two very special guest stars here, if you fancy. 

Wig 101, pt I

This is of course a mammoth, huge, overwhelming, and often times funny subject that can't possibly be squeezed into one post. Mine aren't even in chronological order, since the hair loss thing was not only the biggest and hardest obstacle, it happened very early for me. So now a couple of months on I'd like to consider myself something of a wig veteran. Ok something like a wig veteran!

But I'm exceptionally lucky- I have a best friend, Claire, who is an amazing hair stylist, she works on shoots with me, she's a serious hair and wig expert. I have an amazing support from the Headmasters salon team since I directed a campaign for them, and my very good friend Kenna from Kennaland.com, who's also an editorial wonder man. Basically, I know I'm in a unique position to get the very best wig advice, help, tips, cuts, everything, so let me share!

Today, after a home visit from Jonathan Soons, Senior Art Director at Headmasters, I am gloriously ginger! I can't tell you how much this makes me want to go out tonight. And I'm sure you can appreciate, that is really saying something. Like when you buy a new pair of Camilla Skovgaard shoes (my weakness) from outnet.com, a new wig, done right, has the same motivational effect! I would never have the guts to go so red with my 'real' hair, so already, one big bonus to wigs.






I should point out that the ginger one (it's by Trendco in Notting Hill, they named it Amber, so that's what we'll call it), is not my first wig. My first was as close to my natural hair colour as possible to ease me in gently. But as I relaxed about the whole thing, I decided to have fun with it a bit, and for a girl who LOVES accessories, compulsory wig use is just another huge accessorising opportunity. Bonus no. 2.

So tonight I am going to play pool, in Amber, which also means I MUST wear YSL Rouge Pur lipstick in 145, otherwise I look a bit one dimensional (always remember changing your hair colour means you need to rethink your makeup a little bit too), and Benefit Hoola or I look a bit pasty. And Camilla Skovgaard heels of course...





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