New hair for the New Year

Early last January I wrote a post detailing four fun goals that I hoped to accomplish throughout the year, one of which was to do something about my hair. Though I did get a pretty good cut shortly thereafter, that was, at best, a slight improvement over what was already a fairly dismal situation.

You see, as I mentioned in that post and have occasionally touched on elsewhere in on this blog, my hair had problems. Big problems. The main issue, without a doubt, was the fact that it was thinning. This wasn't a recent problem. I first distinctly noticed my hair beginning to thin when I was fourteen and a half, and though I consulted many doctors about it, had a batter of tests done, changed my diet at times to see if that did anything (it didn't), tried taking numerous vitamins and supplements, used (from my late teens onward) only ultra pure, gentle, natural hair products; stopped colouring it (for a while, which didn't help, so I went back to colouring, as darker hues actually helped a bit in terms of hiding the overall thinning), and myriad other things, nothing helped.

Nor could the doctors definitely tell me why my hair was thinning at such a young age (even though I've been tested many times and never - to date - diagnosed with a thyroid condition, I am personally convinced that my thyroid is playing a roll here, as I lost the second half of my eyebrows in my teen years, too, and that is something that is seen almost exclusively in individuals with thyroid issues, and also because numerous relatives, including my mom, on both sides of my family, have serious thyroid problems).

Now, I didn't start out life with ultra thick hair to begin with, but as far as bone-straight locks go, it was a totally acceptable amount of hair until it started thinning. At first, in my teen years, things weren't so bad and I kept a small flame of hope burning that perhaps this problem would stop once I hit adulthood, but as my twenties rolled on, the issue persisted (again, I sought medical help and was never given a definite answer as to what was causing the thinning).

By about age 25 (perhaps even earlier) I made total peace with the fact that I could tell, unless the problem stopped completely, I was destined to one day wear a wig. This point didn't really phase me at all. Many people the world over wear wigs either by necessity or choice, and in some ways the prospect exited me. Still, I did want to hold onto my natural hair for as long as it looked even moderately acceptable.

Now, everyone will likely define "moderately acceptable" a little bit differently, but for me, as 2012 wore on, the moderately acceptable line was crossed. Though I tried very, very hard to hid the thinning (which was worst in the front, crown and sides, but present across my whole scalp) with different hairstyles, a fairly dark hair colour, headbands, hair accessories, and hats (don't get me wrong, I'd wear hats even if I was blessed with the most incredible head of hair ever), the bald (or nearly bald) patches were getting worse.

I began to say that it was just smoke, mirrors and hairspray that were keeping me from revealing to the world how bad the issue was. Though I never (and would never) doctored (Photoshopped, etc) my hair to make it look better in snaps, I did often have to leave photos on the editing room floor, so to speak, because they showed (in my opinion) how bad the issue was. I wasn't ashamed, but I didn't feel that such shots added to the posts I might have included them in.

Throughout much of the last summer and fall, I wore hats and large hair accessories (flower clips, wide headbands, head scarves, etc) to hide the issue, but as fall wore on and it was getting trickier and trickier to make even a sparse faux bang roll or teeny Victory Rolls (let alone hide the especially noticeable thinning spots), I knew that the time had come to say good-bye to my natural hair.

And so I set about to buy a wig. Now, I should mention that I had zero firsthand experience with wigs prior to this year (I'd never even worn a cheap-o Halloween type of wig), though I had begun researching the general topic a couple of years back. I knew that a good quality real hair wig wasn't in my budget at the moment, and so set about to find a synthetic hair wig that I liked and thought would work well for me.

This was not the easiest of tasks, especially since there are no local wig shops here in our town (and I don't know anyone in person who wear a wig), so I had to turn to the web to source wigs from. The first wig I bought was a high end, fairly expensive synthetic one. Though the colour (a blend of warm golden blonds) was gorgeous, I was shocked by how little hair (not length, thickness) it had and how it was almost impossible for me to style without it showing the wig cap (as the wig, in its natural state itself was modern looking that didn't work well for my vintage style unfortunately), so sadly that wig is most likely a write-off (I may try cutting it or, more likely, I'll sell try to sell it).

I supposed - perhaps both naively and optimistically - that most wigs would be akin to Barbie doll hair in the sense that you'd be able to style them in a wide range of ways without the scalp (wig cap) showing through. I've sense learned, the hard way, that such is not the case and that one usually has to buy a custom made "thick" wig if want to get anything even close to this effect (the ability to style it in a wide range of ways without the cap showing through, I mean). Having just such a wig is now my long term goal (ideally a human hair one, but a thick custom heat resistant synthetic wig would probably do the tricky quite well, too), but as that's unlikely to happen anytime soon, I really needed something in the meantime.

In no small part this is because I had, when I got my first wig (the lovely coloured one that didn't pan out) made the choice to shave my head. One morning Tony (who's no stranger to shaving his own head due to hair loss) and I shaved my head completely. It wasn't nervous at all, in fact, I'd say that a zen-like calm filled my soul as the eclectic razor whizzed across my scalp.

I was sick and tired of the handfuls of hair I lost each time I showered, of the years and years of picking dozens (or more) hairs off my clothes every day, and of the continuous task of trying to hide how bad the problem was (wanna know a secret? If, in an outfit photo you saw the front of my hair, you were likely seeing all of it, by this I mean, if I draped hair over my shoulders, there was little to nothing in the back, and vice versa). It was time, it felt right, and even things have been a bit tricky on the wig front, I haven't regretted this move for a split second.

Though I will always hold out the hope that perhaps one day something could be done to help stop and, better yet, perhaps even revert some of my hair loss, as such solutions have been anything but forthcoming, for now I'm going to continue to keep shaving my head and wearing a wig.

Ok, so the first wig didn't pan out. This only really bugged me because of what I paid for it, but chalk that up to a learning experience. Then I set about looking for a wig that looked (or would be easy to style) vintage (aka, like a 1940s or 50s hairstyle).

Well let me tell you, my sweet dears, there are not many of them out there, especially if you're trying to avoid the obvious costume styles (such as Marilyn Monroe and Lucile Ball costume wigs). I scoured the web, looked at dozens of wig websites around the world, and in terms of pre-styled synthetic wigs that were within my budget, the best option I found was one called Pin Up by the brand Jon Renau.




{My new wig, Pin up by Jon Renau, pictured here in, I believe, a colour called Chocolate Soufflé. I'll be sporting Cherry Cobbler myself. Image source.}



This brand makes a wide range of realistic and more costume oriented wigs, however unlike their realistic (aka, modern style) wigs, Pin Up was not offered in many non-costumey colours. Of the more realistic hair hues there was platinum blond, very dark brown, and a warm auburn called Cherry Cobbler, the latter of which I opted for.

Cherry Cobbler (isn't that name adorable?) must be one of the best sellers in this wig, because it was sold out on several sites, but I was able to find it from a website called Max Wigs. The wig took its sweet time to arrive (though the site charged me more than enough to send the wig via USPS Priority Mail, it was sent through First Class, and took a little over three weeks to arrive to my house here in B.C.), and I was growing a touch anxious because there I was with a shaved wig, a wig that didn't really work for (issues above aside, it turned out to be something of an unflattering wig for my face shape - though could do in a pinch), and no idea exactly when "Pin Up" was arriving (First Class mail to Canada doesn't include a true tracking number, just a customs number).

Alas though, after many restless days, my wig arrived and I loved it. Is it perfect? No, that would likely be far to much to ask from a synthetic wig in that price range, but it's a heck of a lot better than my other wig which was more than five times the price. The bangs weren't cut that straight and I think they fall a little to low on my forehead, so after wearing it for a while I cut them (the first three outfit posts you see of me in this wig have the ever-so-slightly longer bangs, after that, they're a touch shorter and more to my liking). The curl isn't perfectly even (or tight) on both sides and I can already see it dropping a tad, the more I wear it, but over all I quite like this wig. (Perhaps my greatest qualm, so to speak, with it is that I worry it makes my face look rounder in a way that might make me look heavier than I really am - but I'll let you guys decide if such is the case or if it's just my imagination.)

The colour is great, it's comfier (by a long shot!) than the first wig I bought, and it looks relatively vintage-ish (it’s quite similar to Bettie Page’s iconic hairstyle). I can't fashion it in a million ways, but I can pull the sides back, do small rolls, tuck it into a snood, and am continuing to experiment with other styles.

This wig isn't meant to last me forever by any means, and it certainly won't (I'll be impressed if it holds its curl and looks presentable until spring arrives), but it's a good compromise right now I think, as I begin to slowly save up for a thick, very good quality custom wig. In the interim, I'll most likely purchase other inexpensive wigs, especially if they have a vintage hairstyle vibe to them, but Pin Up is my "hair" for the moment.

Though I've certainly learned more about wigs in the past couple of months than I ever have before, I'm by no means a wig expert (perhaps one day), and I hope that you'll enjoy learning alongside me in the months and years to come, as I continue to broaden my knowledge on the topic, try other wigs, and live life without my natural hair.

I realize that this was a bit of a long post, but I really wanted to delve into the subject of my hair loss and recent experience with wigs before unveiling photos of me sporting my Jon Renau Pin Up. I have an outfit post slatted for next Tuesdays (the 8th), and will unveil my new hair there - so be sure to tuned for that!

These past couple of months have been interesting ones on the hair front for sure, but like any big change, there's almost always going to be ups and downs, curve balls, mistakes, and successes. I'm truly happy that I made the decision to start wearing a wig, because it has relieved me of the constant problems and stresses associated with half a lifetime of continual (albeit gradual) hair loss.

If you happen to know of any good sources for vintage (1940s or 50s styled) wigs and/or have have any great wig tips/personal stories/etc that you'd like to share with me, I would be truly grateful for your knowledge and suggestions.

Thank you very much for letting me share this experience with all of you. Here's to starting of the New Year with brand new hair and all the fun and excitement that such a change entails!