Chemo - best natural-looking wigs

[Ayla88]

A friend is about to start chemotherapy and she has asked me to research good, natural-looking wigs for her. Her colouring is naturally blonde.

She is going to do the cold cap to try to keep her hair, but wants to have some wig options too.

Any recommendations appreciated. Thanks all

That's lovely of you! Depending on where you are there is a good shop in Sutton/Morden called Joseph's, they have a great selection.

Personally I used a mobile service called Prestige Wigs (just googled it for you but I'm not convinced i found the right one). The lady was brilliant. Coming to my house made me feel much less self-conscious. She found me a brilliant match for my own hair (synthetic but looked incredibly natural) and it was ordered from the US and delivered to my door within a matter of days.

@sashamc thanks so much!

When I had cancer I had a chemo hat and turban from here...
www.suburbanturban.com/chemo-hats-for-hair-loss/
I liked them so much I never bothered with a wig. But they would also be very useful alongside a wig. They made the whole process so much easier as I felt great in them. Would make a good gift!

@Tropicalsunshine Thank you!

I had a human hair wig from Trendco

www.trendco.co.uk/

I went to their shop in Kensington Church St and had a consultation with them, but in going to the website to paste the link above I note they are doing video consultations at the moment.

Best wishes to your friend.

If your friend is in Herts / Essex / North London there is a very good wig shop called Hair To Ware. A couple of friends have used them and the wigs have been excellent.

I can't help with a name of a company but I had a wig from a company that visited the hospital.

My advice is to try on any remote possibility. I had very thick hair with quite a lot of curl to it. Everything I tried was a very poor match so ended up having a very sleek Bob wig. I loved it, a style I loved and had always wanted. So my advice is don't dismiss any style. Better a good
Contrast than a poor match.

If you are further north then there is a good wig place in Jedburgh or jarrow. It definitely begins with a J and is north of Newcastle upon Tyne. It's where my mum went for hers and it's gorgeous

I went to Trendco in Brighton. They said natural hair was much harder to maintain so I had synthetic. I got a free one of my choice from NHS too but my Trendco one was better as I’d had my hair dyed and cut to exactly match the wig. It meant that I could swap over without people realising and all the fuss about a change of hair happened whilst it was still my own hair.

I used the cold cap but it only partly works for breast cancer chemo if it includes Epirubicin. My hair reached a point I needed it covered to look normal.

Eyes are also an issue as all hair goes not just the stuff on your head. It saves shaving legs, but your eyes give you a cancer look without makeup. Maybe buy her a good eyeliner too. Bobby Brown is fairly long lasting.

Thanks everyone for your help with this. Lots of really useful leads to go on and I really appreciate it

Totally agree @CherryPavlova, eyebrow pencil would be a great addition (still need mine daily 5 years on!)

sashamc Beat you I'm ten years post diagnosis and still need mine to fill in the gaps 😁

@sashamc @CherryPavlova very useful info, thank you!

Not utterly wig related, but make sure she knows about www.lookgoodfeelbetter.co.uk/

In their words: Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) is the only cancer support charity helping boost the physical and emotional wellbeing of people undergoing cancer treatment.

Pre covid they'd do things like eyelash and brow tutorials, give out samples, talk skincare changes. Now they're doing virtual workshops.

Buy her lots of tissues too - an absence of nasal hair means a constantly runny nose.

Luckily I don’t have personal experience of this but the beauty journalist Sophie Beresiner had chemo in her 30s and did some articles / maybe a blog about wigs, beauty tips etc. Good luck to your friend