Wig master merria dearman helps cancer patients

ARE YOU SEEING ANY WIG TRENDS FOR WOMEN OVER 50, LIKE PARTICULAR CUTS OR STYLES OR COLORS? I can’t say that there’s any set trend or style, but I can say that I’m seeing women who want to

invest in their appearance, but they don’t want to change their appearance. It’s sort of like when you’ve had really great plastic surgery and no one knows that you’ve done anything, they

just know that you look better. Most of the women who come in here, they’re beautiful already. They’re looking for a solution, and at the end of the day they really just want to look like a

better version of themselves.   WHAT HAS CHANGED THAT’S MADE MORE WOMEN USE WIGS — EVEN IF THEY’RE NOT LOSING HAIR? The taboo is breaking down. We all know that Beyoncé wears hair. We know

that Jennifer Lopez doesn’t have 6-inch hair one day and 24-inch hair the next day. Whether it’s extensions or whatever, celebrities are embracing it for this fun change. Why wouldn’t you

want to be blond one day and a brunette another day without having to damage your hair? And wigs have changed. Lace wigs are unbelievable; they’re made to fit and are totally undetectable.

You can’t tell it’s a wig. That lends itself to more changing the stigma that’s attached to it and just having people embrace it.  WHAT ARE SOME TELLTALE SIGNS OF A BAD WIG? No. 1 for me is

if it has too much hair. The way the wig is placed, meaning how you wear it on your hairline. Sometimes the wigs are pulled down too low, which I think can really be a telltale, and not

exposing a hairline or  a part . And when it doesn’t move.  WHERE DOES A WOMAN WHO  WANTS  TO INVEST IN A WIG BEGIN? You have to be realistic about what you want to spend. There’s no

regulation on hair, meaning someone can sell you a wig that says it’s human and it’s not. So you have to be really careful about purchasing something for too much  money,  because there’s no

guarantee. Online there’s so much stuff it can be kind of overwhelming, but I tend to go to a direct market, meaning something like wigs.com, because at least if you don’t like it you can

return it.  There are often times people will buy something less expensive online and then they take it to a good hairdresser who knows how to work with wigs. Hairdressers can do amazing

things with wigs to make it look more real for you.  YOUR AUNT GAVE YOU YOUR “AHA MOMENT” AS SHE WAS DEALING WITH CANCER. CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT THE WORK YOU DO WITH WOMEN WHO HAVE CANCER

OR WHO’VE LOST THEIR HAIR DUE TO ILLNESS? You develop this unique attachment to them  and  intimate moment with them, because you see them lose their hair, which is something they don’t want

everybody, obviously, to witness.  In  the medical side of  things  they’re poked and prodded and cut open. All these other things are going on when you have cancer. You’re having surgery

done. You’re having radiation done. You’re going through chemo. You’re still trying to raise your kids and be with your husband and maybe you still have a job. You’re trying to keep some

sort of normality. The hardest part  about  this job is losing people, and it gets harder every year. Taking time to grieve and all that stuff has been something that I really wish I made

more time for, but it’s the motivating factor. Because if you can just give people a moment to just be happy even though they know they’re fighting, potentially  dying . The thought of

comforting people keeps me doing it. There’s nothing more rewarding, and I have a relationship with them forever. The celebrity stuff is fun and it’s going to continue, [but] I would rather

sit  behind  my chair every day and deal with people that really need me.