Wen | Li Xiaofang
Editor | Wang Yiran
As "true" as ever
The value, or goal, of a wig is to help the guest return to her previous state. Their customized wigs are not much different from the original hairstyle, for example, she was originally the wave head of Qi Bangs, after chemotherapy hair loss, come over to customize the wig, it must still be required to do a Wave Head of Qi Bangs, and it will not be a long curly hair that she has never left before, because others can't see it.
Their inner appeal is only one: I hope that like normal people, life is still the same as before. Once we received a package with a wig sent back for maintenance. As you can see from the address bar, it was sent from a cancer hospital. Then the sender is not our customer, the mobile phone number is not right, it should be the customer let a friend or relative send it on behalf of the customer. After the package is unwrapped, the box containing the wig is a pill box, and there is a smell of medicine when the box is opened.
The package was unwrapped by one of our customer service agents, who said she felt a little uncomfortable at the time. Because this customer may still be in treatment, but she also did not forget to send the wig to the nursing, because if not nursed, the wig state will not be as good as before, it is easy to see that it is a wig; but at the same time we can also feel that her current state is definitely not good, because she did not send it herself, but asked others to help send it, and then she could not find a decent box, so she directly took a box containing medicine and sent it over.
From these small details, you can guess what kind of pain the owner of each wig may be experiencing, and you can feel that even if her body suffers, she still longs to be beautiful, or at least confident.
When the wig was finished and sent back, we specially advised the client to change the box, at least to remind her less of her that she was treating.
A few months ago, a girl came to Nanjing to meet me. That morning in the office, pushing the door in was a smiling, quite fashionable and sunny girl, in her 30s, wearing a large wavy long curly hair with bangs on her head. This girl was two years old, accidentally knocked over the family's hot water bottle, a whole bottle of hot water poured down from her head, when immediately sent to the hospital, but still not completely cured, there is a large area on the back of her head that can never grow hair, hair follicles are necrotic.
Her entire childhood, including those hours of college and work, was spent more than twenty years wearing hats, and she did not take them off in the summer heat of more than 30 degrees. When she was a child, some boys who liked to play pranks suddenly took off her hat, and she had always been very inferior, walked with her head down, and once suffered from depression.
Her previous custom wigs, each top required the right bangs to be slender a little longer. Before I didn't care too much, customer needs to meet her well, that day she came and told me that there was a burn scar on her right forehead, which had not been repaired, so every time I would ask to slender the bangs and cover the scar. She said that after putting on the wig, she could finally take off the hat that was pressing against her, and she finally had a normal life, feeling the same as others.
She has ordered wigs for more than 5 years, the styles are similar, but the price is more expensive than once, because she will constantly pursue the fidelity of the wig, and the craftsmanship and level of production must be constantly renovated. This is also another demand of many customers, that is, "true".
I have also met with clients whose families do not allow her to wear a wig, and when they come to apply for a refund, they will say that the family thinks the wig is terrible, and it feels uncomfortable to wear someone else's hair. But more often, you can see a person in the wig, her family, her feelings and her experiences.
● Wig in the studio Courtesy of the narrator
"A Stretched Plant"
I approached Wigs in 2011 at a cross-border e-commerce company. At that time, the wigs made were for foreign markets, and many customers were Africans, because their hair was more curly and attached to the scalp, and they wanted to use wigs to improve.
That Spring Festival, my family called me and said you brought me a wig back, and a grandmother from a relative's family needed it. I didn't think much of it, so I brought a short hair back as requested. When I came home for the New Year, I took my wig to the grandmother's house. The first time I saw her in the door, she was wearing a hat, and it was winter, and I didn't think much about it. From her face, I could tell that her face was not very good, and her smile was also revealed because of taking care of the guests, not the kind that was particularly happy.
After lunch at her house, I said take the wig out and try it. Grandma sat in front of the mirror and asked me to try it on for her, and the moment she took the hat off, I realized that her hair had almost fallen out, and then she told me that she had cancer chemotherapy and lost her hair. I felt quite sad, a person who was originally good, the moment he took off his hat, he suddenly felt a lot of haggard, and he was also a lot older.
But the moment I put on her wig, I saw her smile in the mirror, and that smile came from the heart, not the smile I greeted when I first walked in the door—she was curled up, wrapped around herself, with low self-esteem.
After putting on the wig, whether it is from the smile on her face or the whole body posture, it feels like a stretched plant. I don't think I'll ever forget it for the rest of my life.
Later, I also accompanied my grandmother to the hospital for chemotherapy, and the doctor who managed the bed told me that basically every week the ward had to change a group of people, some old, some very young mothers, and very young people, and everyone's standard movement was to wear a hat. I don't know if you've ever had the idea that they wear hats for fear of freezing, in order to protect their bodies.
But I learned after that that hat has another "protective" effect on them, because there may be a few hairs left after the hat is taken off.
Grandma died within a few months. Her closest family members told me that the wig I brought her really made her happy in her last days, and she wore it every day.
In 2013, I resigned from the company and started my own wig. At that time, it was because of the grandmother, plus I had also gone to the hospital to understand, I wanted to meet the needs of this part of the population. They wanted a wig that they could wear and couldn't see if it wasn't their hair. So we all collect real hair to make wigs. I have also bought chemical fiber wigs before, and I can see at a glance that they are fake, especially under the sun, and the material can be seen as soon as the sunlight is refracted - even the word wig cannot be on the outer packaging, because they do not want to be seen by others.
We sell about 100,000 wigs a year, some customers are hair loss because of cancer chemotherapy, and some are juvenile white, postpartum hair loss, etc. The simple love of beauty may only account for 20%.
The basics of wigs are women. One is that men's wigs are more difficult to do well, because their hair is relatively short, often have to be trimmed and easy to show the filling; even if it is because of illness and hair loss, he will not care too much, and may just shave his head. But for women, hair is just not the same.
I once had a dream that I had lost a large piece of hair, and I had been comforting myself in the dream that it didn't matter, you yourself were wigs, but the loss in your heart really couldn't be expressed in words.
I finally woke up crying.
● Stylists are trimming and tending wigs. Courtesy of the narrator
armour
I feel like a wig is like an armor.
When we look at a special group, such as her hair loss, or have gray hair, we may not think it is a big deal, but the person who is looking at will infinitely amplify this feeling, and always wonder "is it because of the hair, I look different from others." A word and a look from the outside world may be a kind of hurt and blow to her. But after putting on the wig, from her heart, it was like having a pair of armor that could help her block all the strange eyes.
This part of the group of people who buy wigs I think is relatively closed: we often carry out customized business online, and it is not possible to see (shame) without face-to-face communication, but it can be seen from the photos they send, and the photos are basically mosaic-like.
Many years ago, we did not have a relatively large office area, in a very small studio, nor did we open an offline trial area. An online customer and her husband came from the surrounding area of Nanjing to buy wigs, at that time I could not deeply perceive their shyness, nor did I come out of a place to let her try on wigs, it was this customer who took the initiative to come forward, saying can I go to your toilet to try? Then she took a few wigs herself and ran to the tiny toilet in our studio to try them on.
Later, in each offline store, before customers try on wigs, we will first consult, do you need a separate space?
● The staff is packing and sending out wigs Courtesy of the narrator
There is also a daughter who did not come to buy a wig, but wanted to make a fake of her hair and send it to her mother. We didn't accept this kind of business before, because it was very troublesome, and the bundle of hair provided did not necessarily meet the conditions for making wigs, and there were many processes. But she said at the time that her mother was sick and that she wanted her to wear a wig made from her own hair, feeling that she was always with her. I was struck by her words and we have been in the business ever since.
There is also a client who has hereditary gray hair, white hair when he was very young, some people will say how you have white hair when you are young, she must constantly dye her hair, but the frequency is high, she is worried about the harm of hair dye to the body, and then she pays attention to wigs. A few days ago, she thanked us in WeChat, let her return to life like a normal person, and helped her build self-confidence.
She also gave us advice that the forehead part was a bit rough and could be improved, and then said that she had bought a wig before and that the brand had done better in that regard. She offered to send me that wig and asked us to research and improve the product.
I can feel that they really need wigs to be willing to put so much effort into it. They also have more extreme and higher requirements for this product, that is, they want to be more realistic, and this reflects their desire for normal life. In the wig industry, I will always be a little sad and a little relieved, because you know that they are going through pain, but the products you make can bring hope and warmth.
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