Fun with Wigs

Today, mum and I headed through the snow (light flurries), into the sunshine of Cardiff and Salon Wills' doors.   The staff there were fantastic. I showed them my Pinterest shortlist to give an idea of the kinds of styles and colours that I liked, and off she went to pick out a few candidates for me to try.     The first was just above shoulder length and with a middle parting that couldn't be moved.  No.   Too inflexible, and not the right parting position for me.   The next had a sweeping fringe across the front that got into my eyes.  I know I'd be permanently pinning that fringe up and would get fed up with it, so again, No. 

The next was more red, and borrowed from the second lady in the shop who was gathering a selection of wigs to take to a home consultation.  She warned us that she needed it! But it was perfect. Chin length bob with a fringe and graduated back.  I don't normally wear a fringe, mainly because my natural hair line has a kink in it which means a fringe would never lay flat, and this one was too long.  But overall, it worked.

We then tried the same wig in a dark brown, which is probably closer to my natural colour, and it did look nice. But mum and I agreed that the red was more striking, not too bold, and 'the one'.   And did we have to steal it from the second shop lady? Fortunately no, they had two in stock. (Embrace)

So after running through all of the options once more, just to be absolutely sure, she trimmed and thinned the fringe a touch, and I had my wig.   The NHS provide a £100 voucher to purchase a wig and it looks like this one was almost exactly that price, so there was nothing to pay.

We had a chat about whether to choose a wig that was a bit of a change and wildly different from my normal hair, and reflected that if you're OK with telling everyone that it is a wig and why you're wearing it, that might be OK, but if you don't want to deal with those conversations, you'd perhaps best stick with something more natural.   I actually think that it isn't whether YOU can deal with the conversation, but whether the person who innocently enquires about your hair can deal with the answer.   What do they say when you tell them you've lost it because of chemotherapy?  People are so scared of cancer, of chemo, so many people don't want to talk about it, that we often don't know how to react.   And I completely understand that. I know I'm happy to talk about it, but others might not, especially those who don't know you so well.     So we have ended up with just one wig, the best one, and something that looks natural and as if I have just had a colour and restyle.  So I won't have to explain anything if I don't want to put someone else in an awkward position.  

After that, we mooched across Cardiff and went for lunch at The Clink.  This is a restaurant within the grounds of HMP Cardiff, where prisoners who are being training in hospitality cook and serve you.  The food was really excellent, and the service was great too.  At one point the waiter arrived with a dish of 'sage jus'. Would we like some?  What is it, we said?  Gravy?   He said he'd be shot if he called it gravy. But yes.  We each had a little and it was lovely.    We also had a pudding each, so the diet was fully blown today!