Synthetic hair wigs is to Human Hair wigs as Red Heart is to Cashmere

That, boys and girls, was my lesson for yesterday.

Cancer Boutique #1 -- I liked the 'Cancer Sucks' mug that they had. They tried REALLY hard to find something that we liked, but they only had synthetic wigs and pretty much all of them made me look at least 10 years older than I am. They also just looked...fake. I have a couple of pictures of some short 'trendy' wigs that they had that were kind of decent (although not in the colors that they had) so we wrote down the name and styles of the wigs. They were pretty inexpensive, relatively, but I felt that I could get the same sort of quality at Dorothy's (local costume/drag/wig shop for those of you who don't know). All the wigs had too much volume on top -- I have a small, narrow head. Too much volume just makes me look really, really weird.

Cancer Boutique #2 -- First of all...they made us wait even though we were there on time for our appointment. Grr. Secondly, a woman younger than me tried to help us out, but these wigs were...well, even worse than the others. She showed us a catalogue, I wrote down some names and styles, but...really dejected after this. They all just looked costumey and so very fake. I did like that I went into the Resource Center and got a lot of great information for me and my family.

Salon -- Ok, so they made us wait but honestly, it was worth it. The woman knew what she was talking about...she was super nice, and spent an hour and a half with us! The wigs were gorgeous and she knew right away not to put too much volume on top. I tried on a long wig which was ok...surprisingly, the shorter (slightly past shoulders and just about at shoulder-length) were the best. They were straight and I'd have to curl them/style them, but they were human hair, so it could be done! She even matched my hair perfectly with two swatches. Now, these wigs were more than 5 times the price of the synthetic ones, but the difference in how they looked was pretty phenomenal. I tried on mostly longer wigs, but also a shorter one that was kind of cute.

I'll post pictures when I get them all hooked up. Ignore the colors.

I might be able to get a human hair wig for a little less than the original cost quoted by the woman at the salon and it might have a little more of a natural wave to it than the others. However, I will also probably need to go to Richmond for the styling...it's do-able, just rough as it would be a whirlwind visit due to my rehearsal schedule.

I am also thinking of getting my hair chopped off very soon. Not this weekend, but possibly the next so that I live with the short hair for a little bit before deciding if I want to stick with a long wig (which I am still leaning towards) or if I want to do the short hair wig. The lady at the salon measured the length of my hair and, mostly straight as it was yesterday, from crown to tip, was about 17"...certainly enough to donate! I've drastically cut my hair before so while it will be a shock, I know it won't be terribly traumatic. I just don't want long clumps of hair falling out.

So, I have decisions to make regarding the wigs...and still lots of knitting to do. I'm still in the middle of working on my mom's mittens and my dad's scarf, but I might get a good deal done this weekend since I really have nothing planned after tonight. I suppose I could maybe cut my hair this weekend, but 1) It's a holiday weekend and I don't know if the salons will be open, and 2) I may need some moral support with me when I do this. Last time I chopped off my hair was about 13 years ago so it's been a while. I remember growing it out was a pain, but I'm going to have to do that anyhow. I was just thinking that I should mention it to the director of the opera before showing up with a pixie cut. I do still love Audrey Hepburn's short hair..













** Remember folks, my hair will be short for many months. It'll probably be cut sometime this month and then there won't be any for about 4-7 months...and then I get to wait for it to grow back out. There will be a good stretch of short hair. I'm leaning towards a longer wig because of the latter.