Pay It Forward! By Joanie Kumiega, Owner, A Natural Image Hair Studio, Inc., Williamsville, New York Throughout my 35-plus years as a hair replacement specialist, working with custom bonded hair restoration, I’ve been blessed to help so many people regain confidence in their appearance. I often say “It’s such a blessing to be a blessing.”
I made a list and a few phone calls to some local charities to see what the next steps would look like. I called the Salvation Army, City Mission and United Way and they all said, “Sure, drop off the wigs”.
My journey with wigs began when I opened my own studio about 15 years ago. I realized that there were so many people who needed a temporary hair option mostly the result of a medical condition. Many, but not all, had come from our local cancer hospital with a “free wig” for patients in treatment. They called us when they decided to purchase a higher-quality option. Recently, I had wigs donated by a friend from church whose aunt had passed away. Deb’s aunt took such great care of her wigs that they were in the original boxes, with pictures from the wig catalog taped to the top of the box indicating the style inside. The attentiveness to detail that this woman had taken to care for her wigs was amazing. We were given a tote of about 25 new and gently worn wigs. It became clear to my team and me that we had to “pay it forward.” We cleaned, sanitized and styled all the wigs and staged some pictures so the recipients would have an idea of what we had available. We were determined to provide a special experience. 14
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We wanted them to receive a wig at no cost from a professional studio that genuinely cares for each individual. But how? I made a post in the American Hair Loss Council members forum in October 2022 asking other industry professionals if they had any experience in gifting wigs through community service and outreach, or if anyone had success in managing a giveaway for wigs they couldn’t sell — wigs that were still in a box or only gently worn. The responses I received were full of support and created a sense of excitement. But no one had any experience or ideas on how to offer free wigs to a person unable to afford one. One forum comment was that “they (the company) do not plan to try a mass giveaway due to the fear of a frenzy of ... responses.” Another suggested giving them to a beauty school where I suppose they could be used for practice cutting. Yet another said, “The ability to serve those in need is a blessing. Good job.” That message felt like a sign that our work of paying it forward was just the beginning.
I was getting frustrated. We did not want to just drop off the wigs. Had no one ever done a wig giveaway that was like going to a professional salon and choosing a wig? I hoped to create a special experience for the recipients of these wigs.
After sifting through the forum responses, we decided we would venture out and create our own experience. I thought about the responses from the local places I had called that casually told me to “drop them off.” All we could picture were these wigs ending up in a heap in a store and becoming Halloween costumes or trash.
