I Design Wigs for Cancer Patients | Online Gallery

BEIJING, May 20 (TMTPOST) -- In a hair saloon near a hospital for cancer patients, some grueling stories are unfolding.

Wang Feng is a wig designer, whose customers are mainly people who are diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer patients will gradually see their hair fall off two or three weeks after their first chemotherapy. Balding drastically changes cancer patients’ appearance. What’s more, balding also causes strong physical pain. Many cancer patients would have to shave their heads before undergoing chemotherapy.

Wang has seen many customers who would break into tears the minute they walked into his shop. Some of his customers would bring photos of themselves when they were still healthy as a reference for customizing their wigs.

Every time Wang shaves a customer’s head, his heart aches with each shove of the hair shaver.

In this Online Gallery, we record some of the stories at Wang’s wig shop.

In the early 1990s, the 34-year-old Wang Feng came to Beijing from his hometown in Henan Province. He started off as a hairdresser in Beijing and eventually came to own a hair salon.  In 1998, Wang moved the hair salon close to Beijing Cancer Hospital.

In the beginning, Wang’s customers were mainly residents living nearby. But after 2000, he started to notice that there were more and more special customers coming to his shop service — cancer patients.

Some of these customers were wearing a wig. They figured that their wigs did not really fit their style and were hoping that Wang could modify their wigs for them. Some customers were still undergoing chemotherapy. Most of their hair had already fallen off. They decided to ask Wang to shave their hair. These customers would prepare a hat or a wig before coming to shave their hair.

The customers’ demand was a challenge for Wang. “At that time, most wigs were made of artificial fiber, which means they generally had fixed shapes,” Wang told TMTPost. It was very difficult for Wang to fix his customers’ wigs in a way they liked.

Most of the wigs on the market back then were assembly-line products just like hats, according to Wang. It was fairly difficult for people to find wigs that suit them perfectly. This is why many cancer patients would look odd when wearing a wig. “It was easy to see they were wearing a wig,” Wang said.

As Wang received more similar requests from his customers, he gradually formed the business idea of making and selling wigs. For healthy people who are not bothered by balding, wigs are just accessories that they can definitely live without. But for many cancer patients, it is inelastic demand to have a wig. They need realistic and matching wigs that can allow them to “look normal” in public.

Wang Feng was designing a wig for one of his customers.

Making wigs and hairdressing appear to be in the same line of business. But in fact, they are two completely different worlds. In order to become good at making wigs, one must study a range of fields related to making wigs, from hair sourcing and manufacturing techniques to wig care.

Wang, who was 45 years old back then, spent two years going in and out of wig-making factories to really understand the industry.

Good wigs are made of actual human hair. But Wang discovered that the quality of the hair from different sources does vary. It was not easy to find hair that met his standards. Wang had to hire people to buy hair from people in different places. Drawing from his past experience, Wang now only accepts hair without being permed or dyed from people who are less than 45 years old in Yunnan Province of China and North Korea.

The making of a wig could take up to several days or a month, depending on the processing technique. The price also varies. A cheap wig might cost a couple hundred while an expensive one could cost up to tens of thousands of yuan.

In 2011, he turned his hair salon into a wig shop and named it Shuting, which means a comfortable family in Chinese.

Many customers of Wang shared one similar concern——their wigs being blown away by a strong wind. One customer even once had his wig blown to the top of a tree. The customer tried everything to get the wig down but eventually failed. The customer cried for nearly half an hour because of it.

The pre-made wigs on the market have various styles. But they are generally available in a limited number of sizes. Wang told TMTPost that everyone has a different head shape. Some people have pointy heads, which means it is easier for them to experience problems like having their wigs slip off from their heads since the wigs might not fit perfectly with their heads.

Wang figured out his own way of making wigs that fit his customers. Wang would use plastic wraps and tapes to wrap his customers’ heads to measure them. He would use a marker to mark the location of his customers’ hairlines and temples, etc.  This is how Wang makes a “wig mold” based on a customer’s head.

Then the wig makers would stick the hair to an artificial scalp that is made based on the wig mold. The wig makers would generally stick hairs that are equally long to the artificial scalp without styling them.

“Wigs that are made this way can fit people’s skull shape well,” Wang said.

Wigs that were on display at Shuting

However, making the wigs fit is only the first step to making a perfect wig.

But the final presentation of the wig still relies on Wang’s 30 years of experience working in this line of business.

After a customized wig is made, Wang would let the customer wear it and make styling adjustments based on the customer’s facial features and special demands. “Then it would look natural,” Wang said.

There was one customer of Wang’s who was undergoing chemotherapy. She asked Wang to make a wig that would make her look the same as before. Her doctor and family could not even tell the difference, saying that the wig actually made her look even better. The customer then fell in love with wigs and became a huge fan of Wang. She ordered over ten wigs even after she made her recovery.

“With a wig, she felt better when receiving her chemotherapy. Perhaps the wigs I made played some role in her recovery,” Wang said.

It is not uncommon to have customers who are not satisfied with the hairdressing service.

Some customers would appear to be very happy about their wigs when trying them on but then asked for a refund a few days later. There were also customers who would ask Wang to adjust the wigs over ten times and still came to the conclusion that the original version was the best.

Wigs present great challenges to the hairdresser because the hair will grow back if you messed up a haircut. But if you make one mistake, the entire wig is ruined most of the time.

Wang used to be quite impatient. He would get into arguments with the customers when he countered similar situations. He would think that the customers were trying to pick a fight on purpose.

Wang has changed over time and developed a sense of tolerance toward his customers. “They are suffering from some illness. It is understandable for them to be under stress,” Wang explained.

In instances where the customers were very upset about their wigs, he would just make a new one for free for them. “You can use this wig first. I will make you another one,” he would say. “It’s not much of a concern whether I make money or not. What is important is that the customer is satisfied with the wig and feels good when wearing it.”

At Shuting, customers enjoy a 30-day guarantee of changing to a new wig if they find the wigs they purchased to be dissatisfying. They are also entitled to lifetime free maintenance and wig adjustment services. For instance, if some customers purchased long wigs during winter and wished to change their wigs to short ones, Wang would adjust the wigs for them accordingly.

Wang is styling a wig at Shuting

In 2017, Wang opened more shops at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. As his business expanded, he saw more patients coming in. Wang started to realize that there were some challenges for his after-sales service.

“After being removed from a person’s head, hairs also lose access to nutrition and water. That’s why we need to apply hair care to the wigs every month to make sure they are smooth and have a style,” Wang told TMTPost, adding that a wig that is being well taken care of can be used for three to five years.

It generally takes 30 minutes to an hour to finish maintaining a wig. But some customers lived in Yanjiao, which means it would take them five hours to get to Wang’s wig shops. These customers would only have their wigs cared for every six months or once a year.

“He couldn’t maintain the wig well at home on his own and then the wig started to look bad. Then he just stopped wearing it,” Wang said. In order to satisfy his customers’ demand, he later opened new shops in Yanjiao and Tongzhou despite the fact the new shops are not going to make money for him.

Since Wang does not have enough staff, the two new shops do not even have their own staff. Wang only left his phone number in the closed doors of his new shops. His customers could choose to wait at a nearby outlet of Wang’s for his service.

Hairdressing and making wigs are two completely different experiences for Wang. He pointed out that hairdressing is more of a business. Business only plays a minor part in wig-making, said Wang, adding that there were more important things than making money.

“Many customers would burst into tears the moment they entered my shop,” Wang said to TMTPost. Cancer patients will gradually see their hair fall off two or three weeks after their first chemotherapy. Balding drastically changes cancer patients’ appearance. What’s more, balding also causes strong physical pain. Many cancer patients would have to shave their heads before undergoing chemotherapy.

Shaving heads is an easy task. But with every shove he performs, Wang’s heart wrenches.

Wang was shaving a customer’s head

Cancer patients have wig demands that are very different from that of healthy customers. Many cancer patients will bring photos of themselves before chemotherapy as references for their wigs. They want wigs that will make them look like their past selves. Wang’s customers have different reasons for that. Some customers were telling their old parents white lies and fighting cancer all by themselves; some customers were parents who did not want their children that were undergoing Gaokao (college entrance exam) to worry about them…

At the wig shops, there are signs that read “free hairdressing service for hospital patients” and “charity station”. Next to the words, there is Wang’s phone number.

Many cancer patients are not rich. Some might fall into poverty because of their illnesses. Wang would therefore sell wigs at the cost to his customers. He would even give away wigs for free to customers who have economic troubles. “We give away over ten wigs for free every month,” Yang Juan, a worker at Wang’s wig shop, told TMTPost.

In 2019, Yang was diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer almost made her broke. Although Yang has already recovered from cancer, she can no longer engage in hard labor. “I am pretty much disabled,” Yang said. Wang then hired Yang to work at his wig shop after learning about her woes.

It is easier for Yang to talk to the customers because of their similar experiences of fighting cancer. Former breast cancer patients would need to have physical tests at a hospital on a regular basis because there are still chances of recurrence.

Wang has over 20 employees at his shops, four of whom are cancer survivors.

Since the pandemic, Wang’s wig shops have been having a bad time. Wang had to close around eight shops as a result. Some employees asked Wang to not give them salaries so as to reduce the financial burden on him. But Wang has been paying his employees nonetheless.

“Hi, Mr. Wang. Please have a look. This is my previous hairstyle,” a woman in her sixties said to Wang, showing a picture in her smartphone. In the photo, the woman has long curly hair that falls to her shoulders and a beautiful bang.

“You want it to look elegant, right? Then I would make this wig longer and sassier,” Wang said while combing the wig on his hand. “I spent over one thousand yuan on the curly hair,” the customer said, seemingly hesitant.

“Don’t worry. Mr. Wang used to charge his customers 680 yuan for hairdressing. Perming hair used to cost around two thousand or three thousand. People had to make appointments in advance,” an employee at the wig shop said.

Wang smiled upon hearing the comment.

As a matter of fact, Wang had eight hair salons at his peak time. He already had three million yuan in his bank savings account when he was 45 years old. He bought a BMW X5 and was ready to make a grand return to his hometown.

There is a red sign on Wang’s car that reads “free transportation.” Wang would personally drive his customers to his shops and back to their homes when there is not enough staff at his shops. Sometimes when Wang’s customers could not get to his shops on time, he would need to deliver the wigs to his customers.

Wang and his family live nearby one of his shops. He would wake up around 6 a.m. every morning and start his busy day. Every night, the manager at the wig shop would arrange Wang’s schedule for the next day based on the reservations. But on most occasions, Wang would need to cater to walk-ins as well.

On a day in April, Wang started his day by going to his shop near Dinghui Temple and then moved to his shops in Panjiayuan and Dongdan. Then he needed to go back to Panjiayuan from Dongnan, eventually commuting back to Dinghui Temple. Oftentimes, Wang would need to go to seven or eight shops in one day, he told TMTPost.

Wang would usually have a simple meal when driving to different shops. He would oftentimes have a bun or a piece of pancake on the road.

When there are customers coming from very faraway places or reporters coming to listen to his stories, Wang would treat them in a restaurant. That is when he would finally sit in a restaurant and have a proper meal.

According to Wang, the decision to transition to wig-making changed his life completely. “I was an ordinary man. Now my stories are reported by CCTV and the People"s Daily. I have reporters coming to interview me almost every month,” Wang said.

Wang would often style his gray hair well in slicked-back style and be dressed in a pair of jeans, a shirt and a waistcoat. He looks exactly like the typical image that people have for a hairdresser.

Some media would want Wang to look plain on camera.

“Why do they always want me to get dressed in a way like I have no taste? Like I am from the countryside?” Wang does not understand the request.

Wang was styling a wig

As stories of Wang started to circulate, Wang began to gain a reputation for his good deeds. But this is creating some awkward situations for Wang. Most of the wigs at Wang’s shops are sold to cancer patients at a cost price. Some customers would make use of Wang’s empathy and try to bargain for an even lower price. “It’s like they think it’s fair to pay for medical treatments at a hospital but not for a wig,” Wang said.

After a long day, Wang would return home. His families were already asleep. Wang would sit by the table and have some drinks. He would browse through short videos on his smartphone and sing along the music. This is the moment where Wang gets to relax a bit.

He would also think about the moments where he felt a sense of achievement. There were customers who flew from faraway places to Beijing for his service. There were also customers who had purchased over ten wigs from him and told him that they could not vibe with wigs from other people when they had tried his wigs.

Some people would send their wigs to Wang in hopes of helping him help others. Some people would cut their own hair and send it to Wang. Cancer patients that have received Wang’s help would send him gifts from time to time.

Before getting into wig-making, Wang was considering retiring in a few years. But now, such thoughts never occur to him anymore. “You just play pokers and Mahjong after you retire anyway,” Wang said.

Wang believes that his current lifestyle is more meaningful and fulfilling. What bothers him is that he did not start making wigs earlier. “This is why I rarely take a break,” Wang explained.

“Life is short. I just want to make one more wig while I can,” Wang said.

(The article is translated and edited with authorization from the author @韦嘎, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce. The original article can be found here.)

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