First off, let me introduce myself, my name is Kylie, I have been married for 29 years, we have 4 beautiful children, one beautiful little granddaughter, I live on the Sunshine Coast and I have permanent hairloss and I wear wigs. I loved having hair.
I used to dye it every colour in the rainbow and used to have so much fun changing up my style and chopping it any way I pleased. Around the age of 16 onwards I settled on red hair and everyone in my personal life still remember me as a redhead, it was part of my identity. I saw my red hair every day in the mirror and it was just part of who I was. So when I lost it, I suddenly didn’t recognise the person in the mirror anymore and hated what I saw but more on that later…
I have experienced many forms of hairloss in my adult life - I have suffered postpartum hairloss with all of my 4 kids, I’ve had thinning hair that got really bad around 40 and I would dye my hair every 2 weeks (which was very costly) to make it look full, and I have also had hairloss from side effects of medication and stress. And then I lost my hair permanently.
In 2020 I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive head cancer called DFSP. It was a slow grower and had been growing on my head for 20 years and every doctor and specialist I saw about it had told me that it was nothing. They told me it was just skull growth and nothing to worry about. Because they said not to worry about it, I didn’t. I trusted the medical professionals but in hindsight I really shouldn’t have.
By 2020 it had grown large enough that it was starting to visibly part my hair and form a patch of hairloss where it was. My daughter would ask what it was as did my hairdresser to which I replied, “just skull growth, nothing to worry about”. But because it was getting more visible, I went to yet another doctor. We did an ultrasound, and the sonographer laughed (yep she really laughed) saying it was just pools of blood on my head, nothing to worry about (again) and that if we did the biopsy as planned we’d have blood squirting everywhere and not to worry. So back to the doctor. I went on a wait list to see another specialist but this time I saw a cosmetic surgeon and we planned to do a simple cosmetic surgery within the week, but to be on the safe side we would do a biopsy in his rooms and get an MRI and if they were all clear we’d go ahead with the simple cosmetic surgery the following week. If it was anything serious, they would call me.
In the height of Covid, with my kids at home being homeschooled we got the call no one ever wants to get. DFSP. A very rare and slow growing cancer that had reached an aggressive stage and they had to act fast. It is a one in one million chance to get this cancer but a one in ten million chance to get on your head… lucky me. So over the next four weeks I would get call after call from my specialist team updating what the plan was for getting my cancer and it was all very scary. Because my cancer was so rare my specialist team was consulting with experts worldwide on how to get the cancer. My simple cosmetic surgery turned into having a major operation with a multi-disciplinary team at the Royal Brisbane Hospital far from home.
So on the 11th of June 2020 I went in to have major surgery to remove the cancer and ‘reconstruct’ a head for me. The risks were high with a major operation and we were scared, terrified, and the risk of death was very high. The room was full of specialists from every field from oncology to vascular surgeons. The plan was to remove the cancer and lose about 2cm x 2cm of my head but when I woke up they told me they had to take much more. They had to take most of my scalp and take more than planned to get clear margins. When I woke up in recovery I was so beyond grateful to be alive and be able to have more time in my life to be with my beautiful family that we’d created. But it wasn’t over yet. Over the next 72 hours everything that could go wrong, did go wrong but I fought so hard to be alive. They got the cancer and reconstructed my head with my back muscle and a big skin graft from my leg. My hair will never grow back again. Never.
I finally got approval to wear beanies and I then accepted that I would just live out my days in beanies. Wigs weren’t for me. If anyone mentioned them I would just think of Donald Trump and his toupee flying off so yeah I didn’t want any part of that and was totally fine with wearing beanies.
After a few months of healing, my best friend bought me a wig. It looked so daggy and while I appreciated the sentiment, I wasn’t interested. Instead, my kids took turns wearing it to give me a laugh. Then my best friend took me to a cancer care place called Bloomhill here on the Sunshine Coast. They just happened to have some wigs there and we grabbed some and decided to try some on for a laugh. It was SO much fun and I laughed so hard for the first time in a long time that something wonderful happened- I stopped taking myself (and life) so seriously and decided to give wigs a go! Like why the hell not?!! They were FUN!!! AND if I was going to wear wigs I would make it fun and wear a different wig every day ❤️and I still do! ❤️
From there, I was hooked! I started researching brands that I found out from Look Good Feel Better, which led from google to Instagram. One wig review on Insta led me to the wonderful world of wigs. There were so many women out there in the world trying on and wearing different wigs and looking fabulous! I soon found out about brands, shops, and watched so many wig reviews. Then I started buying wigs. And buying more wigs. And buying even more wigs! And I still do!
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all sunshine and daisies. I bought wigs that didn’t work for me. I had horrid wig shop experiences. I made mistakes. And lost a lot of money in the process. But from all mistakes we learn and I then learnt A LOT!
The hairloss community on Instagram saved me, inspired me, made me feel less alone and then gave me a space to explore my own hairloss and bald head in a safe space which helped me and still helps me accept my hairloss. I’ve also made such special friendships on there all because we share one very special thing in common, female hairloss. We may all get to wearing wigs from different circumstances but we all share one common theme - hairloss.
It took a long time to accept what happened to me and ‘find’ myself again but wearing hair really helped with that. I still have the odd day when it gets to me and I really miss my hair but then I remember how I’m not alone and I’m ok again.
I have learnt so much about wigs that the next natural step for me is to help other women so their hairloss and wig wearing journey is better than mine was. I’ve been helping women with wig advice for years now and I love it so much! I have always loved helping people and that is what led me to opening up a wig boutique here on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. That and a lack of wig boutiques and the cry of help from so many women wanting me to open up shop.
So now I welcome you into my beautiful space where you can try on different wigs and different colours of the highest quality medical grade wigs and toppers. I’m all about helping you find the best solution for you. I don’t push products or sales, that’s not what I’m about. I just love that moment a woman looks at herself with a wig that they love and they light up! It’s the most beautiful thing to witness and that’s why I love what I do.
Whatever reason brings you to me, from hairloss to fashion, I’m here to help you feel confident again and happy to look in the mirror and recognise yourself again. I’m here for you, I’ve got your back and I just want to make you feel like your fabulous self again.
Can’t wait to meet you! - Kylie
