Establishing charity links

Wear my Hair is developing into 2 distinct markets - one is fashion- wigs, hairpieces & extensions for those who dont like their own hair or just want a change of style or to experiment with styles and colours. Two is for those with medical needs - cancer or alopecia that causes hairloss as a side effect of chemotherapy.

I am trying to assist a number of cancer care organisations through fundraising, link exchange and other support. I have recently posted the ACT, Addenbrookes Charitable Trust widget on each of my site's pages that deals with hair loss issues. So, it is on the medical needs page, the men's wigs page and the children's wigs page. The widget enables donations and I hope will be successful.

I would be very willing to donate from every wig sale at all the trade shows but there just isn't any appropriate events. They are all Art and Crafts and what my products need is Fashion and Beauty Fairs. I do Wedding Fairs and I can certainly implement a donation from wig sales there, but I only attend two per year as they have got very expensive and again, are not entirely appropriate for my market.

I actually think fashion and beauty shows would be a huge success - girls and women are mad about everything to do with fashion and beauty - think Claire's Accessories and Accessorize!

I know a company that stages loads of arts and craft fairs so I will suggest it to them and hope for a positive response!

The rationale behind our wig purchase policy

Recently, I have been asked why I do not stock human hair wigs, hairpieces and extensions? My business really caters for two markets, one is fashion. Those who choose to wear the products for accessorising their look or because they do not like their own hair.

The other market is for those who through illness or stress are loosing or have lost their hair. They might feel that they have no choice but to wear a wig or a hairpiece. This market has within it, men, women and boys and girls and all of them will have their own specific experience about their illness and its consequences. But, having had a sister who suffered all of this through cancer, I felt that synthetic wigs are better for this group in that they are a relatively cheap solution to a temporary problem. The patient will get better and their own hair will grow back again and so why spend a fortune on a human hair wig!

It is surely better to promote the shorter life of a synthetic wig in these circumstances than a very expensive long-life human hair product that does nothing to encourage the patient to feel positive towards the future.

funky coloured Hair Extensions on their way

They have been manufactured and are being shipped now - Funky colours and nine of them in 24inch hair extensions. Pink, purple, blue, electric blue, silver, green, orange, red and yellow, will that do for starters!? I think so! Also, the long awaited children's wigs and mannequins are in this shipment and should be in the UK within the next week.

Let's hope they dont get held up in Customs or any strikes! New very long black and blonde wigs are also part of this order and as soon as they arrive we will start the photography to swop most of the mannequins on the product pages for real live models and revamp the site with a whole new simplified colour chart.

Wednesday also sees the start of the video editing process so we expect to have the video clips published by the end of this week. It should have been earlier, but other stuff got in the way.

Keep watching and following!

New colours for wigs

As we speak, new colour swatches are being photographed for the website to enable some really funky colours for wigs, hairpieces & extensions. The whole colour chart is being upgraded to simplify it but without reducing the colour range in any way.

By early next week, you could be able to order your wig, hairpiece or extensions in some really neon colours including electric blue, purple, green, bright pink etc. The colours will be available across all products and will, I hope, zing up our offer and create more sales.

Also, there are some more products on order, including a fabulous long wig in black, and another long blonde wig
blonde hairpiece & children's wigs. As soon as the long wigs & hairpieces have arrived we will be putting together the photo shoot to have real live models on the website!

Website changes

I have made some important changes to the website www.wearmyhair.com as it happened this week that I got an order through the post. The order was for a wig, but enclosed was a postal order covering the cost of the wig and postage. It alerted me to the fact that some people, under 18s for instance, do not have cheque books, credit cards or paypal accounts and that provision for anyone who does not have these or prefers not to use these, needed to be made.

With this in mind, a "how to order" page has now been created advising this category that postal orders are fine but need to be made payable to Wear my Hair/ Joanna Holding. This information is linked from the homepage by the sentence "If you do not have a credit card or cheque book?". I think this is adequate.

wig photo shoot!

I am feeling now that my stock of wigs, hairpieces & extensions is large enough, and covers enough wants and wishes to start upgrading the site www.wearmyhair.com with photographs of live models rather than mannequins. The mannequins have been great and will continue to be used, especially for the men's wigs, children's wigs and as an accessory for salons and individuals. But with proper professionally shot pictures, the modelled wigs & hairpieces will demonstrate their true glamour.

So far, I have found 4 girls willing to spend an evening modelling the wigs for which they will all be given a really beautiful free photo of themselves. One of the girls is black and I do hope to find another, so that we can demonstrate that www.wearmyhair.com
has gorgeous products for everyone.

Children's wigs & mannequins are on order and soon they will be on the site. This, like men's wigs is something of a minimal demand at the moment, but that could well be due to the fact that there has been very little in the way of wigs for them. We aim to change all that but shortage of funds demands that we increase stock only in line with demand as far as is possible.

Chemo chic with or without a wig!

What a great theme this is. Found it in The Times today and feel very humbled by Jessica's bravery. My sister died of breast cancer eight years ago and that is part of the reason I set up www.wearmyhair.com. One of the problems Annette had was the hideous wig the NHS provided.

At such a difficult time, it must be up to every individual whether they choose to wear a wig, wear nothing, as did Jade much of the time, or wear any or all of the gorgeous and glam scarves and turbans available. At wear my hair, I am trying to help those who prefer to wear a wig, by providing a good range of wigs for £65 as a rule, but also the option to custom choose and have a bespoke wig delivered in 2-3 weeks only! I buy direct from the manufacturers so there is no middle man and I offer men's wigs, women's wigs & children's wigs, as well as hairpieces & extensions.

In recent posts I have been encouraging those who do wear wigs, to glam them up, as if they needed it, with ribbons, clips and all sorts. It all adds to the fun and whether it is cancer or alopecia, or any other reason, boosted fun and a greater sense of recovery is all important through difficult times.