Alopecia World
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Wigged out on a sailing trip...
Hello, lovely ladies!
I just spent the past 10 days sailing the British Virgin Islands with my guy. What a wonderful time. We sailed in heavy winds, snorkeled around beautiful reefs, and visited little beach side bars – and I did it ALL in my wigs!
I brought two basic synthetic wigs, the kind you can buy online (Noriko, Aspen, etc.) They are not custom made (but I usually have them thinned out a little and perhaps have the bangs cut.) One was pretty short and razor cut, the other had longer bangs and slightly longer sides and back but was the same color.
As you might imagine I was initially anxious about wearing wigs during the activities involved in such a vacation. How would a wig handle the wind, water, heat, and extended wear? The biggest worries were the wind and water. Well, I can happily report that all went swimmingly! :-) I used several strategies to make myself comfortable in the wigs. Regarding the wind during sailing: at first I wore my longer wig with a straw fedora-style sun hat. But after a while, I didn’t want to wear the hat anymore. So, I switched to the shorter wig, messed it up a bit with just a touch of styling product and went without the hat. I assumed that the wind would blow my bangs back revealing a somewhat unnatural hairline, but with the shorter wig this did not happen. It just got nice and messy like real hair would. And, in fact, I thought I looked pretty cute and sporty in this condition.
Snorkeling was handled with equal ease. Before I went into the water, I put on a Scuba Do Rag (http://www.cococheznaynay.com/). This is a light do rag made for scuba divers and works wonderfully to protect hair. Since it is made for scuba diving, it is not an unusual piece of headwear for snorkeling and attracted no one's attention accept for an occasional complement from other snorkelers. I got a black one and thought it had sort of a pirate edge to it. :-) My mask and snorkel fit over it well. It stayed on VERY securely! After putting on the Scuba Do Rag, mask, snorkel, and fins, I just jumped into the water and never thought about my hair again. When I got out, I sometimes kept the do rag on until it and the wig were fairly dry, and sometimes whipped it off and fluffed my wet hair. This worked well because even as I did this, the "mono top" on the shorter wig looked good. And advantage of synthetic wigs are that when they get wet they dry quickly and regain their style. (Can you say that about real hair?) I ended up preferring the shorter wig for snorkeling as well as sailing, reserving the longer wig for dinners on shore. Of course, another person would not necessarily have two different styles, but my guy knows about my wigs and is used to my instantly changing looks.
As far as routine maintenance goes, my wigs got washed a lot and were no worse for it. Usually after snorkeling, we’d take showers to get all the salt off our bodies. As I showered in the tiny “head” (boat-speak for bathroom), I would also wash my wig in Woolite. I'd pat it as dry as I could, and fluff it up. Sometimes I’d wear the short one that I'd just washed again after showering, and sometimes I’d wear the longer one. However, if one had two identical wigs, the wet one could just be swapped for the dry one and no one would be the wiser.
And that was it. It all worked out just fine. I even took to sleeping in my wigs and completely forgot I was ever concerned about wearing one on a sailing vacation. As always, if you are into wigs like I am, my advice is to wear them fearlessly!
You are all SO beautiful!
Peace, Marie
P.S. I've added some photos from the trip to my profile. These are from my camera. My guy has some of me underwater with the Scuba Do Rag on, but I need to get these from his camera. I’ll post later.
I just spent the past 10 days sailing the British Virgin Islands with my guy. What a wonderful time. We sailed in heavy winds, snorkeled around beautiful reefs, and visited little beach side bars – and I did it ALL in my wigs!
I brought two basic synthetic wigs, the kind you can buy online (Noriko, Aspen, etc.) They are not custom made (but I usually have them thinned out a little and perhaps have the bangs cut.) One was pretty short and razor cut, the other had longer bangs and slightly longer sides and back but was the same color.
As you might imagine I was initially anxious about wearing wigs during the activities involved in such a vacation. How would a wig handle the wind, water, heat, and extended wear? The biggest worries were the wind and water. Well, I can happily report that all went swimmingly! :-) I used several strategies to make myself comfortable in the wigs. Regarding the wind during sailing: at first I wore my longer wig with a straw fedora-style sun hat. But after a while, I didn’t want to wear the hat anymore. So, I switched to the shorter wig, messed it up a bit with just a touch of styling product and went without the hat. I assumed that the wind would blow my bangs back revealing a somewhat unnatural hairline, but with the shorter wig this did not happen. It just got nice and messy like real hair would. And, in fact, I thought I looked pretty cute and sporty in this condition.
Snorkeling was handled with equal ease. Before I went into the water, I put on a Scuba Do Rag (http://www.cococheznaynay.com/). This is a light do rag made for scuba divers and works wonderfully to protect hair. Since it is made for scuba diving, it is not an unusual piece of headwear for snorkeling and attracted no one's attention accept for an occasional complement from other snorkelers. I got a black one and thought it had sort of a pirate edge to it. :-) My mask and snorkel fit over it well. It stayed on VERY securely! After putting on the Scuba Do Rag, mask, snorkel, and fins, I just jumped into the water and never thought about my hair again. When I got out, I sometimes kept the do rag on until it and the wig were fairly dry, and sometimes whipped it off and fluffed my wet hair. This worked well because even as I did this, the "mono top" on the shorter wig looked good. And advantage of synthetic wigs are that when they get wet they dry quickly and regain their style. (Can you say that about real hair?) I ended up preferring the shorter wig for snorkeling as well as sailing, reserving the longer wig for dinners on shore. Of course, another person would not necessarily have two different styles, but my guy knows about my wigs and is used to my instantly changing looks.
As far as routine maintenance goes, my wigs got washed a lot and were no worse for it. Usually after snorkeling, we’d take showers to get all the salt off our bodies. As I showered in the tiny “head” (boat-speak for bathroom), I would also wash my wig in Woolite. I'd pat it as dry as I could, and fluff it up. Sometimes I’d wear the short one that I'd just washed again after showering, and sometimes I’d wear the longer one. However, if one had two identical wigs, the wet one could just be swapped for the dry one and no one would be the wiser.
And that was it. It all worked out just fine. I even took to sleeping in my wigs and completely forgot I was ever concerned about wearing one on a sailing vacation. As always, if you are into wigs like I am, my advice is to wear them fearlessly!
You are all SO beautiful!
Peace, Marie
P.S. I've added some photos from the trip to my profile. These are from my camera. My guy has some of me underwater with the Scuba Do Rag on, but I need to get these from his camera. I’ll post later.
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Comment by Pat on August 12, 2009 at 11:25pm
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your pictures look nice and i quess we all do what ever works for us. looks like you had a good time!
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Comment by Dominique Cleopatra on August 13, 2009 at 2:12am
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Marie, That's Rad! I'm so glad you had such a fabulous trip! I try not to let my alopecia keep me from living life to the fullest either, but I am still learning the best way to apply wigs for "maximum security." What did you use to keep the wigs on during sailing, snorkeling etc? Did you use tape or glue? I have been getting into synthetic wigs too. If you have to wear one why worry about styling human hair?
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Comment by Marie on August 13, 2009 at 2:46am
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Dominique,
To answer your question, I still have some hair left (see photos of my hair loss on my proile), so I use a little clip at the front and one at the back to give the wig added security. It stays on pretty well by itself, but I like the added security. If and when I don't have enough left, I'll probably use wig tape -- a little piece at the front and one at the back.
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Comment by Jeanelle Ray on August 13, 2009 at 3:35am
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Hi, Marie. I'm so interested that you seemed to have just worn "regular" wigs for all of your activities. I am so excited to find this site. My thinning hair has been getting so much worse, as I am on several high blood pressures medicines. They are famous for doing that. I've been in the depths of dispair and have finally realized I will have to wear wigs. I have wigs that are pretty, but SO uncomfortable. For several months, I have I rolled my hair...on pin curls I get really nice head of curly hair that I an pin up and cover the bald spots. I'm so tired of the maitenance and going to bed at night with pin curls. I've been reading about Amy's Presence wigs. Do any of you have one and are they worth the high cost? I'm looking forward to these blogs. I get to thinking that no one else in the world seems to deal with thinng and loss of hair. I had a few wigs after breast cancer and chemo in 1996. But I would be among people and have an insane desire to rip off the wig and through it on the floor. If I can just find a wig that is compfortable !
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I know that some people find wigs really uncomfortble. For some reason, I don't. (I also don't find 3" pumps uncomfortable). :-) I think that is because I still have some hair left. Surely direct contact with skin is more likely to cause comfort issues.
When I first began planing my Virgin Islands trip, I looked into Amy's Presence wigs because they are made for swimming. My impression going into the salon was that they would be more like a vacuum wig, but the wigs are actually constructed more like a very nice standard hand-tied wig. The salespersons told me that the synthetic hair was made of something different than normal wigs (almost all quality wigs are made from Kanekalon fibres; I'm not sure what Amy's Presence wigs are made of). She said the fibers look and feel more natural when wet. She also said that the fabric used to make the cap was softer and dried more quickly than standard wig materials. I asked her by what means it stayed on and she said that it stayed on without any assistance. That may be true, but seeing as it is not a vacuum fit, I'd personally want something to make it feel more secure.
The wigs definitely nice but they are expensive. The saleslady at the salon in Spokane, WA that I visited said there were two kinds one could buy: 1) a wig made to the measurements of one's head but not custom molded since it's basically fabric ($3000) and 2) one that is "off the rack" ($1100). If I was going to spend more more than $3000 on something, I'd get a vaccuum wig molded to fit my head and I can't see spending $1100 for a differently engineered version of the standard wigs I already own.
The important thing, however, in considering whether Amy's Presence wigs are worth it is individual needs. If Amy's Presence wigs are the only ones that will work for a person, then they are worth every penny!
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I've never heard of a vacuum wig. Who makes them? Do you have a favorite brand name? I live in Abilene, TX, and haven't found much variety here. I plan a trip to Dallas to try to find a wig that is pretty *and* comfortable. I read online that the Amy wigs are to be shampooed every 3 days and taken in for a rejuvenation every 4 weeks. That rejuvenation sounds like a pain.
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Jeanelle Ray -- That rejuvenation also sounds expensive!
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Also Jeanelle -- Peggy Knight makes vacuum wigs. You can go to their official and see what I am talking about, but basically they make a thin plastic wig cap from a mold of your head and hand tie nice human hair to it. It's very nice, but very expensive. And, I think it would be really hot.
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Susan, your approach to water seems to be the same as mine. Glad it all works for you too.
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Comment by Mary on August 13, 2009 at 6:01pm
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Hi Marie - I'm really happy to hear your wigs worked out so you could enjoy your water activities! I'm one of those people who is too uncomfortable to wear a wig.
You might enjoy these photos and report from my recent dive trip:
http://www.alopeciaworld.net/photo/albums/first-bald-scuba-diving-trip
http://www.alopeciaworld.net/profiles/blogs/report-and-photos-from-my
And, I just uploaded an underwater video from the same trip, entitled "Grouper Buddy".
Keep on having fun!
Mary
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