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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 Marie on August 13, 2009 at 7:05pm
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The "Grouper Buddy" video was very, very cool! (Makes me want to pet a fish!)
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Comment by Mary on August 13, 2009 at 7:24pm
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Normally, it's impossible, and in some places, illegal, to pet the fish. But at this location, there are three that are used to divers and will approach them. It was amazing.
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Comment by Pamela Rosse on August 14, 2009 at 12:45am
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Marie thanks for sharing, way to go girl, I'm so glad you had a such a wonderful time. We are going to Maui next July & have been thinking what to do, you & all the ladies here sure saved me, we love snorkeling, I am going to check into those scuba do rags. Too cool. I have two skull caps I picked up at our local motorcycle shop when I went with my hubby while he picked up some cycle stuff, I use them in the back yard when lying out by our pool, they work really well, they keep my bald as a bean head protected from the sun & yet when wet they also keep me cool, a two-fold action there. They are light & easy to tie & don't come off until I untie them. Thanks again everyone, now I'm looking more forward to Maui then ever.
Pam
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Hi Marie, I notice you mentioned Spokane, my hometown, my sister lives in CDA, Id, when I fly up it's good old Spokane Airport we fly into. It's nice to know there is a place there if anything happens to my wigs during a visit or I need something. If you could give me the name & phone number of the saloon I would be most appreciative. Such a small world is it not. Thanks.
Pam
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Pamela -- The name of the place is Monique's. I don't have their phone number, but they are well known.
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Thank you so much Marie.
Oh, I saw where you too really love to snorkel, have you tried snuba? We did it in Maui last year, a total kick.
It's a combination of snorkeling & scuba. We really had a great time the group we used was terrific. If you google snuba it will come up, you can see what is used, pictures are easier then me trying to describe. It is so fun, its done in group. If you have never scuba dived it is at least to me a easy way to see if you would like it.
Thanks again for the name of the saloon. Have a good one.
Pam
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Pamela -- Cool, I'll check it out!
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Greetings from Kauai. We got here yesterday...my first trip since losing my hair to a place we've been coming to for years. That's causing me to be a little reflective about it, but I've been around to some of the familiar places bald, and it's fine. I've gotten some nice compliments, and since it's 82 degrees and somewhat humid, I'm happy. Bought a pair of shell earrings at Farmer's market this morning...being bald is a great excuse to expand the earring collection! Aloha to all,
Mary
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Losing one's hair really does cause a woman to reflect about many things, on many levels. The compliments are always nice, eh? Having just been in the BVI I can understand the joy of having no hair in 82 degree weather with 150% humidity! :-) I like how Alopecia has expanded your reasons to shop. I use it as an excuse to buy shoes. I haven't really worked out the connection between hair loss and black pumps, but I'm sure it's there somewhere!
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Hey, if shoes make you feel more beautiful...go for it!
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