Comfort in a time of stress

Mo Hongying (a pseudonym) took off her maroon, shoulder-length bob wig and buried herself in a sofa. The middle-aged woman had come to the hair salon Shuting for help with her wig.

Looking exhausted, she did not rise until another woman sitting in front of a mirror, with curly dark red hair, began to have her hair cut.

Mo is bald.

"I used to have the same hairstyle as her," Mo mutters as she fished out her cellphone, searching for a photo of herself taken before she began her cancer treatment. "The length, color, curls … were all the same."

"For many women, it's a devastating blow to become bald. Some customers cry when having their head shaved, some keep their eyes closed the whole time, afraid to see themselves in the mirror, while others stare blankly into the mirror, lacking the courage to walk out of the shop," says Wang Feng, 58, owner of the salon located in an alley next to Beijing Cancer Hospital.

Apart from nearby residents, many of its customers like Mo are cancer patients who have lost hair due to chemotherapy and want to shave their heads before all their hair falls out on its own.

Mo bought her wig early this year to help make it through Chinese New Year. She did not want her octogenarian mother to know she had cancer.

"Cancer patients usually want a wig styled so it looks like their natural hair," says Wang. "They want to be recognized."

When Wang Xue, a hairdresser at Shuting, shaved the head of a cancer patient for the first time, her hands shook, and she "dared not speak, for fear of saying anything inappropriate that would hurt the patient", she says.

"Unlike my ordinary clients, they (cancer patients) seem physically and mentally vulnerable," she says.

Her boss Wang Feng once made a wig for a 10-year-old girl diagnosed with ovarian cancer. At the time, she was too weak to wear the wig herself. Nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy made the trim difficult. When Wang put a custom-made wig on the girl's head, another barber helped to keep her back straight while her mother propped up her chin.

Wang Feng began servicing clients with custom-made wigs in his shop in 2010 after a female customer told him that people wanted to "run and hide" when they saw her bald head.

He was deeply saddened by this conversation. As a professional stylist, his job is to help people look their best, but for cancer patients, he felt he could do more to assist their battered egos. He learned to design wigs and spent years finding a reliable source to purchase human hair and factories to cooperate with.

Wang Feng's business has expanded with 10 salons around major hospitals in Beijing and other cities such as Hangzhou and Changsha, selling hundreds of wigs, in recent years.

At his salon, Wang Feng witnessed how the falling hair of his customers can pluck the tenderest heartstrings of their families.

He recalls a woman who came accompanied by her husband and daughter. When shaving off her hair, he found the husband had been biting his lip the whole time while the daughter burst into tears.

Last year, a 13-year-old girl asked Wang Feng to use her black, waterfall-like hair to make a wig for her ailing mother. While the mother was begging Wang to cut less, the daughter insisted "the shorter, the better".

"Mom's hair has gone, but mine can grow back!" the girl said.

Wigs are not cheap at Wang Feng's salon. A good custom-made wig can cost thousands of yuan.

Many of his clients are men who come alone to buy wigs for their loved ones. They invariably say to Wang Feng, "I don't care about the price, as long as my wife is comfortable and looks good."

Every wig has a story behind it. Wang has often been touched by these stories and has sought to do more for his clients. He offers free wig care services, discounts, and even jobs.

He once employed a female cancer patient in her 20s, who had no money to continue her treatment. She was tasked with cleaning wigs and advising clients, as she was able to offer a sympathetic perspective as a fellow patient.

However, Wang Feng suffered a big blow last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some suggested a transition from brick-and-mortar to online sales, but he is unfazed by the competition from the internet.

"Wigs and hats are different. No matter how good a wig looks on the model, you have to try it on yourself. It also requires the hairdresser to trim the wig based on the shape of your head and face," Wang Feng says.

He believes professional styling services on wigs can provide cancer patients with a temporary distraction from their worries.

"For cancer patients, these wigs cannot offer a cure. Yet when they put on their wigs, they feel empowered, happy and dignified. This is the power of wigs," he declares.

Xinhua