Wearing Wigs and Saving Lives - An Inside look at the life of nurses who wear hairpieces!
When the general public thinks of wigs, their mind usually goes to two things - halloween and Hollywood. However wigs and hairpieces are worn widely across all industries and year round!
At our small human hair wig company, Silk or Lace, we noticed an interesting pattern of nurses who wear hair that follow us and purchase our hairpieces. Working in a profession that often meets people at their most vulnerable state and practicing something, like wearing hair, that can force you to face your own vulnerability, these nurses have a unique perspective that we knew we wanted to dive further into.
We conducted these interviews over email to share a few personal stories of the badass hair wearing nurses in our community.
Hannah, Acute Physical Therapist
“I’m an acute care physical therapist with a VERY physical job. I’ve had thin hair my whole life, and as more and more of it fell out I became incredibly self conscious. I was terrified the day I wore my first hairpiece (a beautiful resale Highline topper I purchased from Silk or Lace). I thought everyone would see it wasn’t MY hair, and judge me or think something was wrong. It turned out no one paid nearly as much attention to my hair as I did, and no one noticed the change other than “oh wow, your hair looks good down!”.
I was worried a patient would pull my hair or it would get caught on something and shift, but that never happened. I became more comfortable each day and when I transitioned to wigs a couple of years later it was super smooth. I have NEVER had someone ask if I’m wearing a wig, or even seem to notice unless I tell them! I actually get comments frequently from coworkers about how long my hair is getting — it always gives me a laugh!
I am happy to show patients (especially oncology patients worried about losing their hair) that it’s a wig and it’s perfectly okay to have hair or not! Every single person has been genuinely shocked and said they would never have known. They usually ask me to put it back on and take it back off to see if they can tell it’s not growing out of my head! Some of my coworkers know, some of them don’t, but nobody has ever treated me any differently either way.
I struggled my whole childhood and into my 20s with so much anxiety looking in the mirror and seeing all the bald patches, trying to figure out how to cover it. My biggest piece of advice is to take a deep breath and just WEAR THE HAIR! It was weird to have so much volume of hair with the toppers or wigs at first, but I got more comfortable as time went on. I am happy with my shaved head and I am happy with my gorgeous SLC wigs, but most of all I’m happy my hair isn’t stressing me out all day every day and I can just be me!”
Annie, Pediatric Nurse
“On my first day as a nurse, I walked in wearing a wig — and carrying a whole lot of nerves. I was terrified of being noticed for the wrong reasons. But by the end of the shift, I remembered why I’m here. My patients don’t need perfect hair; they need kindness, knowledge, and someone who shows up.
I worried everyone would notice I was wearing a wig, that people would stare. As a pediatric nurse, kids have a million questions, and I braced myself for one to ask if my hair was real. In reality, most people were far too busy to look twice. My patients cared far more about how I cared for them than what was on my head.
Since being diagnosed with alopecia, I’ve tried my best to be proud of it. I’ve shared my journey with many coworkers and told them I wear a wig. Most are shocked — and honestly, a little jealous of how nice my hair looks.
If I could give any advice to someone wearing a wig, especially in nursing, it would be this: wear it, own it, and don’t apologize for it. Your hair — whether it’s yours or not — does not define your worth, your beauty, or your ability. The right people will see you, not the wig."
Being a nurse can be a long and exhausting job.
Hannah mentioned that her job is VERY physical and Annie works with kids who keep you busy. With that in mind, how does wearing a wig for 12-24 hours even work? We had the same question, so we asked our hair friend who is a pediatric ICU nurse, @getwiggywithbrea and she shared her top tips for staying comfortable in a wig for a 24 hour shift in this Instagram post!
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