Tear Genius

I finally had the chance to catch up with some of my favorite Reality TV shows this week. On Shear Genius episode 5, contestants had the opportunity to grant clients living with Alopecia a custom wig that they cut, colored and styled to fit the request of the client. If you are wondering, what Is Alopecia? About.com says, Alopecia is an autoimmune condition that results in hair loss, and the autoimmune reaction appears to be the immune system's mistaken attack on its own hair follicles. Hair can be lost from any part of the body. While alopecia doesn't usually involve any specific medical or disease symptoms, the loss of hair can make it a particularly stressful and upsetting condition for sufferers, who are predominantly women. With alopecia, hair loss may be in round, often quarter-sized bald patches on the scalp -- known as alopecia areata -- or can involve the loss of all facial and scalp hair -- alopecia totalis. Alopecia universalis is the loss of all body hair. The cause, as with many autoimmune diseases, is not known. It's thought, however, that some environmental, viral or genetic trigger or exposure predisposes some people to alopecia.

This episode made me tear up a bit. I have had clients of my own suffering from Alopecia and it is clients like them which makes me so proud to be a hairstylist. For my Alopecia clients, or clients going through chemo, I personally like to give them Lace Wigs. Lace wigs are the most realistic looking wig, and gives the illusion as if they had hair growing right from their scalp one more time in their lives. To see the smiley faces and how grateful they are, it makes me so proud that I was chosen to share my gift with the world.
I personally didn’t agree with the winning hairstyle by Palo but, the young lady was very satisfied and I am happy for her.