Greater than 50 p.c of girls will expertise noticeable hair loss of their lifetime—a change that may have an effect on rather more than their look. Within the above mini documentary, ELLE.com explores this staggering statistic by way of the tales of girls who’ve been there earlier than, together with Hearst govt producer Amanda Kabbabe. After being recognized with a uncommon type of ovarian most cancers at 24 years previous and dropping her hair to chemotherapy, Kabbabe was determined to really feel like herself once more. Within the course of, she met Charlene Aminoff, proprietor of Gali’s Couture Wigs, and realized in regards to the life-changing expertise that led Aminoff to open her store. Now, Aminoff is devoted to offering hair coverings for anybody who wants them and has prolonged her providers to these featured within the video and extra.
Beneath, Kabbabe delves deeper into her personal journey, together with how she first linked with Aminoff and what it was prefer to lose—after which regain—a vital a part of her id.
I used to be 24 years previous after I realized I used to be going to lose all of my hair. I had simply been recognized with an especially uncommon sort of ovarian most cancers, undergone main surgical procedure, and had months of chemotherapy forward of me. Days earlier than I used to be set to start out, I obtained a devastating name from a nurse, who defined I might lose all the things throughout remedy: the hair on my head, my brows, my lashes.
For higher and for worse, my hair has at all times been an enormous a part of my id. At 12 years previous, I used to be bullied over my “bushy brows”; afterward, I used to be envied by ladies who longed for a “daring forehead” like mine. Studying that my remedy would render me hairless was some of the heartbreaking realizations of my life. The mere considered my family and friends having to see me like that was gut-wrenching; it felt like I used to be placing my sickness on show.
Kabbabe at 22 years previous.
After wallowing, it was time to take cost. I needed to get a wig, in order that nobody would ever need to see my bald head. One silver lining was that my insurance coverage would cowl what they known as a “cranial prosthesis,” although as you’ll count on from American insurance coverage corporations, I used to be given a really restricted checklist of permitted distributors to select from.
Even so, my sister launched into motion. She known as each wig store on that checklist to arrange appointments. However every expertise was extra devastating than the final. Wigmakers would tug on my head, roll their eyes after I’d get emotional, and reply to my issues of discomfort with some condescending model of, “Effectively, after all it’s not comfy, it’s a wig.”
I’d by no means felt extra defeated. Ugly. Misplaced. It felt like part of me was being taken away. How a lot of a lady may I be if I didn’t have my hair?
The primary photograph Kabbabe took after shaving her head.
I used to be crying about all the things to my finest good friend, Ricki, an Orthodox Jewish girl, who then instructed me that individuals in her religion typically put on wigs, and never solely may no person inform, however no person cared—it wasn’t one thing to be ashamed of. She would ship me photograph after photograph of Jewish ladies donning wigs—beautiful, lengthy brown locks; shiny blonde highlights; vibrant redheads. After seeing dozens, I needed to ask, the place the heck are folks getting these wigs from?
That’s when she gave me the data for a Lengthy Island store known as Gali’s Couture Wigs. I known as to make an appointment and visited a number of days later. Initially, I had some hesitations. All of my different wig store experiences had been terrible. What would make this one totally different? The store wasn’t on my insurance coverage checklist. Would I even have the ability to afford a wig from there? I’m not Jewish. Would they even settle for me?
However on Dec. 4, 2017, I walked into Gali’s Couture Wigs for the primary time and met the proprietor, Charlene Aminoff. She welcomed me with open arms, fairly actually, giving me a hug. As quickly as I started to inform her about what I’d been by way of, I welled up. However Charlene made two issues very clear to me: First, she additionally was carrying a wig, and it was a selection she made, one thing she was proud to do. Second, she was on this enterprise for a really particular cause, and it began when Charlene had a life-changing expertise of her personal.
Left, Kabbabe at certainly one of her first, disappointing wig experiences. Proper, Kabbabe with Aminoff in her store.
On July 26, 2010, Charlene and her husband, Jonathan, had been vacationing at their summer season house in Miami Seaside, a spot they’d deliver their kids to yearly. On the time, Charlene recognized as an Orthodox Jewish girl however, as she instructed ELLE.com, says she felt like she didn’t abide by her religion within the “right method,” as a substitute residing an “outlandish way of life [with] jet-setting, yachts, fabulous, phony, obnoxious faux events.” That day in July, she and Jonathan took their boys to the seashore, leaving their two-year-old daughter, Gali, with their nanny. When Charlene left for the shore, she noticed Gali safely sleeping on a lounge chair by the pool.
An hour later, as they returned to the home, they heard noise and commotion and ran towards the scene. They noticed a person standing within the pool, holding the physique of a younger woman. When the person circled, Charlene instantly realized it was her personal daughter, Gali. Charlene remembers, “The information of her nails had been purple. She was a limp rag doll in his arms.”
Jonathan, who was additionally a volunteer medic, instantly grabbed Gali and started performing CPR whereas Charlene watched helplessly. As Jonathan continued to aim to resuscitate their daughter, he yelled that she was in full cardiac arrest. Charlene, in final disbelief, regarded round. She noticed a blue pashmina scarf on a lounge chair and instinctively grabbed it, yelling out in Hebrew. “I promised God, for the remainder of my life, I might serve him his method, not on my phrases,” Charlene instructed ELLE.com. “I might cowl my hair. I might put on a wig. I might gown modestly, head to toe.”
Charlene remembers wrapping her head within the scarf, and in that actual second, Jonathan discovered a pulse. Hours later on the hospital, Gali’s well being was totally restored. Medical doctors had been shocked, telling Charlene, “You don’t perceive that your daughter is a whole miracle.” Sitting there along with her scarf wrapped round her head, Charlene knew that from that second, she would stay dedicated to God.
However she wasn’t going to put on that blue pashmina eternally. When it got here time to buy wigs, Charlene, sadly, had a really comparable expertise to mine. The wigs had been outrageously priced, the store homeowners had been insensitive, and she or he by no means walked away feeling good in regards to the expertise. She was decided to create a spot the place folks couldn’t solely purchase wigs at an reasonably priced worth but additionally have a good time doing it.
Kabbabe in certainly one of her Gali’s wigs.
I stored going to Charlene’s retailer, and as I spoke to a few of her different shoppers, I realized increasingly more in regards to the multitude of causes ladies select to put on wigs. Whereas many suffered hair loss that was out of their management—whether or not from chemotherapy or alopecia or trichotillomania—simply as many selected to put on a wig due to their faith, tradition, or for beauty functions. The extra time I spent on the store, the extra I noticed carrying a wig wasn’t a punishment. It was a privilege.
I left Gali’s Couture Wigs that first day with three wigs and a large weight lifted off my chest. Regardless that she wasn’t on the permitted checklist on the time, Charlene’s group discovered my insurance coverage for me. I used to be within the second week of my first spherical of chemo, and the next week, my hair started to fall out. It began slowly however then immediately, hair was completely in every single place: throughout my sheets, my garments, my rest room. You don’t actually notice how a lot hair is in your head till it begins to fall out; the method was agonizing.
On Dec. 17, 2017, two weeks after I purchased my Gali’s wigs, I made a decision to lastly shave my head, my method of taking management of the state of affairs. Trying within the mirror at my receding hairline, I noticed that I used to be holding on to nothing. The attachment I needed to my hair was superficial. It didn’t truly symbolize something.
My pals made the shaving course of as satisfying as attainable. I sat on a stool within the storage and blasted Taylor Swift as I went by way of each emotion possible. I cried, I laughed, all of it. When it was lastly over, I felt free. I realized—and eventually, actually believed—I’m a lot greater than my hair.
