TV Show Talks To Women Who Wear Wigs To Cover Hair Loss

Losing your hair can be an emotional experience which people choose to deal with in different ways; some may decide to accept their shedding, whilst others seek to regrow their hair with the help of hair loss treatments. There are also those who decide to conceal their baldness by wearing a wig and it is this way of coping that has inspired a new documentary called 'My New Hair'.

Top: Jo-Anne Jackson, Centre: Una Morrison, Bottom: Helen Hosie Kallstrom

Hair loss and wigs documentary

'My New Hair' follows three women who wear wigs to cover their hair loss and was inspired by the film-maker, Ruth Carslaw's own hair loss, caused by illness whilst working in India.

The documentary features two breast cancer sufferers, Una Morrison and Helen Hosie Kallstrom, who both lost their hair following chemotherapy. Whilst the third lady, Jo-Anne Jackson, became bald through Alopecia Universalis, which causes total hair loss from all over the body, including eyelashes, eyebrows and body hair.

Each explain their reasons for deciding to wear a wig, and share their experiences and the emotions of doing so - including the stress of worrying that someone will pull it off.

'Stigma surrounding bald people'

Helen, pictured bottom right, who describes herself as a 'goth rock chick' says, “My hair was powerful, my identity. I had long scarlet hair... When I lost my breast, it didn’t bother me, but losing my hair stripped me of my identity.”

She tried the bald look at first but decided to cover up after seeing other people's reactions. Of her baldness experiment, Helen says “My generation and younger never batted an eyelid yet two older women looked and laughed. I thought that was terrible and it made me more aware of the stigma surrounding bald people."

Not feeling alone

By sharing these women's stories, the documentary, which airs on STV at 8pm on 16th February, aims to let hair loss sufferers know that they are not alone.

Jo-Anne, pictured top right, revealed she found appearing without her lace front wig difficult during filming, saying “People have seen me with my wig and without it but never the transition between the two. I hope it raises awareness.”  Whilst Una, pictured centre right and whose hair is starting to grow back, added, “Under no circumstances did I want anybody to see me without my wig. I’d always had thick blonde hair but when I did take Samantha [her wig] off, I was surprised at how small my head was."

Director, Carslaw explains, “It’s a shocking moment for anybody to lose their hair and you feel like your calling card is gone. I was very sick and it was a very lonely and frightening experience... We hope that nobody will feel lonely about hair loss after this.”