Hair loss due to chemotherapy can be devastating. I’ve been there. I know.
In fact, most of us at Girl on the Go! have a personal experience with
cancer and hair loss. We understand the stress and anxiety you are
feeling. Providing beautiful and undetectable wigs for cancer patients is
our mission.

A wig can look natural and you can look beautiful wearing one! I know
this might sound inconceivable to you right now. But take a minute to
think about about it. In every television show, in every movie, in all
plays the actors wear wigs. You’ve always known this fact but you may
not have given it thought because the wigs are not apparent. Your eye
focuses on the actor and not the wig. I call it the Wig -Wow Factor. If you don’t notice the wig it wowed you. The wig won!

Wigs for cancer patients are just wigs. You can look as fabulous in one
as the many actors/actresses you’ve seen wearing them. Most people have a
negative impression of wigs because they only notice the bad ones, the ill
fitted ones- cheap hair and poor construction. Of course the movies have a hair budget and their professional staff ensures the actors’ wigs look realistic. Don’t be afraid to demand the same kind of treatment for yourself. Don’t you deserve a professional stylist ensuring your wig looks realistic?

Girl on the Go! offers a wide variety of light weight, and comfortable wigs for cancer patients. Our attention to detail, to each hair’s movement, to high lights and low
lights have made our wigs for cancer patients highly recommended by
oncology nurses and cancer patients alike.

We are trained professionals who are dedicated to protecting your privacy
and helping you feel confident and beautiful. Our philosophy: Fabulous
wigs for cancer patients are a necessity. Feeling beautiful and confident
in your appearance is not a luxury. It can be just as important as the
drugs you take in having the mental and emotional energy to fight the
fight.

With either our In- Home Wig Shopping service or our photo match Look Just
Like You internet service our goal is to take the stress out of wig
shopping for you.

We do not believe that wigs for cancer patients should not be bought out
of the back pages of a catalogue. To look your best, to feel your best in
a wig it should be matched to your skin and cut and fit just for you.

What makes our service so unique is that we re-create your hairstyle in a
wig. This helps you make the transition from your own hair to a wig simply
NOT noticeable!

High Quality, undetectable wigs should not just be for celebrities. Our
service is for the average women, great wigs for cancer patients is what
we all deserve.

Girl On The Go! is dedicated to providing high quality, well-fitted wigs
for cancer patients, so that you can feel confident and comfortable about
making the transition.

That’s our promise.

Wishing you the very best of health in the days to come,
Sheril Cohen Kunz

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Maryland all currently have legislation that mandates wigs (for medical reasons) be covered by health insurance.  BRAVO! But what if you don’t live in one of these six states?

In April 2008, I met with New York State Senator Healthcare Chair Senator Kemp Hannon’s staff attorney to get New York State follow suit. I presented the laws from the other states and asked what we could do to adapt similar legislation in New York.  Senator Hannon got on board right away. No one had presented legislation like this before and he jumped on it seeing its importance. (Thank you Senator Hannon!) He recently introduced a new bill into New York State Senate, S7823.

If you live in New York please call your local state representative and ask that she/he support this legislation.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, you are next! I am not going to stop until all states pass this important legislation. Everyone can help take the first steps by signing the Girl on the Go! petition. Just click on Legislation tab on the main navigation bar to your right and fill out the short form. (girlonthego.biz/legislation)

Why aren’t wigs generally covered as part of our health insurance policy?

If a side effect of a medication caused me to have a bad headache, my health insurance would cover the cost of my prescription to fight my headache.  If my leg was injured, health insurance would help me get a cane so that during my recovery period I could walk. My policy would also help pay for physical therapy to help the healing.

Why then do most health care policies EXCLUDE wigs.  Hair loss resulting from medication or a medical illness SHOULD BE covered. Like a cane is needed to help one walk, wigs are needed by most to function at work, and in their lives. They are also a part of the cure - - so women see themselves as women and not patients.

 It seems like a very simple equation. Hair loss is caused by disease or medication. Wigs are part of the cure and the leading Rx to help women feel good. Therefore, they should be covered. (It just makes sense!)

I would like to see the legislation have a “free choice” policy – meaning women could go anywhere they wanted to purchase a wig. The idea of having a closed network seems wrong to me. If the health care benefit is $250, $300, or $500 women should be able to decide where they feel comfortable to purchasing a wig.  In some cases Health Insurance Companies have dictated the wig vendor in order to have administrative efficiency.  In some cases, Health Insurance companies have contracted with vendors who aside from wigs, sell canes, commodes, braces, and oxygen tanks. That is a prime example of a good intention gone bad! NO woman is going to feel good trying on and purchasing a wig in a store like that. We need legislation that gives women the right to choose. Give us the dollar amount of the wig benefit and the choice to shop wherever we want.

We are voters, mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. Lawmakers - Make This Personal! The statistics say:  you too will be touched somehow by this issue at some point in your life. Wouldn’t you want your loved one to have financial help and the freedom to choose.

My diagnosis - - finally has a name.

Today, April 8^h 2008, 7 and a half years after I first met my oncologist, 6 years after she saved me from my long battle from a stage 3B cancer my doctor told me my cancer had a name.

When I was diagnosed in 2000 the doctors staged it but the pathology was not clear. The report said carcinoma of an unknown source most likely Breast, Lung, or Kidney. The pet scans, MRIs, and other tests did not reveal a tumor in my any of those locations. I “only” had cancer in my lymph nods but did not have lymphoma.

During my illness I could not identify myself with any one group of cancer patients. I was an unknown. There was no ribbon or plastic bracelet for me.   But today - - all these years later my doctor told me she feels comfortable saying I had breast cancer. I ask if she is sure.

“Yes, if it weren’t you wouldn’t be alive now.”

WHOA!! That hit me like a ton of bricks and for the first time in years I broke down, my eyes welled up. My voiced  even cracked.

At one point during my long illness a doctor accused me of not taking my cancer seriously. She thought I was “too smiley face.”  I tried to be light hearted, to have a good attitude, to be positive and trust in my doctor and the universe. Crying was something I did in the fall of 2002, when I returned to work, months after I had made it through.   Now years later, I talk to women every day who are beginning their struggle but I found myself in my oncologist’s office crying.

 “Wow! I am a breast cancer survivor.”

It did not feel like it fit.

I have both breasts, there was no tumor in either of my breasts. I just did not feel any connection to breast cancer. My dear mom died of pancreatic cancer years and years ago – not of breast.

Breast Cancer people are like a family. They are an army of warriors. United by their commonality and commitment to fight for research funding, testing, drugs, and awareness. I was an outsider waging my own private battle.  It seems that all the breast cancer patients, survivors and survivor’s families are all so supportive of each other. So, I do not know why I am having a hard time accepting this label. It should feel like coming in from the cold.

My first cousin just got diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Stage 0-1. My oncologist wants me to have genetic testing and to start a drug called Femara.  Joint pain is one of the side effects. Flash backs from chemo, when my whole body hurt so bad that lying down was painful, enter my mind. 

Breast Cancer, hum. I am not sure what to make of that yet.

Why say that? Stop saying that! 

You do not have to apologize for not having cancer. Maybe you aren’t so lucky. (Yes, you are lucky not to have cancer.)  But, you will be dealing with your hair loss for a much longer time than I.  I don’t know if that qualifies as lucky in this hair/appearance obsessed culture. 

You might hurt more emotionally from years of trying to hide your head while trying to find your right solution. Cancer patients’ hair grows back. What about you?
If you knew you would survive a cancer, would you trade your disease so your baldness would not be forever?

Do you ever feel angry that cancer patient hair loss gets all the sympathy, all the press? What about women who suffer hair loss bc of other meds, or illnesses, or just because.True – hair is hair. It is not a vital organ. But it can hurt to live without it for 6 months or forever more. Don’t apologize for only have Alopecia or Tric. 

Sorry, I only had cancer.

 When time was so precious, when I just wanted to sprint like Carl Lewis and make it all happen. I had to wait. 

You might have friends who email you links to local support groups. They may not know what to say to comfort or support you so they loving seek out a group of people in your situation you can feel “the same as.” Although your friends and family love you - - they know they do not know what you are feeling. So, they try to fill that gap with people who DO know… a support group.

Have you called the XXX Support Group, at the church, cancer center, Gilda’s Club, local hospital or wherever. This may become a question you commonly begin to hear. Some of you will run to these groups and love them. They are a wonderful resource for many. Others will be reserved in your approach to them.

When my mom was sick – I dragged her to a support group at the hospital. We meet very nice people in the group. On the way home I could tell my mom did not enjoy it - - I offered to take her back I thought it was important but we never did go.

When I got diagnosed I sought out a support group. I met very nice people. I listened to their stories and I shared mine. It felt nice and comfortable to be understood – but I never went back after the first night. I was scared. I was afraid of caring about them. I was afraid the people in group would get well and what if I didn’t? I was afraid of feeling jealous and angry. I was also so afraid of connecting and caring about someone and then me getting well and them getting sicker. I was afraid of the pain of losing someone.

So instead - - I plopped myself into the chemo chair my very first day of cancer treatment and strangely said to the woman next to me.
“This is my first time. Will you be my friend?”

I had no idea what I really meant. Did I mean for the next few hours – or forever? I had not planned this at all. What was I doing?

The woman was so nice. She energetically said of course. She inched her body toward the right side of the large pink lazy boy and leaned toward me.

“It’s not such a big thing. I’ve had cancer before so I am a veteran. This is not so bad.”
We introduced ourselves, the hours went by and she became my friend and support person. We would try to schedule our chemo sessions together – so they would be fun.

Her name – Sharon Goldberg. She was my angel. Anything I felt – she had felt before. Anger, Frustration, Ugly, Upset. I used to bitch to her about the stupid comments people would make to me at work. She would just nod her head, she had lived through it all before.

She was my support – she was always there for me on the phone. For me, having Sharon and the rest of my non- cancer family and friends worked out beautifully. They were my support group.

Some of you will find tremendous support in non traditional settings like online. One of my clients recently told me about a website called LivingConversations.com. It is a wonderful site of video taped interviews with breast cancer survivors. It is supportive, calming and reassuring to see women on “the other side” say the things you are feeling and answering the questions you have floating around your head. Check it out! This might be your support group or your support group at 3AM when you can’t rest your brain enough to sleep.

Support comes in many different ways. If a traditional support group is not for you – don’t feel bad or guilty about that. You might decide to call a staffed 800# of cancer survivors when you want to talk OR volunteer there when you want to listen. You might talk with someone at chemo, or someone who had cancer 2 years ago with their new hair their crowing glory. Cancer like any new experience will bring you to meet new people – who may be just the support you need.

If you read my blog that compared Chemo to the Flu you might be interested in knowing one of our client’s has a terrific suggestion. She is successfully using Acupuncture to combat her side effects. At first her oncologist was not sure he could endorse Acupuncture because he was concerned about the tiny needles and her immune system. But he finally did approve the treatment and she reports great success in managing energy levels, nausea, and bouncing back to “normal” life.
Today, many health plans do include a network of alternative health care providers – so you can check with your insurance company to see if Acupuncture is covered. Your local Cancer Centers might have an Acupuncturist on staff since Eastern and Western medicine is being used to compliment each other in many settings.
I did not use Acupuncture to manage my chemo pain - - I never felt I needed to. But I wholeheartedly endorse it. I successfully treated a knee injury with Acupuncture and have been a believer ever since.
Bottom Line explore anything and everything to keep yourself comfortable – so you can have less bad days and more days feeling normal. Just because you have a cancer diagnosis does not mean you have to take to your bed and feel sick. Just Do Not accept that for yourself. REMEMBER, there are ways to combat the side effects so you can remain a girl on the go!
Be Well ;o)
Sheril

I had my last chemo in August - - by Thanksgiving I had what I called “sprouts” growing out of my head. I reminded myself of the 90’s energetic TV pitch woman - Susan Powder. “You have to eat, breath, and MOVE,” she’d say. Her very short hair would was at least spikeable. Mine was so baby fine, it was laughable. Yes, I had hair on my head but at this point I felt more like me (the me I was tried so hard not to leave behind) with my wig, NOT the new hair growing out of my head.

It was hard for some people to understand that- especially after I was officially in remission. Friends used to say - - you have hair - why are you still wearing your wig? That used to make me so mad!! Sometimes I would want to SCREAM back “You cut all your hair off then!” I felt it would be different if I chose to have short hair – but I did not choose it and I felt so punished by it. It takes SOOOO long for short hair to grow to a length long enough to cut it into a cute style. But nobody ever considers that.

I know friends were just trying to be supportive and say how beautiful I looked with very short hair – but I would have no part of it. One friend had the sheer nerve to suggest that holding on to my wigs was me holding on to my illness - that I just was not ready to be well. It was all I could do to refrain from throwing the restaurant table into her lap. I simply did not feel good about me with short hair – no psycho babble needed.

I wore a wig, a fall with a headband (and my own hair visible on my hairline to the headband) , or a fake ponytail clip until my hair was long enough for me - not for anyone else. I waited until I could have a short layered bob and that suited me just fine!

You will know when you feel comfortable without your wig. No one can or should make that decision for you. Do not be bullied by the nurses or well-meaning friends. They have NO idea what you are going through – the changes in appearance and emotions Just be true yourself with whatever hair you chose.

Once you have been confronted with a life-and-death situation, trivia no longer matters. Your perspective grows and you live at a deeper level. There is no time for pettiness.
— Margaretta Rockefeller

I really like this quote above. In a weird way I was and remain thankful for my cancer experience. It forced me to gain moments of clarity about my life and examine what was important to me. That exercise really became the path for how I lived my life during cancer and today.

I do not want to be misunderstood - - nor do I want to misconstrue “pettiness.” Like I say in my Cancer Etiquette blog for me not having my friends talk to me about their lives made me feel all there was in my life was “cancer patienthood.” So I did NOT consider hearing about fights with boyfriends, or kid car-pooling issues petty in the least. Those conversations were necessary for me to feel alive.

What defined trivia and pettiness for me was facing my demons. I decided to take a break from people and vowed not to continue relationships with people for historical sake – when the friendship was long gone. Life is just to short for that. I also adopted a no tolerance attitude and said goodbye to my excuses for not having the courage to make dreams happen.

Not all wigs are alike. There are $40 synthetic wigs that may have a cute cut but might give you helmet head,and feel hot or itchy to wear. There also are synthetic wigs made on hand knotted micro thin, durable caps that cost $700 or more.

There are synthetic fibers that feel like doll hair or have a artificial “perma- shine ” because they are made mostly of plastic. And there are synthetic fibers that people swear are better than real hair.

When choosing your wig I am suggesting you think about what you generally spend on your hair (cut, color, and style) in the course of a year to 18 months. Consider that amount your budget and it should be a good starting place for your to arrive at a comfortable price point. (Since during the months you will be wearing your wig – you will never have to have it cut or color it. You will really be spending the same amount of money on your hair - just all at once.)

There are $40 wigs, $170 wigs, $500, $1500, $2500 wigs and more. Of course there is no comparison when touching a European Virgin Hair wig. You know the minute you lay your fingers on it, it feels luxurious and it is. For some women a European Virgin Hair wig is right. But, it is not a practical decision for every woman. In many cases it is nicer hair than many women have to start with. (Not everyone drives a Porshe. People who drive a Ford do just fine.)

You can get a beautiful high quality synthetic wig that will look wonderful. A nice quality synthetic wig that is well fit and well cut is undetectable to people. Quite frankly, most of you are afraid of wearing a wig because you have only noticed bad ones. I assure you, have seen, spoken to, and dined with women who are wearing a great wig and you have NOT noticed it.

So, if see your hairdresser every 6-8 weeks and you usually spend cost to $100 including tip do not be afraid to spend between $400-600 on a nice synthetic wig. Believe me it will be worth it! You will feel the difference in your attitude -if not on your head. We work in this price range alot of the time and our clients feel comfortable facing the world - NOT feeling bad about their hair.

If you are interested in human hair… there is a wide variety of quality. Not all human hair is suitable for making a wig. Generally virgin hair (hair that has never been color processed) is the best quality. If the wig maker is reputable, you can have a gorgeous wig made from color treated hair as well. The more skilled the wig maker, the more the wig will cost bc the price is largely a reflection of all the handwork that is involved. At a retail wig store better quality human hair wigs shoulder length or longer (made from color treated hair) average at $1500. Expect the wig ito be cut, styled, and fit. If you are interested in a completely custom made wig they usually are priced $2500 on up.

You can find less expensive human hair wigs on the internet - - but you would not believe the number of calls we get from women who have purchased their wigs off the internet and are disappointed with the hair once they washed or wore their wig for a short time. They have no idea how to make the wig look right and do not know how to take care of it Sometimes a bargin is not as good as it appears. You likely are not buying something you are unfamiliar with and having an expert help you through this can be worth it.

Wishing you the best!
sheril