I was a little apprehensive about wig shopping, but mostly quite excited. Me and the hubby drove over to Swansea (about an hours drive from where we live) to the nearest wig shop that accepted my £90 NHS voucher. I'd looked on their website in advance and saw a few styles that I liked, all ranging between £90-£150. We arrived and were greeted by a lovely lady who explained she had suffered with alopecia in the past so understood how it felt to lose your hair and wear a wig. As I still had a full head of hair (and my hair was thick, there was a lot of it!) she had to pin it all up and put a wig sock on my head. I tried a few styles on and hated every single one. I just didn't look like me. After about 30 minutes I could feel myself wanting to get out of the shop before I either cried or just started shouting expletives at the top of my voice. I tried one more wig on, it was ok-ish, so I said I'd take that. It was only in stock in an ash grey colour so she said she'd order one in the colour of my choice. I'm naturally a red head and remember just quickly pointing to a colour on the chart saying "that one will do" not really paying attention. My ears soon pricked up when I realised the wig was £250!!! By this point though I just wanted to get out of there, so I left my £90 voucher with her and she said she would call me when it came in.
2 weeks later I got a call to say the wig had arrived and we 
made an appointment to go and collect it. So another trip over to Swansea it was. When we arrived, it was a different lady in the shop. Although she was very nice, she just plonked the wig on my head (I was now bald at this point), brushed it into an unflattering centre parting whilst shouting "oh thats beautiful" over and over. It was anything but beautiful. I remember thinking it looked like I had road kill on my head. I seem to be very British at times and don't like to cause a fuss or have emotional outbursts if I can help it, so rather than burst into tears and scream GET IT OFF, I smiled, put my cap back on and paid. I was told I needed proper wig shampoo and somehow agreed to spending another £25 on wig care products. So I parted with £185 and left as quick as my feet could carry me. The poor hubby had the silent treatment for the next half an hour as I didn't want to unleash me emotional outburst on him. The wig stayed in the box for about 3 days before I dared to take it out and try it on again. When I finally did, I didn't look like road kill anymore but I wasn't that keen on it. I had a wedding to go to a few weeks later and was dreading wearing the wig. By this point, I'd named the wig Hayley Cropper. I just felt like it looked like Hayley Croppers bonce when I wore it. Anyway, Hayley came to the wedding and with a bit of hairspray and a clip, it looked presentable. However, it was so uncomfortable that I had to take it off after a few hours and wear one of my caps. It left big red sores on the back of my head - ouchy! After the wedding it was returned to its hiding place - the top shelf of my wardrobe.
I worked out that the wig was averaging out at £92.50 per wear so decided I needed to wear it more to get my moneys worth from it. I contacted my hairdresser to see if she could help. A trip to see Liane and she turned Cropper the ugly duckling into a swan! It was finally in a style I felt more happier with and comfortable to wear. So we're now averaging out at £45.25 per wear. As it digs in and hurts my scalp after a few hours I tend to stick to my caps and head scarfs. But at least it looks nice for when I do wear it.
My eyelashes are starting to fall out too - I have about 8 on each eyelid. I'm terrible at putting false lashes on so I've bought some magnetic ones. I'm also useless at putting on eye liner - and thats what they stick to, so I fear these might be a bit of disaster but I'll give them a try later. Blimey, cancer is expensive!! I wish I'd just embraced the Matt Lucas look and saved myself a small fortune!
