Second, she was in this business for a very specific reason, and it all started when Charlene had a life-changing experience of her own. But Charlene made two things very clear to me: First, she also was wearing a wig, and it was a choice she made, something she was proud to do. As soon as I began to tell her about what I’d been through, I welled up. She welcomed me with open arms, quite literally, giving me a hug. 4, 2017, I walked into Gali’s Couture Wigs for the first time and met the owner, Charlene Aminoff. Would I even be able to afford a wig from there? I’m not Jewish.

What would make this one different? The shop wasn’t on my insurance list. All of my other wig shop experiences had been awful. I called to make an appointment and visited a few days later. That’s when she gave me the information for a Long Island shop called Gali’s Couture Wigs. After seeing dozens, I had to ask, where the heck are people getting these wigs from? She would send me photo after photo of Jewish women donning wigs-gorgeous, long brown locks bright blonde highlights vibrant redheads. I was crying about everything to my best friend, Ricki, an Orthodox Jewish woman, who then told me that people in her faith often wear wigs, and not only could nobody tell, but nobody cared-it wasn’t something to be ashamed of.

The first photo Kabbabe took after shaving her head. The mere thought of my friends and family having to see me like that was gut-wrenching it felt like I was putting my illness on display. Learning that my treatment would render me hairless was one of the most heartbreaking realizations of my life. At 12 years old, I was bullied over my “bushy brows” later on, I was envied by women who longed for a “bold brow” like mine. Days before I was set to start, I received a devastating call from a nurse, who explained I would lose everything during treatment: the hair on my head, my brows, my lashes.įor better and for worse, my hair has always been a huge part of my identity. I had just been diagnosed with an extremely rare type of ovarian cancer, undergone major surgery, and had months of chemotherapy ahead of me. I was 24 years old when I learned I was going to lose all of my hair. Now, Aminoff is dedicated to providing hair coverings for anyone who needs them and has extended her services to those featured in the video and more.īelow, Kabbabe delves deeper into her own journey, including how she first connected with Aminoff and what it was like to lose-and then regain-an essential part of her identity. In the process, she met Charlene Aminoff, owner of Gali’s Couture Wigs, and learned about the life-changing experience that led Aminoff to open her shop. After being diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer at 24 years old and losing her hair to chemotherapy, Kabbabe was desperate to feel like herself again. In the above mini documentary, explores this staggering statistic through the stories of women who’ve been there before, including Hearst executive producer Amanda Kabbabe. Claims can be filed within 15 days of the delivery date.More than 50 percent of women will experience noticeable hair loss in their lifetime-a change that can affect much more than their appearance. DAMAGED : A purchased product that is unusable due to damage incurred during shipping is considered damaged.Claims can be filed between 5 and 15 days after the ‘delivery date’. STOLEN : Packages marked ‘delivered’ yet not received are considered stolen.Claims can be filed between 7 and 30 days from the date the order was shipped. LOST : P ackages presumed to be lost by the carrier where the status is not ‘delivered’.This fee covers the following shipping issues:

To help mitigate these shipping issues, we provide enhanced protection to your order for a small fee at the time of checkout. If you’re a customer in the contiguous United States, you can add this layer of protection to make sure your package is covered if it happens to get lost, stolen, or damaged. We want you to receive your piece in perfect condition, but s ometimes things happen to packages while in transit that can't be controlled.

Places to donate hair