You With The Good Hair

For those of us who have a healthy, full head of hair, we might not realise how much we take it for granted. But there are others out there who don’t, and they find comfort and strength in knowing that a hairpiece or wig is there to make them feel beautiful. Sarah hani jamil talks to hairstylist and founder of hair menu wigs, david shaw on how the hair plays a big role in boosting self-esteem.

Sarah Hani Jamil

If asked, how would you describe your hair? Black, brown, red, grey, coarse, thick, flat, shiny, frizzy, curly or straight – the list of possible answers go on and on! Most of us go about our day without a second thought about our hair and the routines we put it through. We’ve probably done something extreme to it at one point. Bleach it platinum blonde, perhaps? Perm it into tight curls? Have three colours done at one go? Ask any girl and the majority of them would say that they spend a lot of money on their mane!

Our hair is important because it’s part of our identity and defines who we are. It’s one of the first things that we notice about someone too. We dress ourselves and wear our hair a certain way as it gives us confidence. When you have a good hair day, your mood is immediately lifted. But when a bad hair day strikes, you immediately feel conscious of the way you look and may feel like nothing is going right.

The relationship that we have with our hair is a complex one. While most of us take it for granted, there are others, who go through hair disorders such as alopecia (baldness or partial loss of hair) or cancer patients who lose their locks to chemotherapy, that don’t have such luxury. David Shaw, founder and ‘master stylist’ of wig shop, Hair Menu Wigs, which specialises in customised and ready-made wigs made of the highest quality materials tells me, “Six years ago, I decided to set up my own wig shop. I started my career working at a salon for a few years and then the hair-washing and cutting got too routine for me so I decided to break out of it. I was contacted by a local production house and got into hairstyling for a drama. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and started to fall in love with the entertainment scene because I got to create a variety of looks for different characters. From there, I built my network and got jobs for TV commercials, movies, fashion brands, fashion shows and editorial work.”

MAKING HEADWAY

Although he had ventured into a different art form of hairstyling, David says that he has always dreamed of doing something elaborate with his work. “I always want to change up the looks that I do. The only problem in Malaysia is that I could never find the right wig to do so. Normally, the shops that I used to frequent only sold the same boring colours and old-school styles, so I was constantly looking for something more fun, current and with extreme attention to detail. I do a lot of magazine cover shoots and know that with the close-up shots, you can see everything. So it’s a huge challenge to make the hair look as real as possible,” he shares.