Elevate Magazine / Autumn 2004 / Portrait
By Pam Fulford
Cynthia Brandt is bald. And she couldn’t be happier – She never had a bad hair day.
Tell us about your condition – alopecia – and what triggered it?
There are three main types of alopecia: alopecia areata (patches of hair missing on the scalp and body), alopecia totalis (baldness on the scalp only) and alopecia universalis (baldness on the scalp and the body). I go back and forth between totalis and universalis. Actually, it’s all rather ironic – I can’t grow a single hair on my head, but I still have to wax my lip. How is that fair? My husband jokes I should grow it out and do a comb-over! Alopecia is believed to be an autoimmune disorder – a disease caused by the body producing an immune response against its own tissues. When I was 16, I was in a car accident. A week later, my hair fell out; I could pull it out by the fistful. Obviously, I must have had a genetic predisposition to it. Fourteen years later, I’m still bald.
Why did you decide to start wearing wigs?
At the beginning, I wore nothing but wigs, because I didn’t want anyone to know I was bald. Playing sports was hard. I was reluctant on the field because I was worried the wig would fall off. When I started dating, once guys found out I was bald, they lost interest. Over the years, I just got more and more comfortable in my own skin. Now, most of the time I don’t wear wigs, but I’ve had some fun, wild ones over the years. For me, it’s like playing dress-up. I’m a huge fan of Continental Hair, where I buy all my wigs, and Michael Suba, who styles all of them.
So when you buy a wig, you’re not trying to hide?
I embrace my baldness. I don’t understand why people are negative about alopecia. It’s just hair. There are so many other things in life that are worse. Maybe it’s my personality, or the fact that I come from a long line of strong women who’ve dealt with a lot worse, but I think true beauty in life comes through hardship. I’ve taken this opportunity to become a better woman, instead of being bitter. Besides, I rather enjoy all the attention I get when I’m wearing wigs!
How did your family react when you lost your hair and starting wearing a wig?
I think my mother had the toughest time. She cried when I bought my very first wig. My dad is old-fashioned and begged me to wear a wig on my wedding day. Instead, I walked down the aisle bald with a beautiful wreath of flowers. I felt so pretty. As for my husband, when I first met him, I was wearing a wig, so he didn’t know right away. He says that before he met me he could never imagine marrying a bald woman; now he can’t imagine being married to someone who isn’t bald.
What’s your advice to a woman buying her first wig?
Buy human hair – it’s worth it! Synthetic hair looks like Barbie hair to me. I have three human-hair wigs – and most people have no idea it’s not my real hair. I’ve got a blonde, a brunette and a redhead, and I’m planning to buy another soon. There’s a new form of technology that vacuums the hair to your head, sealing it like Tupperware. It will never fall off, and you can even swim with it on!
What’s your biggest frustration?
The most frustrating thing about alopecia is that it can come and go. A year after I lost my hair, it almost all grew back, but then it fell out again. It was more upsetting the second time around. I recently lost my eyebrows again and I miss them! It’s a real nuisance to have to paint them on every morning. It’s difficult to get them perfectly balanced. I’ve debated getting permanent makeup, but I’m nervous if they do grow back, will I have four eyebrows?!
What are your hobbies and interests?
My girlfriends. We play soccer together, which I love. I also like biking, reading and being outdoors. I love being a mom. I hate to shop, but I love to hang out wherever there’s good company. My friends and I often go to the Duke of Gloucester, the pub that sponsors our team in the Toronto Soccer League.
Wigs styled by Michael Suba, Continental Hair, 416-923-7747.
source: www.elevatemagazine.com
BACKGROUND STORY: For as long as I can remember I have coveted a long, healthy, flowing head of hair. Unfortunately my super-fine, straight hair never manages to grow past my shoulders. Once my hair is longer than six inches it becomes so fragile and wispy the only option is to cut it. Hair extensions have always intrigued me; however, the glue, weaves and potential hair damage involved with many types of hair extensions haven’t. When I recently heard that hair replacement guru Michael Suba of Continental Hair was offering Euro Locs hair extensions (these extensions don’t require adhesives or weaving), I practically ran to the salon.
THE TECHNICAL STUFF: Euro Locs hair extensions use a unique crimp method to attach top-quality human hair, from Europe, to your own. This system allows hair to be lengthened and thickened, without using any type of glue, weave or wax. Using your own hair as an anchor, the hair extension is attached along your natural hairline with a tiny metal tube (about eight millimetres long). A special tool is used to crimp the metal tube down, ensuring a strong bond. About 120 of these attachments are placed under the crown of your head. You can’t see them and they don’t feel heavy on your head. The hair extensions blend seamlessly, as they are dyed to match your regular hair colour. By using extensions in a variety of colours, natural-looking highlights and lowlights can be strategically placed during application. Because Euro Locs hair extensions are made from high-quality, untreated human hair, they can be dyed any colour and can be permed to match any type of curl, tight or loose.
APPLICATION TIME: Margaret D’Urso, a hair extension expert from Continental Hair in Toronto, carefully and skillfully placed the extensions across my scalp. Including a trim, and simple styling, the whole process only took about four-and-a-half hours.
ADDED BONUS: No more thickening sprays! Not only was my hair long, but for the first time in my life I could create a full-looking updo, without massive amounts of teasing and products.
THE TEST: My boyfriend loves my sexy new hair, and no one can tell it’s not my real hair. It survives vigorous workouts and tugs from friends’ babies. It curls beautifully and holds styles, even washing and styling is simple. Most importantly, for the first time in my life, I love my hair.
EXPIRATION DATE: Euro Locs hair extensions can last up to five months, depending on how fast your hair grows. Hair can usually be reused once or twice, reducing the cost of reapplication. Blond hair can be reused once; darker colours can sometimes be used twice.
COST: Euro Loc hair extensions at Continental Hair cost about $1,500 for application and hair. When you are having hair reapplied the cost is about $750.
GET THE GOODS: Call Continental Hair at 416-923-7747 or visit continentalhair.com.
source: www.elevatemagazine.com
eople Magazine / March 2006 / P.140
Her Bald Truth
Former General Hospital star Amy Gibson’s wigs are for women – like her! – with alopecia areata
As Amy Gibson sat on a New York City bus four years ago, she couldn’t help but notice a teenage girl trying to cover up a large bald patch on the back of her neck. “It was like watching myself in the mirror,” recalls Gibson, a former General Hospital star. “I thought, ‘If only she knew she wasn’t alone’”.
Soon after, Gibson, 46, decided to go public about her three-decade-long battle with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease affecting nearly 5 million Americans – half of them women – in which the body’s immune system attacks the hair follicles. Although symptoms are usually mild (Princess Caroline of Monaco briefly suffered from alopecia in 1995), some, like Gibson, eventually go completely bald. It is for these women that, in 2002, she started a counseling business – and, this month, launches her Amy’s Presence line of wigs (priced from $400 – $1,500 and available in 200 salons nationwide), which includes a lightweight hairpiece, one that can be worn even while swimming. ” They give women freedom to be active,” she says, “and not feel like they have a rubber band around their head”.
Gibson was only 13 when a hairstylist on the set of the now-defunct soap Love of Life noticed a peach-size bald area. “I was hysterical”, recalls Gibson, who took cortisone injections for 18 years to try to stem her hair loss before going bald in 1988, just weeks before starting on GH. The producers were supportive and even allowed her to play a character with multiple personalities – using different hairpieces.
Still, Gibson remained secretive about her condition until spotting that girl on the bus. “When you lose your hair, you feel your dignity being stripped away,” she says. “For your own self-esteem, it’s important to still feel feminine and beautiful.”
source: People Magazine
Elevate Magazine / Spring 2006 / Big Wig
Big Wig
By Chantel Simmons
Former soap star Amy Gibson creates wigs for the girl on the go.
Nearly 35 per cent of Canadian women suffer from hair loss. Until recently, wearing a wig to cover balding due to alopecia or cancer-related therapies meant looking like you were wearing a wig.
Former soap star Amy Gibson has been bald since she was 13 – and hiding it until just a few years ago. “I would see normal women working out, dancing, swimming and being intimate in relationships, and I wanted that for myself,” says Gibson. So she created a line of wigs called Amy’s Presence, perfect for the woman who wants to live a normal life – just like she wanted.
Amy’s Presence, which is available exclusively at Continental Hair in Toronto, features wigs ranging from human hair to synthetic. The cyberhair wigs are the most unique and look like human hair, but keep their shine, colour and shape – even after swimming, showering or sailing – thanks to a unique style memory. “I don’t sell anything I can’t wear,” she says, including the first woman’s swim wig that stays on in all forms of water sports and the first woman’s intimacy wig, which is cut slightly higher around the hairline, so that others can’t tell it’s a wig. “I know that a lot of women don’t want to tell people that they’re balding or losing their hair,” says Gibson. “Now they don’t have to.”
For more information about the wigs, go to continentalhair.com. To ask Gibson a question, go to amyspresence.com or log onto webmd.com and cancerconsultants.com, where Gibson splits her time as a hair-loss and wig consultant for women.
source: www.elevatemagazine.com
Elevate Magazine / Winter 2007 / Reader Tested: At a loss… & Perfect Fit
Reader Tested
By Celina Harrison, Elevate Reader
Three years ago, I was losing my hair. Now, my new hair is better than natural!
It was just over three years ago that I caught a glimpse of myself in a security camera and noticed the hair on the back of my head was thinning. Soon afterward, people started commenting how light my hair was, which didn’t make sense to me at the time, as I have a dark-brown hair. Eventually I realized they meant that my hair was sparse in certain areas, and I became very self-conscious. I felt like that was the only thing people noticed about me. I tried not to think about it, but it’s hard to ignore your own appearance.
Then last year, while reading Elevate, I noticed an article about Continental Hair, a Toronto-based women’s hair-replacement studio. I decided to check it out and see if there was a hair-replacement solution that would suit me. I was nervous when I first walked into Continental Hair, but owner Michael Suba made me feel completely at ease. Michael fitted me with a postiche – a discreet, easy-to-wear hair system that matched my busy lifestyle. It didn’t take long at all to get used to wearing the postiche. Now, it feels so light and so natural that I don’t even notice it. I can even swim with it on and love that people can’t even tell I am wearing anything other than my own head of hair. The best part is I can style my hair with the pastiche, just like I did before my hair began to thin. My sister is getting married soon, and I’m even planning to get an updo with my new fabulous hair!
Perfect Fit
With so many different types of hair loss, ranging from full to partial loss, finding the hair system best suited to individual needs is an essential part of achieving a top-notch look. Our quick and easy-to-follow hair-loss reference chart, provided by Continental Hair‘s Michael Suba, is a great starting point to finding the perfect hair-replacement solution. Suba also recommends a one-on-one visit to best assess individual needs based on lifestyle and type of hair loss.
Sunnybrook Foundation News / April 2008 / volume 3, Issue 1
Continental Hair is helping patients to look and feel better at Odette Cancer Centre
Over 50 years ago, Peter and Emma Suba established Continental Hair, retailing the finest quality custom and ready-made human hair and synthetic wigs for thousands of clients across Canada.
Their son, Michael, who now manages two locations of Continental Hair, had not planned on following in his parents’ footsteps until he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1990. After a year of treatment that included chemotherapy and radiation at the Odette Cancer Centre, Michael decided he wanted to make a career for himself in hair replacements.
During a chat with a member of the support services team at one of his follow-up appointments, Michael learned that a box of wigs had been donated to the Centre.
“The wigs were old and dirty but we washed and styled them,” says Michael. “After seeing the reactions of patients, the Centre staff realized that having an onsite salon would be incredibly valuable. I submitted a proposal and opened the second location of Continental Hair in the basement of the Odette Cancer Centre in 1998.
About 90 per cent of Michael’s clients at the Sunnybrook location are patients receiving treatment from the Centre.
“I gain understanding, respect, inspiration and empowerment from my clients. Whether it’s a patient going through chemotherapy or someone who has survived a fire,” says Michael. “Nothing gives me more pride than doing a consultation with a client who is nervous that they will look foolish, and then seeing the look on their face when they realize that they can have beautiful hair.”
Michael has generously donated $50,000 to the capital expansion of the new Breast Cancer Research Centre. The Centre will allow Sunnybrook to respond to changing patient needs with research, screening and treatment areas in close proximity for improved patient care, and a coordinated and comprehensive range of services for our patients based on the latest medical breakthroughs.
“Helping to restore a person’s confidence is exciting for me,” says Michael. “I see their eyes light up when they realize despite going through treatments they can still look amazing. There is something special about helping people feel good about themselves.”
“I’ve had ties to Sunnybrook for decades,” says Michael. “Sunnybrook saved my life, and I strive in my business to have the same exemplary professionalism as the staff here.”
SOURCE: Sunnybrook Foundation News / April 2008 / volume 3, Issue 1 [www.sunnybrook.ca/foundation]
