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]
Elevate Magazine / Spring2008 / Raising the Brow
Raising the Brow
By Marissa Ponikowski
Often ignored, seldom appreciated, your eyebrows can make or break your look. Here’s how to make yours bold and beautiful.
This season, thicker brows are in. Those blessed with a generous set can skip the wax and lightly pluck, comb and groom their way to stylish symmetry, but what about those who simply don’t have much eyebrow hair with which to work?
“Eyebrows are really important to the overall look of the face, because they frame the eyes,” says Dr. Marla Rosenberg, a hair transplant and cosmetic surgeon in Toronto. “Some people, for whatever reason – be it scarring, disease, over-plucking and waxing or simply genetics – have little or no hair in this area. I end up doing eyebrow transplants on people of all ages and for many reasons.”
The procedure is performed under general anesthetic and takes a few hours. It involves removing a small patch of fine donor hair from the scalp – usually from an inconspicuous area behind the ear, where the texture is most like eyebrow hair. The small incision is closed with a few sutures, and the harvested hair follicles are grafted onto the eyebrow area. “There’s an art to the brows, just like when you go to an esthetician, who shapes them for you,” says Dr. Rosenberg. “It’s quite gratifying to create a shape that’s beautiful, and we do this by paying special attention to direction and angle.”
Most patients tend to experience slight swelling, redness and sensitivity for a few days. They should apply saline solution and avoid touching, manipulating or applying makeup or lotion to the affected area, says Dr. Rosenberg. “We always check the patient the next day to be sure nothing has shifted, and they most often go home without a bandage.” About three to six months later, eyebrow hair growth begins. After about a year, the transplanted hair should be regularly trimmed. Results are permanent, and the cost for both eyebrows is approximately $2,500.
When it comes to brow woes, transplants aren’t the answer for everyone. Alopecia patients, for example, can’t have transplants because they’re unable to provide donor hair from the scalp. “We offer a product called iBrowsers, which is specifically designed for women with alopecia,” says Michael Suba, president of Toronto-based Continental Hair. “They’re essentially a water-based tattoo. They aren’t permanent and are perfect for skin with little or no hair. They look really natural. You can’t tell they’re not real until you’re four inches away.” iBrowsers are waterproof and easy to apply or remove. Each pair lasts two days, and a package of 18 costs $20.
High Brow
Sometimes, you just need a lift, especially when brow discontent is the result of heavy or sagging brow bones or eyelids. “Sometimes, people can have an angry, intense look due to a heavy brow,” says Dr. Wayne Carman, a plastic surgeon in Toronto. “This can actually affect their daily relationships. Although they may think they need to thin or groom their brows to get a less intense look, what they may really need is a brow lift.” Dr. Carman says lifting the brow also opens up the eyelid and redefines the entire eye contour area. Brow lifts are now performed using an endoscope and under general anesthetic. Most patients experience some bruising, or even blackening of the eyes, but this heals in a week or two. The procedure costs approximately $5,000 to $6,000, and the results are permanent.
BROW BOOSTER
Shape, tame or define your best assets with the following brow-beautifying products.
TheBody Shop Eyebrow Kit ($18) contains two defining powders and a brow/liner brush.
DuWop Browwow ($34 US) in Lighter or Darker (shown here) packs brow powder, tinted pomade, champagne shimmer highlighter and brow brush into this set.
Christian Cosmetics Eyebrow Makeup Kit ($30) includes an easy-to-use stencil system and a variety of shades, to fill out thin or light brows. Washes off with soap and water.
iBrowsers are waterproof and easy to apply or remove. Each pair lasts two days, and a package of 18 costs $20
Jane Iredale Super-Shape Me Eyebrow Kit($62) contains brow wax, two mineral brow powders and a lemon lid primer to conceal redness and lightly highlight. The kit is available in three shades: Blonde (shown here), Auburn and Brunette.
Avon Ultra Luxury Brow Liner ($6) offers smooth coverage, while Avon Glimmersticks Brow Definer ($8) contains vitamins A and E for extra conditioning
Earth Therapeutics Dual Tweezer Grooming Set ($10 US) contains a slant-tipped tweezer and a point-tipped tool (for more precision).
Shape, tame or define your best assets with the following brow-beautifying products. source: www.elevatemagazine.com
Beauty Match / October 3, 2008
Cancer is a major reason why so many women visit Michael Suba’s Continental Hair Studio, but a large portion of his clients are women dealing with different stages of thinning hair.
There are three types of hair loss (aka: alopecia)
Alopecia Areata: patches of hair missing on the scalp and body
Alopecia Totalis: baldness of the scalp only
Alopecia Universalis: baldness of the scalp and the body
Michael revealed that hair loss is starting at a younger and younger age (as young as 13 years old) and it’s a very difficult thing for most women to deal with.
It’s safe to say that most men accept balding as a possible reality, but it’s not something most women don’t want to accept or want to deal with. The reality is that alopecia does affect many women.
Michael gave these statistics on hair loss:
Twenty percent of women in their 20s will deal with hair loss
Thirty percent of women in their 30s will deal with hair loss
Forty percent of women in their 40s will deal with hair loss
Basically, as you age your chances of having to deal with thinning grows exponentially and that goes for both men as well as women.
According to Michael, when most women start noticing the thinning, they usually visit their general doctor, then to visit a dermatologist and then a naturopathic doctor, then a “hair growth expert want-to-be” and finally they give up and go see Michael for a real solution to their problem.
Michael was kind enough to show me photos of many of his clients who have wigs to camouflage their hair loss. The human hair wigs looked very natural.
The length and colour of Michael’s patients’ hair might vary, but what remains constant is the huge smile they have on their face thanks to Continental Hair.
Hair that is thinning is pretty traumatic and for much of the population, it’s a reality. But how do you work to combat thinning hair without all the harsh chemicals in regrow treatments like Rogaine? Rogaine is a synthetic treatment that like many chemical treatments can have side effects.
Common Misconceptions and Myths
- Frequent shampooing contributes to hair loss.
- Shaving your head will cause your hair to grow back thicker.
- Hair loss does not occur in women who are in their late teens or early twenties.
- Hats and wigs cause thinning and baldness.
- 100 strokes of the hair brush daily will create healthier hair.
- Permanent thinning and baldness is caused by perms, colors and other cosmetic treatments.
- There are cures available for androgenetic Alopecia.
- Stress can causes permanent thinning of a woman’s overall hair density.
- For more information on Continental Hair and to find one of the two locations, visit their Web site: Continental Hair.
Photo by Andréia
Source: http://www.mybeautymatch.com
