I don’t play hockey anymore. Well, I can’t since my broken leg is still healing. But I do get invited to the pub by my hockey guys. So last night, after their playoff game, I went to Mayday Malones (don’t ask) and caught up with some of the old dogs.

The reason I bring thins up is that several of these guys have wives. Some of them still have wives. The sad part is that a few of them have brought their wives to me to get a wig because of their cancer treatments. One of these gentlemen, a bear of a Russian, gave me a hug last night. I asked how his lovely wife was doing. He said she was great. He then brought up the fact that her wig has been passed from cancer patient to cancer patient. It is now on it’s fourth wearer.

“And every one of them is doing well. It must be good luck.”

Amen.

If you have watched the video that is on the Postiche page you will recognize Lisa Marie. She was having a wig cut in and talked about the fact that I was making a postiche for her. This was her yesterday after she had it styled.

She makes my stuff look good.

 

Dear Michael:

I promised some words for your blog. Here is my offering. As agreed, I would ask not to be attributed as I am not comfortable going “public” with my little piece. I will stay in the closet for awhile; I am having so much fun with peoples’ reactions. Thanks for everything. — D

When adults in Canada get up in the morning, three quarters of us reach for our glasses or contact lenses. About 20% of adults put in their dentures and 12% their hearing aids. I don’t know how many put on a hairpiece, but I do.

I have joined the ranks of celebrity stars, except that I don’t wear a bouncy wig; I wear a partial wig, called a postiche. Calling it a “postiche” is so much more suave than calling it a topper or toupee. When I first went to pick it up and Jackie styled it, I was delighted. I said to Michael, “This is my special thing for going out to dinner or to a concert,” and Michael said, “You may find it addictive.” He was right. It was so much a part of me that I haven’t named it., any more than I would name my dental crowns. It is a little thing that squeezes in the palm of my hand to a little ball of fluff. When I put it on it cascades over my bald patches and gives definition to my silhouette., all in a way that looks very natural.

It has made a subtle but profound impact on my self-image: I find that I feel more confident, that I do not mind people looking at me. I do not bob and weave my head while talking, probably a subliminal tactic I used to distract attention from my pitiful hairline. (“Look at my face, look at my eyes, anywhere but my hair…”)

Clipping on my postiche is now as habitual as inserting my contacts. When I first started wearing this little device, people said, “You look ten years younger. What have you done to yourself?” I just said “Thanks, new hairstyle.” No one, not even my close family, has figured it out. (Yes, they’re guys, but still.) I love this little thing, and yes, I would recommend it to others. Thank you to Continental Hair.

 

Over ten years ago I attended a meeting of hair enhancement professionals in Memphis Tennessee. That’s where I met Sharon and Travis. They have a salon down there called Studio II and have been at it for over 30 years. Travis handles the men, Sharon takes care of the women. I was just taken with their hospitality. I was wondering aimlessly through the lobby of the hotel when Sharon was meeting Greg Taylor from San Francisco (more on him in a later post) and she just asked, “Are you with the Transitions Group?” in that sweet southern accent. I mumbled that I was in my flat, Canadian drawl and she said, “Oh well, you just have to come along with us!”

They were going to her salon. She wanted Greg to give her a few tips on vacuum wigs. I was very impressed with her and Travis’ place. It was very large with tons of parking. Why is it that American hair enhancement salons always have so much parking? Anyway, its a lovely spot. But I was mostly taken with how hospitable they were. Later on the entire group was taken over to their house outside Memphis and they put on a huge BBQ. No small feat since we were well over 100 people. That was the very first time I was exposed to southern BBQ. Pulled pork, ribs, and brisket; what they call the Tennessee Trinity. I was just overwhelmed. And I was hooked as well. As soon as I got back I got me a smoker.

Sharon and Travis have become very good friends to my wife Tracey and I. Last November, when it was my turn to host the Transitions meeting we had a wonderful dinner at Sotto Sotto up the street. Not nearly as good as the hospitality that they put on in Memphis but it was great to see them since we don’t get to meet up with them very often.

If you need anything to do with hair and you are in the Memphis part of the world there is an AMAZING place to check out. Tell them Mike sent cha.

www.studio2hair.com

 

 

I have been on crutches for over 2 months. I broke my leg playing hockey and even though the bone is healing nicely I also did quite a nice number on my tendons. So much so that they had to get out the Black & Decker power tools and square my ankle to my leg. Its the soft tissue that takes a long time so although there is no pain there is a lot of frustration. I only recently learned how to get from point A to B with a cup of coffee.

So the office in which I am typing now is not up to the very highest standards of organization. When I would pick up my wife from her job her desk looked like she had just been fired. My desk looks like my office has been burgled. And its not any better since I am not so mobile. Suba’s law of clutter: ‘When it’s difficult to pick up an object at rest it tends to rest there.’

Yesterday was even more brutal. I had a shipment of hair come in from my guy in Europe and I was half way to getting my shipment out to my manufacturer in Asia. So to the untrained eye the place was in chaos. And then I had my visitor.

She is a new client. I had designed a custom postiche for her in August and she was getting it cut in by Jackie. She burst into my office to show me. Normally someone will call me out saying that someone wants to show me. Everyone here knows I love seeing the finished product. But she was too fast for them. She came right to the back and presented herself. Oh she was GLOWING! She was so happy. I have to say Jackie did a great job styling it for her. She had told me earlier that she was really nervous and I said that that was normal. But as she was showing off her new look I was just so distracted by the fact that my office did not present itself as the professional hideaway that it should.

But oh well. She didn’t seem to mind. I told her she was “ready for the weekend.”

“I can’t wait.” She said.

 

I go to conferences. Sometimes I learn something. The last few times I have been there to teach something. But the one thing that gets me is the “sales seminar”. I understand that there are many salespeople out there that do not know how to sell. Just like there are many other people out there that do not really know their jobs and need to be ‘upgraded’ and ‘motivated’. But a lot of times these seminars are all about closing. Remember the Glengarry Glenross scene where Alec Baldwin gives a speech about ABC, Always Be Closing. Closing is the end for them.

Really? The end is not the closing of the sale. The end is not when the client comes back a couple years later looking for something new from me. For someone running a business that has been around for just shy of 50 years there is no end. You are always making sure that your clients are happy with what you are doing. This is what keeps 1. the business enjoyable and 2. the business viable.

I am always having a phone call that starts “I was in to see you several weeks (months, etc) ago and I have decided I am ready now. Can I come in and see you?”

If I followed the advice of the sales gurus I would have done one of two things when these women were in my salon the first time. 1. I would have pushed them to buy something when they were not ready and made sure they never came back again no matter how nice it was or 2. pushed them so that they did not buy something and made sure that they would never come back to see me again. It either means you have an unhappy ‘client’ (if you want to call her a client), or you have someone out there that came for advice and got a sales job. That does not work for me.

I LIKE talking about hair. It’s fun for me. I LIKE showing a woman what can be done about her hair loss. Sometimes I can be a bit bewildered when I show a woman something that is so perfect for her look and she still declines, but that just means she isn’t in that space yet. She sees the problem but is not ready for the solution. And that can take time. Hence, the phone call out of the blue later on.

So its all good. I have two women coming to see me today that are ‘call-backs’. One is going through chemotherapy and the other is thinning. It means to me that they liked their experience here the first time and that they didn’t find anything better in their travels. The result is I have to really make sure that they are especially happy.