Crowning Alternatives
Wigs and Accessories
Linthicum: Woman offers mobile wig service
By CECELIA HILDEBRAND
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Patients going through chemotherapy are seldom feeling well enough to run errands, let alone, shop for a wig. Which gives another dimension to the name Linthicum resident Sharon Gilbert gave to her mobile wig service business: Crowning Alternatives.
Not only does it provide attractive alternatives to clients experiencing hair loss, but an alternative to those who are homebound from illness.
"I chose a mobile service to better serve the individual needs of my clients," said Gilbert. "I will meet with the patient and their family either at their home or at the hospital."
Gilbert has been a cosmetologist for over 20 years. Working as a hairstylist, one of her longtime clients asked Gilbert to help her with selecting a wig when she was diagnosed with cancer. It was then that Gilbert realized this was the direction that she wanted her career to go.
"It's truly a specialty service," said Gilbert. "Much thought needs to go into the purchase of a wig, whether it is for cosmetic or health reasons".
So in 2004, she started her mobile wig service, which now serves clients in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. Not only does Gilbert help the client with purchasing a wig, she also goes over all the aspects of hair and skin changes that may or may not occur during chemo-therapy. She believes that the client as well as their family should be informed about all the physical changes so there are no surprises
"Most of my clients get their wigs the same day as the visit. And I will also customize each wig to compliment the clients' features, which helps make the wig look more natural," said Gilbert.
Gilbert carries all the top brands of wigs as well as hats and scarves and hairpieces. She also can repair and custom order wigs. She accepts most insurance plans and is a preferred provider for the Maryland Breast and Cervical Cancer program.
Gilbert is involved with many cancer organizations, including Alex's Lemonade Stand and Queen for a Day at the Children's National Medical Center.
"I have met so many strong and courageous women, as well as children, fighting and beating an awful disease. My goal is to provide a caring, professional experience with the utmost privacy," said Gilbert.
For details, visit her website at www.crowning alternatives.com
Maintaining self-esteem
By GRANT HUANG Staff Writer Most people might wear a wig right around Halloween, maybe to resemble their favorite celebrity at a costume party. But to many cancer patients, wigs are a lifeline, a way to recover some sense of normalcy in the wake of physically draining and emotionally devastating chemotherapy. That's where Sharon Gilbert comes in.
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A former cosmetologist with 20 years of experience at a salon, the Linthicum resident now sells wigs for a living - mostly to female breast cancer patients like 51-year-old Pina Kobin, who lives in Arnold.
"My oncologist told me I'd lose all my hair, so I knew it was coming," said Mrs. Kobin, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. "But it was still traumatizing. I was fine, and then one morning I woke up and there was my hair, all over the pillow."
It was a heavy blow for Mrs. Kobin, who enjoyed being able to change her hairstyle frequently.
Fortunately, she was prepared. Two weeks before she began chemotherapy, she found Crowning Alternatives' phone number in a brochure at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore.
"I mean, I know there are shops, but … the privacy factor was just very important to me," Mrs. Kobin said.
She ended up buying a realistic-looking synthetic wig from Ms. Gilbert, who visited her with a stock of wigs costing anywhere from $60 to more than $300. Wigs made from locks of human hair can cost more than $1,000, Ms. Gilbert said.
All of her clients so far have been women.
"Men don't tend to be as worried about their looks," said Ms. Gilbert, who started Crowning Alternatives two years ago. "Shaved heads are really in now for men, so they tend to just throw on a hat or just don't care."
She got the idea for the business at her old salon job, where she worked on a cancer patient who loved wearing wigs before succumbing to the disease. Ms. Gilbert sees three to five clients every week, traveling with her stock of wigs to visit them in the privacy of their homes. It's a novel, one-woman operation that relies on her ability to provide clients with the individualized attention of a professional hair stylist.
Business has more than doubled since she began seeing clients, Ms. Gilbert said. According to data from Baltimore Washington Medical Center, breast cancer is the county's most common form of cancer. That gives Crowning Alternatives a steady market to draw on, though Ms. Gilbert has traveled as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia to see clients.
Hair loss is caused by the two methods most commonly used to fight cancer - intravenously injected chemotherapy drugs and concentrated bursts of radiation - both of which work by killing the cells responsible for cancer growth. Unfortunately neither method can distinguish between cancer cells and cells needed for hair growth.
Since hair is such a major part of a person's self-image, losing it suddenly often causes embarrassment and a reluctance to be seen in public, said Dr. Laura Steensen, a psychologist and director of Greater Baltimore Counseling Center in Glen Burnie.
"It's part of their face to the world, their identity," she said.
She stressed that patients all have different reactions to losing their hair. Some don't mind the baldness. Her sister, who died of cancer in 2003, preferred to wear hats.
"Anything that improves self-esteem will help physical recovery," Dr. Steensen said. "The mind and body are connected."
That's why image recovery is considered part a patient's treatment, said Dr. Cynthia Drogula, director of Aiello Breast Center at Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The center, which opened as part of the hospital's ongoing expansion in October 2005, sees more than 100 breast cancer patients a year.
"More women are almost more worried about losing their hair than losing a breast," Dr. Drogula said. "A good-looking wig can mean all the difference in the world to them."