Chris Nelson styles hair. She also helps give women undergoing chemotherapy a chance to feel a little bit closer to normal.
Nelson is the owner of Personal Appearance, a salon in Arlington Heights that acts as an outpost for the American Cancer Society?s outreach programs. Women undergoing chemotherapy, who are losing or have lost their hair, can schedule an appointment with Nelson to stop by and receive a free wig from the ACS, styled to their liking.
Many come in with pictures of their hair before they lost it in the hopes that Nelson can give them something similar.
?It?s all about getting them back to themselves,? she said.
Her salon is the reincarnation of her former Wheeling salon she closed four years ago. She later decided to re-open in March, but the new shop, tucked away in a complex at 3295 N. Arlington Heights, required some finagling with Arlington Heights zoning laws. She was denied a business license because of the mismatched zoning, and while she waited on approval she was afraid to promote the business.
During that time, the salon?s schedule had more open time slots than usual and so Nelson filled them with cancer patients. She does about four appointments a week and they take about two hours each.
?These are new people who usually have never had a wig,? she said. ?They don?t have any experience with a wig, so I have to educate them to the wig thing and how to take care of it.?
Working with cancer patients is nothing new for Nelson. She has worked with the American Cancer Society for more than a decade. She previously taught a class called Look Good?Feel Better at area hospitals.
The class focused on teaching skin care, makeup and hair care for women undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
?I fell in where the doctors kind of leave off,? she said with a smile. ?They are into curing their disease. I?m into making anybody look good no matter what they?re going through.?
Linda Burgard, a patient services facilitator at the local American Cancer Society offices in Arlington Heights, saw another path for Nelson. The ACS wanted to set up an off-site wig salon, especially because it gets the women out of the hospital and to a place they?re used to going, she said.
Burgard has known Nelson for ten years, and called her welcoming and warm ? the perfect fit.
?In addition to just the mechanics of fitting a wig, there?s also the emotional piece,? Burgard said. ?You?re dealing with a cancer patient. There are a lot of emotional issues around that, especially when you have a significant appearance-related side effect like losing your hair. Not everyone can fit a wig mechanically, but more importantly not every stylist can deal with the emotional issues.?
Seeing the wig on them sometimes forces women to confront their cancer, so Nelson tries instead to help the women see themselves and not their diagnosis.
It?s not always easy. An older woman once came in and simply couldn?t find a wig she liked, leaving her frustrated.
?I didn?t have anything she liked,? she said. ?She wanted her old hair.?
Her appointment ran late and spilled into that of a younger woman, who was going through her second round of chemotherapy and had already undergone a double mastectomy. She laughed and enjoyed picking out the wig and her positive attitude spread.
?She changed the older woman,? Nelson said. ?It was perfect. She left happy; she liked her wig.?
After their wigs have been styled, Nelson often doesn?t see the patients again. She may do the occasional cut as the woman?s hair grows out, but her ultimate goal is to get the back to their own hair stylists and back to normalcy.
?I just like to see the smiles on their face when they?re done with me,? she said. ?They?re really happy with the way they look.?
The American Cancer Society offers free services to those looking for help dealing with cancer and its treatments. For information, call 800-227-2345 or go to cancer.org.
Source: http://triblocal.com/arlington-heights/2011/09/09/stylists-snippers-help-cancer-patients/
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