Behind Mane Character

Lorne Noble

Close-up of a woman with long blond hair, blue eyes, wearing glasses, a white top, and a necklace with a small pendant.

I was 25 when my hair fell out the first time. It came out in patches at first then pretty much all fell out within a couple of weeks. I stopped wanting to leave the house, stopped wanting to be in photographs, stopped going to work and stopped recognising myself.

Several months later an NHS referral came through with a prescription for a wig. The choice was small, and the best of the options left me looking like a member of a 1990’s girl band - scratchy lace, a hairline that fooled nobody, already pre-cut into a style someone else had picked at least a decade earlier. I was expected to go back to work in it, meet my friends in it, and feel like myself in it.

Thankfully my hair grew back, but it has fallen out twice more since.

The last time, I decided to sort it properly. I spent months researching suppliers, manufacturers and how these things are actually made, until I found hair I genuinely forget I'm wearing. People don't believe my hair isn’t growing from my own head. I usually have to take it off to prove it.

Mane Character exists so the next woman doesn't have to spend two years working that out on her own.


What I think about all this

Alopecia is pretty common, and being made to feel like it should be a secret helps nobody. I once had a consultant in a traditional wig shop talk me out of buying two wigs in different colours, in case somebody noticed. Telling people has been the most freeing thing I've done. Whether you do the same is your call. But you won't ever feel you have to hide it with me.


What I do, and what I don't

I'm not a hairdresser and I don't cut hair. My wigs arrive uncut in the length of your choice, and many people leave them exactly as they are, but some women enjoy taking them to their own hairdresser to have it cut into their style. You can add face framing, layers, a fringe, have them shortened, or have them cut into the most elaborate style you’d like! What I do is help you get the colour, length, density and fit right - and tell you honestly if something isn't working.