Zoe Wong:
Wig, Charity, and Love
The shift of mind
An encounter with the cancer patient convinced her to devote and focuses on making medical wigs. It was 2011, a college fellow of her was diagnosed with cancer. It is the first time that Zoe went to a cancer patient, measure the sizes and hand-made a real hair wig for her customer.
Though Hong Kong is the place where people can buy ordinary wigs that are made from both the false and the real hair, the medical wigs are few to find. The demand is quite high, but the dilemma is there: cancer treatment may have already brought an enormous financial burden to the family, buying a medical wig is just to add one disaster after another.
The first case with cancer patient made Zoe pay attention to the local medical wig industry. The local wig market is quite limited, after the economic shift from Hong Kong to Mainland China since the 1990s. It is even harder to name wig companies with professional medical wig producing training. The standard exercise is to order overseas and send back to sell.
“A significant number of local senior wig craftsman are going to retire. The market demand is huge, but fewer people are entering this industry.” Zoe says.
Since Hong Kong does not provide any kinds of training on wig making, it is hard for Zoe to learn skills from any institution. She spends most of her time in studying the practical skills of making medical wigs, include measuring, tailoring, and even styling. After she tried numerous times, she has already mastered the making of medical wigs.
Medical Wig： the extension of Love
Different materials are used in the making of wigs. Some are synthetic hair; some are made from real hair. Some are the mix of these two. While all the medical wigs Zoe selling are made from full percent real hairs.
“Medical wigs are different from the others. Medical wigs should have high air permeability, and the hairnet should be as thick as possible. It is a distinctively kind of wig from others.” Zoe says, “all the medical wigs are made in Korean factories. The fabrication procedure is complicated, and it takes machines and labors a month to finish each order before sending it back to Hong Kong for retail.”
Wigs, especially the wigs for medical use are pricey. To reduce costs and ease the financial burden of cancer patients, Zoe takes all the work, including marketing the brand herself.
“I think it is hard work, and it is stressful sometimes. But it also made me to getting close to every client and patient in an intimate way.” Zoe says.
​
The success of her business attracted several companies’ attention in search of the possibility of company merger and acquisition. Zoe refused. “I never considered myself as the person with a big dream. What I want to do is to stick with my hobbies and help people in need,” Zoe says, “If I expand my business, the thing could be different.”
​
The shop for her is far more than a mere medical wig business. She wanted to keep the place as a home for all her clients. People do not feel the pressure of selling, no need to be shy or suspicious.
​
"I never considered myself as the person with a big dream.
What I want to do is to stick with my hobbies and help people in need."
Zoe Wong
Various female and male fashionable wigs being displayed on the shelf in Zoe's wig story (Photo by Tingran Tao)
Zoe is showcasing a sample of male medical wig inside out, unveil the inner design of the hairnet that especially designed for cancer patients. (Photo by Tingran Tao)
Zoe Wong is repatching the clips on a customer's hairpiece. Normally the clips have to be replaced once a year. (Photo by Tingran Tao)
Various female and male fashionable wigs being displayed on the shelf in Zoe's wig story (Photo by Tingran Tao)
Work in close collaboration with the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, Zoe has been giving out more than 50 medical wigs to the cancer patients. “All the hairs that I used for wig making were purchased from the Mainland China. There are lots of women in the poor villages that willing to trade their hair for money.” Zoe says. She also shout-out on Facebook to call volunteers to donate their hair for making medical wigs for cancer patients. By doing this, the costs of buying a medical wig has been significantly cut down from more than ten thousand to around half of the price.
Gratitude has been expressed as the reward for Zoe’s kindness and charitable action from people she has helped and their families. It was one day Zoe received a text message asking if it is possible to donate hair. The lady’s mother has sparse hair during her lifetime, and she wants to make a wig in remembrance of her mother at the time sacrificing ritual.
“Selling wigs means a lot to me. When I see the smile of customers or helped patients to gain their confidence and made them live positively, I found the meaning and motivation of what I have been doing and will adhere to.” Zoe says.
In her 16, Zoe was a high school student who loves shopping online, buy clothing and accessories. She came across with the hair extension clip and found out it can be easily used to extend her short hair that cut due to playing volleyball.
Most of the time during the class, she was doing hair-clip handcraft under the table. Ran the hobby as a part-time job, she earned some income but later failed on school work. “I was the ‘bad student,'” Zoe jokes, “but it made me think if I should focus on the thing that I like.”
Buying real hair from mainland China to make her hair extension clips and hair pieces, Zoe has been running her part time business untill the time she went to the University. Most of the time, her customers are young people who want to buy wigs for decorating intention. Along with the development of her wig e-commerce, she gradually realized how important this work means to her.
The ‘bad student’ and her business
Hiding in the Kowloon area, two-minute walk from the Yau Ma Tei station, Zoe Wong’s wig shop is a cozy space hiding in a residential building. No larger than 10 square meters, Zoe’s wig shop is decorated as a home with cozy details. Different styles of wig models ranged on the shelf and lines up on the table.
As a 25-year old younger entrepreneur, Zoe’s working space may not be comparable to those chain wig stores or the beauty salons, but her wig business has expanded considerably fast and fostered a stable consumer group during the past ten years.
The business might sound quite solid with a generous earning. While in contrary, the story begins with a coincident. Zoe also established her store with her irreplaceable importance among her clients with her generosity and the charitable deed.