hats, scarves and bandanas

Bandanas, scarves, baseball caps and hats can be easily changed to suit your mood and style. Some people find them more comfortable to wear than wigs. They protect your head and they look good. Department stores and specialist hat shops have many different styles for you to choose from. You can now get bandanas, hats and caps that already have hair attached to them. They're very popular and come in different colours and styles like braids or straight. Ask about these when you go shopping or you can check them out on the internet. Take a good friend or a relative with you to help choose your wigs/headgear so that they can say what really suits you.

Remember you don’t have to hide the fact that you’ve lost your hair. If you prefer to just be as you are, with no hair and not wear any wigs or hats, that’s totally fine too.
Headscarves

how to tie a scarf

  • Lay a square scarf flat, wrong side facing you. Fold the scarf diagonally into a triangle. For a basic head wrap you'll need a scarf at least 75cm x 75cm; for more elaborate styles it needs to be 100cm x 100cm.
  • Put the scarf on your head with the folded edge about 2.5cm below your natural hairline and the points at the back.
  • Tie the ends into a double knot behind your head over the triangle point (if you're doing more than the basic head wrap you might only need a single knot). The flap should be underneath the knot. Pull any excess scarf out from under the knot.

You can also try the following variations:

  • Tie the ends of the scarf in a bow or gather all the ends in an elastic band to help make loops and tails to form a bow.
  • Twist the three ends together to look like a twisted rope and wrap them tightly around the knot like a bun. Secure the loose ends by tucking them through the centre of the bun.
  • Pull all three ends together and tuck them securely over and under the knot to look like a French hair roll.

  • Your experiences

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    Wigg'in it up with Trevor!

    Lyndsey (Hodgkin lymphoma, 23, F, England) , tip added: 29/03/2007

    Blimey, so many wigs so little time! That was my initial thought when they told me in the chemo suite that i would loose my hair after the first cycle. I had really long brown wavey hair, you know, like the girl of the Patene advert. I was a 'because im worth it' kind of gal.  Now ive pretty much lost all my hair apart from a few sprigs. I didnt go mad and shave it all off.

    Carrying on with uni i managed to cover up the thinning with hats and having my hair cut to my shoulder until it got to the point where i thought it was time to wig it then i had my hair cut really short. My parents bought me a wig from Trendco and they were brilliant at matching my hair colour. I went for a real hair one because i wanted something i could curl for uni ball's. Then i was recommended to see Trevor Sorbie! What a legend, although the waiting list was long Trevor, a celebrity stylist, cuts wigs for free. 

    If your gonna wig it do with style
    See all 3 tips on this topic >>

    Maintenance

    bandanna_babe (Leukaemia (ALL), 20, F, England) , story added: 11/05/2006

    Wow, I havent updated on here for a while, since November! Since then I've had another delayedintens     		more...
Last reviewed: 07/08/2007