Before chemo, I was considering cutting and donating my hair so I did a little research. Generally, it takes more than what they get from one cut (usually 2-3 heads of hair) to make a wig. If you want to do your own hair, you may have to purchase extra hair to make sure there is enough. Also check the different companies to see what length requirements that they have (and their turn-around time to make and ship the wig back to you). They stressed that for donation, my hair had to be unprocessed and cut for donation before I started chemo. I don't know what the reasoning is for that but it was one of the rules.

A lot of people like the natural hair wig, but the synthetic hair has some advantages- usually (depending on style) less heavy, less expensive, less work. The synthetic wig style has memory- you wash it, put in on the wig stand, and I could brush it into place with my fingertips. With real hair you may have to style it to get the look you want. When my wig came in, I did have them thin it, and trim the bangs to make it more in line with what I had lost. So there is a little flexibility.

Before deciding about a wig I watched a lot of YT videos, This is one I especially liked because if you just saw this young lady out- you would never guess she had a wig on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAFDrf0Hi4k

Then I watched a lot of the ones by a company called Godiva's Secret- lots of good info in the videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/GodivasSecretWigs

I wasn't sure how I would react to a fitting, so I stopped by, made an appt for a short cut and wig session. The center carried two brands of wigs, so I went home and googled and then narrowed it down to 4 styles- called the center back, they made sure they had an example of those in stock (not the color, but at least I could see how it would look) for the upcoming appt. Having the wig ordered at the same time as the cut, made it easy to get the closest color match to my natural color.

My hair left on vacation very quickly after the 2nd treatment (which was 3 weeks after the first). Now before you get too bummed about the whole process, please know that it is not long after chemo ends that the hair starts making it's way back- and that is soooo exciting! The hubs was sure I was going to rub the fuzzies off, I just couldn't stop touching it- lol!! Tangible proof that I was going to bounce back from this- and you will too!! Hugs!!

Its EXTREMELY expensive to make a wig from your own hair. Synthetic wigs are very pretty but get lace on the top

You can get really nice non human hair wigs at reasonable prices. I went to a nice wig store in Annapolis, Md. They are much easier to take care of then a human hair wig. $1000 sounds pretty pricey !
TLC has great scarves, hats and accessories. They also sell wigs-but I did not get one from them

The non human wigs are great-easier to take care of and reasonably priced . I think the hardest thing is finding the right one/ones. Take your time ..I got mine early on -so I would be ready.
I decided to have my stylist cut it in a very short pixie-less to see on my pillow-but I could not do the 'shave'-just wasn't me.
I think for many of us-this is the hardest thing emotionally as a side effect of chemo. I let my self grieve when it fell out in the shower.
I finished chemo 1/22-and am still wearing the wig and scarves. I got my wig at a local wig shop -especially for cancer patients and I get ghe scarves on TLC website. They have quality products-and they also have wigs.
NOTHING will be like your own hair-but as we know-it WILL grow back.
Mine is too short for me personally to wear out-but hopefully soon it will be 'pixie' length and I will be ready.
Good Luck

I cut mine short so not as shocking as clumps falling out in shower