Portsmouth woman opens her own business Fix My Crown selling wigs after facing cancer and alopecia

At the end of last year, Rachael Shaw, coined the ‘wig lady’ by friends and family, decided to take the leap of faith and open her own wig business – Fix My Crown – alongside her sister, Helen Sumbler.

The family-run Portsmouth-based company now offers a huge selection of high quality wigs, hair pieces and head wear for Alopecia sufferers, Oncology patients, members of the trans community and anyone who needs them.

Rachael, 43, has over 14 years of experience fitting wigs for the NHS and a further 10 years working with private wig companies, but her job roles are not the only thing making her qualified to be Portsmouth’s wig lady.

‘It’s always been on the cards to set up my own business, I've been asked for years and years and just never done it because I'm not very business minded, but that’s where my sister comes in,’ says Rachael.

‘She’s given me the confidence that this could be a success as well as being something I’m good at, but she’s just jumped in and is flying with it as well which is brilliant. She'll usually do the paperwork and I'm digging around in the cupboards looking for wigs.’

At 17, Rachael was diagnosed with Alopecia and within six months to a year, she had lost all of her hair.

‘I started wearing wigs then, and I used to help out at the same wig shop where I got mine from, but they were pretty bad in those days and being a teenager as well, they weren't the best options,’ she explained.

‘So after having a few experiences that weren't so good, it was always something I was interested in,’ she adds.

Through her attempts to get to grips with her own hair journey, Rachael found her love for wigs and her drive to help others find the right ones for them.

‘I didn’t know if it would be too close to home, but actually it just made me feel so different about my own situation because it was helping other people,’ she says.

During her role at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham, supplying wigs for NHS patients, Rachael received another blow, being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, and then again in 2019.

‘I've had five or six years of heavy duty treatment and surgeries, I only finished with that about a year ago,’ she says.

‘We have a joke at work, we say I’m really well qualified!’

Throughout her journey, having undergone a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a masectomy, Rachael has tried to remain positive, changing the style and colour of her own wigs daily to keep things interesting.

‘Pretty much from my first couple of wigs, I started to wear different styles to try and make it a positive and change them everyday, whether it’s at the home salon or at the hospital it’s kind of like ‘what hair is she going to have today?’

‘I try to turn it into a benefit,’ she adds.

Rachael has felt and witnessed the difference the right wig can make to someone going through one of the hardest times in their life, and is therefore making it her mission to use her own experiences to help others navigate the intimidating world of wigs.

‘It gives a real positive reason for the bad things that have happened to me, losing my hair and then with the cancer as well, it’s been pretty dire,’ she says.

‘But having this experience means I do know so much about wigs and hair loss, I think actually I am quite good at it, it’s just taken me this long to have the energy and the confidence to do it independently.’

Launching her new business alongside her sister has been a dream come true, and Rachael says the salon, in the bottom of her garden at her Copnor home, is a discreet safe space for anyone experiencing hair loss.

‘All I want to do is get the best possible outcome for them and their hair, it’s such a part of who I am, I'm the wig lady,’ she laughs.

‘The right hair can be life changing, when you lose your hair, or even if it’s thinning it can affect your confidence and your mental health so badly, that if someone just takes a little bit of time and sensitivity to get it right then it can make a big difference.’

And unlike many wig companies, Rachael has the personal experience to relate to her customers.

‘If it’s chemo related hair loss as well, it’s the worst time in your life, and then your hair comes out and it’s just horrendous,’ she says.

‘But if you can show someone that they can look normal, it just gives them a bit more privacy to deal with what they're dealing with at home.’

The inclusive wig business is open to anyone, catering to both medical hair loss and fashion, offering wig consultations and try-on appointments to help reduce the anxiety over what Rachael says can be a wig ‘minefield.’

‘It can be quite nerve wracking, so we do have just trying on appointments so it's not like a pressurised sale. I will suggest what I think is best, I often look at someone and say whatever colour or style I think would suit them.

‘It’s always up to them, but I would never want someone to leave with something I didn't feel was natural,’ she adds.

Rachael has also found that people suffering from hair loss can often miss out on the salon experience that so many others take for granted, and she believes that everyone deserves to feel pampered.

That is why, regardless of the reason, Racheal and Helen are there to support their clients, answering their questions and giving them the confidence to embrace their new look.

People are a lot more receptive to someone that’s in the same boat, it definitely helps,’ she adds.

‘If somebody comes to me saying ‘I’ve lost my hair’ I know what it’s like to live with wigs all the time.’

Rachael also hopes to remove the stigma behind wig-wearing, something she has come across in the 26 years since she was first diagnosed with alopecia.

‘Just the word is horrible, people associate wigs with the bad wigs that you spot a mile off,’ she says.

‘Part of it is showing them that for every one person wearing a bad wig, there's probably 100 wearing really good ones you’d never know. I’ll always be pretty honest with my opinion,’ she adds.

Another service the salon offers is a head shaving package, for those losing or about to lose hair, who wish to do it in a comfortable and private space.

‘They may not want to go to a hairdressers to do it and it might be upsetting for a family member to do it, so they can come in and we can have tissues or we can have music and bubbly, you can make of it what you want.

Some people celebrate it and make it positive, others it's emotional,’ she says.

For Rachael, her job satisfaction comes from helping others navigate through a journey which she herself is familiar with, and she can't see herself doing anything else.

‘It’s nice to be able to show your kids that you can do or achieve something, I’m a single parent now, for the last five years I’ve been sick and in bed a lot and not really been very capable.

‘It’s quite nice to be able to show them I can get off my butt and create something, hopefully successful.’

To learn more about Fix My Crown, visit its website fixmycrown.uk