Wigging Out at the Wig Shop

Behind big windows and a locked glass door sit hundreds of long-necked women. Their statuesque profiles are framed by shining hairdos—not one the same as the next or the one before it.

One woman wears a short brown bob, another sports a silver shag, and there are long layers of all hues. The diversity of ‘dos is contrasted only by the unifying stillness of the women, whose plastic faces rest motionless on plastic posts that line long shelves.

The only movement comes from beneath a modest hairdo: a cluster of fine black curls atop the head of Laura Kwon. She carefully combs out a wig affixed to a bronze-skinned display head at her Downtown Oakland shop Wigs by Tiffany.

Kwon is the Telegraph Avenue store’s fourth owner—the fourth “Tiffany” to command the mass of wigs that sends shelves sagging under years’ worth of their weight. For 19 years Kwon has been selling wigs and weaves to women of all follicular fancies.

Customers come to Kwon’s shop to cover up hair thinned by age, sickness or overzealous scissors—others are just looking for a quick style fix.

And while much of the store’s business comes from wig-wearing women between 30 and 60, Kwon says a lot of her customers are young women buying braids and extensions.

One wall of the shop is decorated with chords of rope-like weaves that hang like horsetails. Some of this hair comes from human heads, though many of the wigs and weaves are synthetic.

“Synthetic hair is more popular than human hair,” Kwon says. “It’s more lightweight than the real stuff and has better color.”

There is a heavy air of solitude about the shop—the hundreds of mannequin heads filling the small room create a sense of artificial company. Customers are sparse, and a sign on the perpetually locked door implores them to “knock lightly” before Kwon lets them inside.

After a silent interval, a light knock on the door reveals a customer. Kwon excitedly greets Sue Browne, who is looking for her bi-annual wig replacement. After scanning the shelves, Browne settles on a short, tightly curled hairstyle. “It’s curly, but if I comb it out it’ll be a little more relaxed,” she says decidedly.

Kwon agrees, and $43 later she has a happy customer.

Browne has been a customer at Wigs by Tiffany for years. She says it’s Kwon’s friendliness, and the store’s variety of ever-changing hairstyles styles that keep her coming back. Browne is also among the minority of clientele who prefer human hair to the synthetic brand.

"You don’t have to throw away the human hair so soon. You can wash it and set it and keep re-wearing it,” she says.

And asked why she adopted a wig-wearing lifestyle—she has a generous amount of hair herself—Browne explains: “When I can’t get my own hair to act right, I don’t have to keep messing with it. I always have something I can throw on my head.”