Walk into most wig shops and you’ll find rows of ready-to-wear styles, almost all of them one size. Terry Halone, who has worked behind a barber chair since 1965, takes a different approach at Pink Ribbon Fitting Solutions in Rib Mountain, Wisconsin. He measures each client’s head, then rips ready-to-wear wigs apart and rebuilds them for a custom fit. His reasoning is simple: just like your fingerprints, your head size and shape is yours.
His clients include breast cancer patients along with people living with trichotillomania, alopecia areata, alopecia universalis, lichen planopilaris, and hair loss connected to COVID. Many drive three to four hours from Minnesota, Upper Michigan, and across Wisconsin just to sit in his chair. Cancer survivor Angie Borth calls him “Terry the hair angel.” She says he makes the trauma of hair loss easier to bear, and Halone’s goal is for every client to walk out feeling like it was their best experience, with support that continues after the fitting.
Hair loss touches identity and confidence in ways that are hard to explain until it happens to you or someone you love. For Suncoast families navigating cancer treatment, stories like this one are a reminder that personalized care still exists, even if you have to travel for it. If you know a local stylist, salon, or nonprofit on the Gulf Coast offering similar support to cancer patients, we want to hear about them. Who in our community deserves a shout-out?
