North East start-up, The Wonderful Wig Company, who are committed to changing how women feel when they experience hair loss has selected Marnie Wall, aged 17 from Whitley Bay, to be the face of their brand for 2020.
After a nationwide call out to find inspirational women experiencing hair loss, which saw hundreds share their ‘with and without’ (wig) photographs on Instagram using the hashtag #hairbossnothairloss, the team at The Wonderful Wig Company selected Marnie for her ‘undeniable positivity and inspiring confidence’.
Marnie, a creative media production student at Newcastle College, experienced alopecia areata related hair loss in June 2019, just before her 17th birthday.
She explained: ‘When I first started losing my hair, it had a very big impact on my life. I wouldn’t even leave the house without a hat or a wig on, I felt embarrassed at the fact I had no hair and I hated myself for a long time. But, as time went on, I learned that just because I have no hair, that does not make me a different person and it doesn’t make me any less beautiful as someone with hair; beauty isn’t about if you have hair or what you look like, it’s about what’s on the inside, and you as a person.’
Marnie will be the public face of the business throughout the year, appearing in media campaigns, advertising, supporting the team in their outreach work with young women with hair loss, and winning a prize package worth over £8,000.
On discovering she had won the competition, Marnie said: ‘I was so excited, I even cried for a good hour with happiness.’
On her aims for her year as the face of the company, she added: ‘As I work with the Wonderful Wig Company throughout the year, I would love to spread as much awareness as I can about all the different types of hair loss. I would also love to help people like me, who are going through hair loss or have been through it, to embrace and see hair loss as an amazing thing which doesn’t change you or make you any different to anyone else.’
Nicola Wood, founder and Creative Director of The Wonderful Wig Company said: ‘I founded The Wonderful Wig Company because eight million women in the UK have hair loss and my aim is to help people feel fantastic again, hair or no hair.
‘I’ve been overwhelmed with emotion at the amazing, brave and beautiful women who have bared all to share their stories of hair loss with us during the Face Of competition. It was such an agonising decision, but we’re delighted to be working with Marnie Wall this year – she simply shines and truly owns her image, she is a real hair boss!’
Founded by hairdresser Nicola Wood in 2017, The Wonderful Wig Company offers both wigs and hairstyling combined to help people regain their confidence and self-esteem during hair-loss.
In 2019, after just two years of trading, the work done by Nicola and her team in supporting those affected by hair loss saw them recognised by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, the North East Business Woman of the Year Awards and the Sunderland Echo Portfolio Awards.
The team also received the coveted Gold Status from The Little Princess Trust – joining only eight other UK salons to have achieved this accolade.
Starting with a salon in Sunderland in 2017, the business opened its second salon in Jesmond in December 2019.
