We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsea Kunde a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Chelsea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My name is Chelsea Kunde and I am one of the founders of Wigged Out. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in January 2011. At the time I was 26 and getting married in less than three months. After you hear, “You have cancer”, you go numb. When you come back to what is now your ‘reality’ a million questions start to arise, and with these questions come emotions, one being fear. I was specifically scared of losing my hair. I wanted to look and feel like myself at my wedding. The kind of chemo I was getting was strong and the nurses suggested I shave my head right away. We knew we needed to find a wig and quickly.

I remember wishing I was “stronger” and did not care about my hair loss. That is much easier said than done. Your hair is part of you and I was not ready to part with it. I could not even drag myself to the wig shop. One day, my sister and I stopped in a wig shop randomly. We had a bad experience and I left feeling discouraged and in tears. That is where my amazing girlfriends came into play. They went to a local wig shop, picked out an incredible wig & did the research on wig care that I was purposely avoiding.

My friends also started thinking of a way to raise money in order to help pay for my wig and other hair accessories (as these items tend to be pricey), which eventually evolved into Wigged Out. What started as a kind gesture of helping a friend sick with cancer and grieving her hair loss has evolved into something much greater. Focusing on helping others to be able to feel like themselves, at least when they look in the mirror.

Wigged Out is a simple concept. We help people who have lost their hair find and acquire the perfect wig and hair accessories. Our goal is to help others as my friends helped me, and take away some of the overwhelming stress that comes with hair loss. We hope to make this part of the process easy, simple, and maybe even fun. We won’t stop until we “wig-out” as many as we can and empower everyone feel a little bit more like themselves.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Wigged Out is a nonprofit, providing financial assistance to people with medically related hair loss. With our assistance people are able to purchase wigs, hairpieces, hair accessories etc. to help return a sense of self. We help women, men and children. Our youth programs range from helping children purchase wigs and hair accessories, to providing Courage Bags which come with a branded bag to color, a courage lion, chapstick, hand sanitizer and a branded hat created by Random Acts of Kindness.

At Wigged Out we know how emotionally, physically, and financially difficult it is to lose your hair. We’re here to help. Wigged Out provides financial assistance to people in Arizona who are in need of wigs and head coverings due to hair loss caused by a diagnosed medical condition, such as cancer, alopecia, blood and genetic disorders, anxiety, or complications from surgery or medications. Partnering with reputable wig boutiques across the greater Phoenix area, Wigged Out is able to ensure that people we help are able to receive new, high quality and well fitting wigs, that they are able to select, empowering them to feel more like themselves.

Our organization was founded by four friends, who saw a niche that was untapped in our community, and a way to help ease the stress that comes with hair loss. We pride ourselves on being an organization that has never turned down an applicant. We are passionate about this cause because we know how impactful feeling a little more like yourself can make a positive difference in someone’s day to day life. Wigged Out hopes to continue to support many and help people feel themselves.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Wigged Out was started by four friends. I (Chelsea) was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011 a few months before my wedding. My girlfriends wanted to support me and knew how important finding a good wig was to me. I wanted to look and feel myself on my wedding day. They got together and thought of an idea to build a website as a place people could donate towards my dream wig. They also did all the research for me in terms of what kind of wig I should get, how to care for it, etc. They took the stressful aspects away, so that I could relax and pick out a wig that would make me feel my best.

During this process, we realized there wasn’t a service like this around. We saw how expensive and taxing this process was on top of everything else I was going through. We were all working professionals in our twenties. The more we discussed it, we thought this could be a great organization to start. We could give back to the community and help many feel more like themselves. This is how Wigged Out was born.

Wigged Out was started by Chelsea Kunde, Lindsey Dies, Katie Perry, and Becca Margison. Chelsea and Katie have known each other since Middle School. Chelsea, Katie and Lindsey all went to Xavier College Preparatory highschool and have been friends since they were 15 years old. Becca joined the mix in college at The University of Arizona where Chelsea and Katie also attended. The four friends have known each other a long time and we are very proud of what we have built in Wigged Out.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Wigged Out is a nonprofit that gives financial assistance to people with medically related hairloss so they can purchase a wig or hair piece. Our goal is to make this process easy, simple, and help return a sense of self for people. Our applicants are largely driven by word of mouth and through relationships we have built over the years. We have many recipients who will tell friends about us or share our information on how to apply to us when sitting next to each other getting chemo. Our process is easy and fast and therefore word about us has spread. We also have many wig boutique partners across the valley that help to share our information. We also have some patient navigators in the hospitals that will tell patients about us as well.

We are very thankful for the strong and supportive community around us.

Contact Info:

• Website: wiggedout.org
• Instagram: @wiggedoutinc
• Facebook: @wiggedoutinc

Image Credits
Courtney Lively