Area woman who lost hair finds inspiration in others, opens her own wig shop

Kendall worked retail jobs, hoping to save to return to college one day. Instead, she started working in customer service and ended up meeting her husband-to-be in June 1994 on a blind date. She married Matt Kendall the following February.

The couple moved to Troy with their son, Zachary, in 1998.

Kendall worked her way up to office manager at a local chiropractor’s office and her second son, Austin, was born in 2000. Kendall continued to work for the doctor until he decided to retire.

“I started exploring other opportunities and ended up in sales for a marketing company,” Kendall said.

Within a few years, Kendall felt she had learned enough about marketing to start her own business – “Kendall Marketing Solutions.”

“I just dove in,” Kendall said.

In celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary in 2020, Kendall and her husband decided to renew their vows and had begun looking for property on which to build their dream house.

Kendall found a five-acre plot of land outside of Troy and she surprised her husband by purchasing the property.

“Matt was shocked and excited,” Kendall said. “We decided to take a leap and sell our home in the middle of a pandemic.”

The couple began looking for a rental home they could move into while building their new house. They found a 2-bedroom unit in Troy.

“I decided to clean the whole place — windows, cabinets and everything,” Kendall said. “It was pretty nasty and dirty.”

Kendall scrubbed but couldn’t get it clean, and even tried opening the doors and windows to air it out.

“About a week or two after we moved in, Matt and I would wake up congested and with headaches,” Kendall said.

By November, Kendall was having trouble breathing, was frequently nauseated and disoriented and felt sluggish. Her family doctor advised her to take a COVID-19 test.

“I started losing my hair in early December,” Kendall said. “All my blood work was good so my doctor thought it must be stress-related.”

But by the end of December, Kendall had lost almost all the hair on the top of her head and no doctor or professional could tell her why. She started wearing hats and began researching wigs.

“I didn’t realize that finding a wig store would be challenging,” Kendall said.

Kendall found a store in Dayton but ended up leaving embarrassed. Though the person who helped her was courteous, Kendall said she didn’t believe she knew how to fit hair pieces and wigs.

“By mid-February, I needed to transition to a full wig,” Kendall said.

Kendall’s new home was set to be ready in March 2021, so she and her husband began moving out of the apartment. It was then they noticed the areas that Kendall cleaned had turned black again.

“We had a home inspection company do an air quality test on the rental and it tested positive for five different types of mold, including black mold,” Kendall said.

Frustrated and exhausted, Kendall found out she was going to be a grandmother in 2021 and she suddenly had hope for the future. Her doctor confirmed that she would slowly get better once she was away from the mold exposure, though it could take months or years.

In the summer of 2021, Kendall went to a salon in Louisville to shop for a new wig. This visit changed her life.

“I felt so comfortable there,” she said. “The owner didn’t have any hair either and she took her wig off like it was no big deal. She made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”

Kendall started dreaming of having a place just like the one in Louisville, but closer to home.

“I started thinking about how many times I went to the dermatologist, and he just kept changing me to different medications and nothing was helping,” Kendall said. “I just wanted to feel better and get my life back.”

Kendall knew that opening her own salon would be costly, but she was determined. And on June 7, 2023, she opened the doors of her “Wigging Out Boutique” in Troy.

“I don’t want women to feel like I did when it first happened,” Kendall said. “I want them to have a safe place to come where they can laugh and cry and share their stories.”

Kendall has been marketing her business via social media and radio. She has created brochures and has taken them to local hospitals and senior centers. She is hosting a community open house on June 7.

“I want women to feel confident and beautiful every day,” Kendall said. “I’m proud of the woman I’ve become because I’ve fought so hard to become her.”

More details

Wigging Out Boutique is located at 12 S. Dorset Road, Suite C, Troy. Find more online at wiggingoutboutique.vip.