I’m Dianne Austin, and along with my co-founder and sister, Pamela Shaddock, we launched Coils to Locs to address an issue that I faced as a breast cancer patient who found that I would lose all of my tightly coiled hair due to chemotherapy: The lack of availability of culturally sensitive, ethnically inspired wigs in the medical hair loss space.

Because I could not find a wig that looked like the hair that I was losing, I lost the opportunity to take advantage of healthcare reimbursement for a cranial prosthesis. I didn’t want to bring attention to myself so wearing a scarf or choosing a straight-haired wig was out of the question. I was forced to buy a lesser quality wig at a beauty supply store which presented other challenges, including lack of privacy to try on wigs in a nurturing and supportive environment.

Our goal as a social impact business is to remove the barriers for Black women or any woman with highly textured hair, and ensure that all women could maintain their sense of dignity and sense of self, regardless of hair texture during their chemotherapy hair loss journey.

Coils to Locs, which launched in the winter of 2019 in a proof-of-concept stage is continuing to partner with hospitals, salons that support medical hair loss and cancer center resource centers across the country to ensure that all women who want a wig have a choice that resonates with them.

We recently launched a direct-to-consumer website* that will support women with all forms of medical hair loss who are interested in tightly coiled/curly wigs in response to the many emails that we receive from Black women across the country and globally who are interested in our wigs, but who may not be able to access them in a hospital setting because they don’t have chemotherapy hair loss, or because their hospital doesn’t carry our wigs.

You are making a difference for patients and we appreciate you!

Dianne & Pamela
Co-Founders, Coils to Locs

*The wigs on our direct-to-consumer site are a different style of wigs especially chosen for the direct-to-consumer marketplace. The hospital styles are exclusive to our hospital vendors.