Wigs for Different Races: Marketing Strategy or Real Need?

Before my windy road into tech and startups, I started my education in Women's Studies.  Therefore, I can't help but think about how race, gender, socio economic status, age, sexual orientation, and more intersect and affect our lives (both good and bad).  So, you can only imagine my confusion when I started really diving into the wig industry at a deeper level before starting Styied. 

Don't get me wrong, I've been a long-time customer of wigs and looked at the industry at a surface level and because of that I have taken everything at face value like you probably have.  

Firstly, if you've ever shopped or looked around wig sites, you've probably noticed that they seem to be segregated by race.  You will have one site filled with black women, another filled with white women.  You rarely see sites with diverse ranges of women together on sites and even more rare to see other ethnicities such as Asian or Hispanic.  

Now there is nothing wrong with catering towards a specific niche.  With a background in startups, I know how important it is to start niche and then grow once you find product market fit and start to scale.  However, what's interesting here is that the niche market that these companies are supporting tend to identify their niche based on the problem they are solving.  

For example, wigs catering to hair loss and thinning due to issues such as cancer or alopecia are almost always white.  However, most research has found that Black and Hispanic women are more likely to suffer from alopecia than white women.  

There is a perception that black women wear wigs to "uplevel" their look and/or grow out their natural hair, white women wear them due to health issues, and all other ethnicities are kinda out of the picture.  

The truth is far from this though.  All different races and gender identities CHOOSE to wear wigs because they want to change up their look, experiment with different styles, and/or help overcome health issues.  Self-esteem affects everyone.  Cancer affects everyone.  Alopecia affects everyone.

There is no such thing as a wig for a black woman or a wig for a white woman.  Some wigs may be better suitable for sensitive skin and coverage desirability but it has nothing to do with race or gender.  There may be hairstyles or hair textures that gravitate more towards one race over the other but that shouldn't exclude them from the shopping experience.

At Styied, what makes us unique is our high-quality single donor hair, styled by U.S.-based cosmetologists, and customized to match your natural hairline.   

The problem with today's market is that companies are selling wigs that do not look natural and/or very hard to install.  That has nothing to do with race or gender! Just look up bad wig installs and you will see a plethora of people having issues.  

Therefore, we don't sell to a specific race or gender.  We sell the people who are tired of complicated installs, unrealistic hairline, and crappy hair quality.  If you find yourself in one of those buckets, then our wigs are for you!  It doesn't matter what color or gender you identify as.  We help make you feel the best version of yourself by picking the wig that best defines that.  

Check out our collection or take our quiz if you are nervous on where to start!