Peking University Cancer Hospital, located on Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, is one of the well-known cancer hospitals in China. With nearly a million visits, cancer patients from all over the country come here to find the best treatment options.
Outside the west gate of the cancer hospital, there is a humble wig shop, here is 90 % of customers are cancer patients who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy. Among them are four or five-year-old children, middle-aged people with successful careers, and elderly people in their 60s and 70s. …Scenarios like this happen every day in small shops.
For many normal people, wigs are just an ornament to make them beautiful , but for those who have lost their hair due to illness, wigs are an important spiritual pillar to restore their dignity and good memories.
In 1992, barber Wang Feng came to Beijing from Xinyang, Henan with a dream, to do Had a haircut business. In 1998, the store changed locations several times and moved to the Peking University Cancer Hospital. Due to the many residential areas around the hospital and Wang Feng’s superb haircut skills, his haircut business is booming.
Around 2010 , Wang Feng, who was attentive, found that every once in a while, there were always a few different customers who came into the store for a haircut. As soon as the scissors touched my hair, my tears fell.” Seeing the sadness of the customers but not wanting to say anything, Wang Feng suddenly understood that his barber shop is next to the hospital, and most of these customers are in the hospital. patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Once, a mother and daughter walked into Wang Feng’s store and had a haircut. It was her daughter. The little girl looked like she was in her teens. Tears fell when she sat on the chair. The red-eyed mother told Wang Feng that her daughter was ill and needed chemotherapy, so she came to shave all her hair.
Touching the child’s long black hair, Wang Feng felt like something was blocking his heart. Live like. After hesitating for a while, he took the scissors and cut the girl’s hair short. Watching her daughter’s locks of hair fall to the ground, the mother beside her sobbed in a low voice. After the haircut, the mother asked Wang Feng if he had a wig. She wanted to buy a wig for her child, so that her daughter might feel better. “I’ve always been in the haircut business, and there are no wigs in the store. It hurts to see them leave in despair.”
From then on, Wang Feng came up with the idea of making his own wigs. A good wig can not only allow cancer patients to pursue beauty like ordinary people, but also have a good mood to receive treatment. Although Wang Feng has been in the hairdressing business for so many years, he is a layman when it comes to wigs. With the idea of ”understanding in half a year, and learning in a year”, Wang Feng traveled all over Beijing to learn about wigs. In 2012, relying on the original barber shop, the wig business was officially listed.
In order to ensure the quality of the wigs, every year the store has to pass the middleman from Yunnan,The mountainous areas of Guizhou acquire a lot of hair. This is extremely demanding for hair owners, “Under the age of 45, long hair that has not been dyed and permed is best.
Since each customer has a different head shape and likes different hairstyles, the wigs in the store are usually customized. Every customer who comes to the store to buy a wig will be measured by the clerk first. Head circumference size, talk to them about their preferred length, shape, hair cover material and acceptable price. It usually takes about 10 days from ordering to wig making, and wigs made of real human hair can also be permed according to the wishes of the guests. Dyed a different color.
Over the past few years, Wang Feng has been focusing on making wigs. Abandoned the hairdressing business. And his customers are mainly cancer patients. Compared with ordinary people who buy wigs to look good, cancer patients just want to get back their former self. “Some are sick and don’t want to let them go.” Parents know that they are afraid they will be hit; and he died of illness at a young age, and his parents made a wig for him to make him look better when he left…”
Wang Feng often encounters patients who have just been ill and are not quite able to accept this fact and are very depressed. A patient, accompanied by her husband, shaves her head in the shop , As soon as the fader went down, her tears came down. The husband also cried, and the employees in the store also wept. ”
Therefore, now Wang Feng feels that he is not only doing wigs, but also To heal the patient. The guests often seem to be nothing on the surface, but once they chat, they will find that they are actually very anxious. At this time, Wang Feng comforted them, “I have more contact and have an understanding of cancer, so tell them. How to regulate mind and body.
Among the huge number of patients in the cancer hospital, foreigners account for the majority. Most of the people who come to the wig shop are also out-of-town patients. Wang Feng has more than 1,000 friends on WeChat, all of whom are cancer patients from all over the country. It is not easy for non-local patients to come to Beijing. Whenever they have any needs, the clerks try their best to “help”. In this unfamiliar big city, the familiar wig shop is their little “post”.
At the beginning of 2018, the self-funded “rented” love station was established under Zhang Luo in Wang Feng . This is a two-bedroom “patient home” for patients. Patients who came to Beijing to see a doctor from other places cuddled with each other here to relieve loneliness.
A meal and a bowl of soup made this strange city suddenly warm. “I provide such a place for patients, where everyone can talk about their daily routines, cook, share their medical experience, etc. I will also cook various soups for everyone.” Wang Feng introduced to the reporter.
In the finished cabinet of the wig shop, there is a name next to each custom-made wig . In the depths of the warehouse, there is also such a cabinet. The customization cycle of wigs is as short as 10 days and 3 months. The customers who come to customize wigs include newly diagnosed early stage patients, as well as advanced or even more severe patients. Wang Feng told reporters: “I make wigs in the hope that cancer patients can face life more positively. Even if I know that some people may not come to pick them up, as long as the patient wants to do it, it is my duty.” p>
Looking at the dusty wigs in the warehouse, Wang Feng can always recall some of the past. In 2018, a young woman helped her mother to his store. The mother and daughter carefully selected the wig for a long time in the store, and finally the daughter made a wig that her mother liked very much. Daughter repeatedly urged, requesting expedited customization. However, the mother and daughter did not come on the appointed day. Until one day, the woman came to the store and took the wig made for her mother.
“Auntie’s condition is getting better? “Wang Feng asked tentatively. “My mother, she’s gone.” Tomorrow is her memorial service. My mother loved beauty very much during her lifetime. I want her to say goodbye to this world beautifully. Now this wig is also my mother’s last thought. “The woman’s eyes were red and she choked up. Wang Feng stood for a long time without saying a word. He got up and went to the warehouse to pick up the goods.
The drama of life and death is staged every day in this small wig shop run by Wang Feng. As a bystander, Wang Feng said that he can only calm down and think from the perspective of customers , he will find out their true thoughts, and only in this way, will he make every wig carefully, and give warmth and dignity to the cancer patients who meet the “test of life”.