25 October 2009 - 8:55Inside Kay Wigs

Window display at Kay Wigs

The window display at Kay Wigs is narrow, but crammed full of mannequin heads wearing wigs.  And not always the kind of wigs you’d expect.  These are wigs in colors do not appear naturally on any human head: pink, lime green, navy blue; many of them teased out five times the normal width of a human head.  Sometimes they sport fancy church lady hats and costume jewelry that I personally would not be caught dead in.  It’s not the kind of thing you expect to see on the street on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Since I work nearby, I look forward to the periodic changes to the window display, and wonder about matters such as whether someone actually purchased the purple bouffant wig, or what church the blue satin pillbox with the excessive netting is now attending.  Kay Wigs doesn’t seem to fit along that strip of Pennsylvania Avenue, between a health food store and the Hawk and Dove, an archetypal Capitol Hill Bar.  But I like that it’s there, and it was only a matter of time before I went inside and bought a wig.  In June, I bought a purple wig to wear while I hosted the Tacky Treasures Road Show.  With Halloween approaching, another visit was inevitable.

Last Thursday, I stopped by the shop to see if it would be open on Saturday.  While I was there, I noticed an enormous blue cloud of hair floating on top of a disembodied head.  I wondered, “Who would buy a wig of such unthinkable proportions and hue?”  I had my suspicions, and on my return visit, they were confirmed.

A rainbow of page boys

I brought my friend Ellen to Kay Wigs on Saturday so we could shop for a little something to complement our Halloween costumes.  We descended the narrow, carpeted stairs into the tiny basement shop.  Half of the basement store is a showroom with wigs displayed on mannequin heads, shelved from floor to ceiling; the other half holds the counter and fitting area.  I saw a lot of wigs that were normal hair colors, but the overall look of the room was like a rainbow.  The display on the left as you enter the store was especially colorful.  It had even more unusual colors than the window: purple, orange, neon yellow.  There was a metallic green that reminded me of a car I used to drive in the 1970s.

Blue Beyoncé

I had hoped to see the giant blue wig again, but it was no longer in the showroom.  The most striking thing in the shop was a puffy aquamarine wig with hair draped all the way to the floor on mannequin head at the fitting counter.  The owner was in the process of styling it to a customer’s specifications, which later turned out to be a photograph of Beyoncé.  I asked if I could photograph the wig, and she agreed.  I extended that permission to taking photographs all around the shop.

Dolly and Beyoncé

Ellen hadn’t settled on what color wig she wanted to buy, so I let her go first.  She tried on a simple, blue-streaked page boy, which looked great on her.  Then she tried on a blue flip hairdo, which, with the right 1950s era dress, would evoke memories of Donna Reed (except for the blue hair).  Finally, she tried on a hot pink teased number that would have been perfect for a psychedelic Dolly Parton costume.  Ellen finally settled on the relatively tame blue page boy.

I was looking for a lime green wig, and the only one she had was the one in the window, which I had thought would be perfect until I tried it on.  It was a spiky style, and looked too much like a 1980s glitter rock musician’s do, and was longer in the back than I had realized.  Even though the owner said she’d cut the hair for me, I decided to keep looking.  I went back to the page boys (what a safe style; always in fashion) and eventually bought one in a lovely shade of [information embargoed until Halloween].

As the owner rung up our purchases, a man entered the store.  I knew immediately that the aquamarine wig was for him.  Maybe it was the way his eyes lit up when he saw it.  While he waited, he picked up a mannequin head with a purple bowl cut and admired it.  Fortunately, he didn’t seem in a hurry.  While I was signing the credit card slip for my purchase, the owner spoke to him, and then went into the back of the store and brought out the giant blue wig I had seen on Thursday.  I asked him if he had a stage name.  He smiled, and said, “Betty Blue Bubbles.”  Then the store owner asked him a question that almost blew our (Ellen’s and mine) minds.  She asked Betty, “Do you want me to bring out the really big one?”  Maybe Ellen and I should have stayed to see that one, too.  But our purchasing was done, and when I think about it now, the showroom was probably too small to hold us, the store owner, Betty Blue Bubbles, and three of her wigs.

The owner of the shop couldn’t have been nicer to us, and I plan to go to Kay Wigs for all my wig needs, whatever they may be.  If I ever need a wig because all my hair falls out, I might just go with the little purple bowl cut.

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tackyjulie/sets/72157622658039450/

Kay Wigs
325 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
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