Children with cancer, during their challenging and painful treatment, lose their hair. On this exhausting and tiring journey, the wigmaker Fuad Halilović and the Association “Heart for Children with Cancer”, through the project “My hair, your hair”, help the children to bring back their smile and self-confidence.
Halilović had a cancer as a child. Now, together with the members of the Association, he makes handmade natural wigs for children with cancer. He does it for free, with the selfless help of hair donors, of which there have been about 4,000 so far.
“So far, we have given about 40 wigs to girls and young women up to 27 years old, but unfortunately, the demand for them is huge,” Halilović said in an interview with Fena.
Thanks to good people, Halilović claims that they have enough hair. To make one wig, depending on the density of the hair, they need six to 18 hair donations. In order to make one wig, it takes him about two weeks. Most importantly, they are the only ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina who give these expensive and quality wigs for free.
Although hair is the most valuable resource, he says that making a wig also requires raw materials, which cost around 1,200 BAM per piece.
“If someone wants to support us financially, we would be very grateful. All people who want to donate can do that by calling the number 17010 (you donate two BAM), or pay directly to the bank account opened at Raiffeisen Bank, account no. 161 00000 388 900 27“, he said.
Halilović emphasizes that he mastered the craft of wig making by participating in the project “My hair, your hair”. He completed a series of trainings and high school.
“After the Association collects money and hair, when a girl or young woman comes for treatment and when her hair falls out due to therapy, we make a wig. Our priority are children with cancer“, he pointed out.
However, they found out that many young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina suffer from alopecia, permanent hair loss, so they decided to help them as well.
“Wigs are expensive, a handmade wig made of natural hair can cost from 2.5 to 5 thousand euros, depending on the length of the hair, and we are the only ones in Bosnia and Herzegovina who give them for free,” said Halilović.
Each wig they made and donated was made to fit the girl’s head and the hairstyle she had before she lost her hair. When a girl puts a wig on her head, he pointed out, it is completely identical to the hairstyle she had and it is very difficult to notice the difference.
“We had a situation where we were convinced that we were doing something really great, it happened that during the hair donation action within the project “My hair, your hair”, the hairdresser asked the girl who received a wig from us to donate her hair,” said Halilović.
The Health Insurance Institute in the Federation of BiH does not cover the costs of this type of medical aid regardless of age, gender or medical diagnosis, and domestic and international private insurers treat such aids differently from case to case.
Supporters/friends of the project “My hair, your hair” are: EN Studio, Hair Salon Fashion, Crafts Chamber of Sarajevo Canton and Chamber Theater 55.
