Salon owner with incurable cancer who lost hair during treatment makes customisable wigs to help others feel ‘confident’

Amanda Humphrey sells handmade human hair wigs, which can be custom-coloured and tailored for each individual

Amanda wants to help others feel ‘confident’ in their own skin (Collect/PA Real Life) (NOTE TO EDITORS: This image must only be used in conjunction with PA Real Life story REAL LIFE CancerWigs. All usage is subject to a fee or incorporated into your outlet’s agreed content package. Find copy in full on PA Explore or contact PA Real Life at RealLife2@pamediagroup.com for access or queries)

A salon owner with incurable cervical cancer who lost her hair while having chemotherapy has said wearing wigs has given her “reassurance in a world where nothing is certain”, and she now sells handmade, customisable bespoke wigs to help others feel “confident” in their own skin.

Amanda Humphrey, 43, who owns Saramanda1 hair salon in Great Denham, Bedfordshire, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October 2017 after delaying her smear test by seven years.

She underwent a radical hysterectomy in December that year – a surgical procedure to remove the womb and surrounding tissues – and was in remission weeks later.

The cancer returned and Humphrey received her second cervical cancer diagnosis just two days before Christmas in 2021, and she then started chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

She described this as “hell on Earth”, and within two weeks of starting chemotherapy the second time, she noticed her hair was being “blown out of [her] head” by the wind.

Humphrey shaved her head and embraced her baldness but soon realised she missed having “that comfort blanket” – and she then searched “high and low” for a realistic, non-synthetic wig.

Through her own searches, which were often fruitless, she realised that the number of people selling customisable wigs made of human hair in her area were few and far between.

This led to Humphrey making and selling her own – and now, despite her uncertain prognosis, she said her mission is helping people struggling with hair loss feel like themselves again.

“My message is I get it, and that’s why I love the wigs that we produce,” Humphrey told PA Real Life.

“I’m proud of the wigs that we produce, and I’m so grateful that people choose us to be a part of their journey.

“Every wig is made with love and strength, they are made from the heart, and me and my entire team, we all want them to be just perfect.”

Cervical cancer is a cancer that is found anywhere in the cervix – the opening between the vagina and the womb.

Symptoms include unusual vaginal bleeding, changes to vaginal discharge, pain during sex or pain in your lower back, the NHS says.

Humphrey, who was working as a detective in London at the time and had only just opened her salon, said she had no symptoms prior to her diagnosis and “always found an excuse to cancel [her] smear test”.

It was only when a colleague strongly encouraged her to book her smear test, seven years after she was first invited to have one, that she received her diagnosis in October 2017.

She said she holds herself responsible for this and has since campaigned for other women to book their smear tests without delay by sharing the message “Don’t be me”.

Speaking about her first diagnosis, she said: “I walked into the room and I looked at the consultant and, before I’d even sat down, I said ‘Have I got cancer?’ And he said ‘Yes’.

“Then I said ‘Am I going to die?’ And he said, ‘I need to examine you and then I can tell you.’”

Humphrey explained that telling her son, who she wishes to keep anonymous, was the hardest part, and she later underwent a radical hysterectomy, which was performed via keyhole surgery.

A biopsy revealed she was in remission just weeks later, and while this was positive news she felt “lost” afterwards.

She did not process the “trauma” of the cancer and the fact she could no longer get pregnant due to the radical hysterectomy until much later.

“Emotionally I struggled because although I didn’t necessarily want more children, I wasn’t ready to to lose that option,” Humphrey explained.

“I grieved not having more children, I grieved something I didn’t have, and I never sought help on that, ever.

“Given it’s a gynaecological cancer as well, when I visit my local hospital for any appointment, I sit in a room with pregnant people waiting for their appointments.

“They come out of their appointments happy, with their files and scan photos, and you’re sitting there, thinking ‘I can’t have that any more’.”

In the years that followed, after Humphrey was medically retired from the police, she continued with cervical cancer awareness campaigns and focused on her salon.

However, she started to experience agonising pain in her left leg in 2021 and could not pinpoint the exact source of it.

After undergoing scans and tests, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer recurrence just two days before Christmas that year.

She then underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which caused her to experience sickness, muscle aches, nose bleeds and ulcers in her mouth.

During her second round of chemotherapy she lost her hair within two weeks.

“I remember saying to one of the nurses ‘The next time I see you in three weeks, will I have hair?’ And she just said ‘No’, and it was true,” Humphrey said.

“I was stood outside my salon on week two and it was really windy and I was trying to make a phone call outside.

“I said to my colleague ‘My hair is being blown out of my head’ – it was literally just floating past us – so we shaved it off.”

Humphrey said she embraced being “bald and proud” initially, but she missed the “comfort” that having hair gave her – and so her journey to creating her own human hair wigs began.

Each wig starts from approximately £450, depending on the length and thickness, and can take up to three weeks to make as Humphrey and her team at the salon custom-colour each one.

Humphrey said she will often “work into the night” to finish an order, if required, and some customers have even cried when seeing the finished product.

She has since partnered with Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust as well, and for every wig sold through the charity she will donate 10 per cent of the proceeds to the organisation.

She explained: “Wearing wigs has given me so much reassurance in a world where nothing is certain.

“Just having a wig on gives me that comfort and ability to just be normal, and I want to help others achieve that feeling.”

In October 2022, Humphrey was informed her cancer is incurable and she will most likely not reach remission again – however she is determined to keep fighting.

She is now having pembrolizumab – a type of immunotherapy – and has regular check-ups, and although she was told that statistically she may only have 18 months to live, she said she wants to “prove everyone wrong, even if (she dies) trying”, and she will not stop her “passion” of making wigs for others.

“The results we get are amazing, they’re happy, and being able to support someone with part of their journey is so rewarding – it’s always something I’ve wanted to do,” she said.

“It helps them feel confident, and the comfort comes in, but it’s just the fact they can walk out their front door feeling normal.”

She added: “If my journey can help someone in the future, then I’m all in.”

To find out more about Humphrey and the wigs she and her team make, search @saramanda1_wigs on Instagram.

For more information and support about cervical cancer, visit Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust’s website here.