The Freedom Wigs factory in Dunedin, New Zealand Hi Everyone! It's proving to be a very frigid winter and what better way to mentally escape the weather than pretend you are in the middle of summer? Well, my husband, Jim and I did one better than that - we actually traveled to summer - New Zealand!
Over the course of 2 weeks in early January 2007, we hiked the Milford Track, a 5-day, 33.5 mile rain forest hike that took us over a 3,500 ft. mountain pass, took a jet boat river tour, enjoyed a day of wine and olive oil tasting, kayaked in the Tasman Sea, observed harbor seals and the endangered albatross in the wild and what will really interest you is this: we spent a day at the Freedom Wigs factory in Dunedin.
I know that many of you are clients of mine and have experienced the freedom we all feel from wearing our beautiful hairpieces that are painstakingly made by the talented, caring people at F.W. As we are always curious about something that is such an important part of our lives, I thought I'd take you on a virtual tour of the factory the day we visited. Entering the factory I found a bright , clean and orderly environment filled with the buzz of happy, productive people. When I was introduced and had everyone's attention, I found myself giving an impromptu speech that went something like this: "I would like to thank you all not only from the bottom of my heart, but the hearts of my clients as well for the important work you are doing here. Your work here has enabled those of us with alopecia to live our lives to the fullest with the confidence and self-esteem one gets from having beautiful, natural-looking hair." Even though they realize this, I got the feeling that they really appreciated hearing it from a person "in the field". One of the comments I got was that while making a wig, they often think of the person who will occupy it - the cap and hair alone don't begin to hint at the personality of the person who will be wearing it. At this point I got a wonderful idea! Why not present them with a photo collage at the end of the year with our photos after styling? This way, they can personalize their work and see first hand the smiles on our faces framed by their handiwork. What do you think?
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Murray and Averill Barrington, owners of Freedom Wigs |
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Jim singing "Eye of the Tiger" to inspire the employees. They loved him, of course! |
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A line-up of some of the workers with me squeezing in. Note the shelves of current order molds in the background. |
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The hair blending area is inundated with natural light. |
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Karen & Jim with the Freedom Wigs "family". |
More photos from New Zealand |
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Here we are at the beautiful Mackay Falls |
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With owner of Rimu Grove Vinyard in Nelson |
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Tasting olive oil at Stafford Lane Estate in Nelson |
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Getting ready for sea kayaking |
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Milford Track - Mackinnon Pass after 11 switchbacks and a 3,500 ft. climb |
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Crayfish dinner our last night in N.Z. |