Hairstylist Goes Viral Applying Toupees for Balding Men in Their 20s: ‘This Isn’t Embarrassing’ (Exclusive)

Toupees have long been the subject of a joke. But on TikTok, men are bravely showing their baldness options.

23-year-old Em Cheney, who calls herself the Queen of Wigs on TikTok, joined her mother in hairdressing after graduating from high school.

Cheney told PEOPLE that at first she hated the process of attaching hairpins to the 60-year-old’s shorn heads. “I hated it!” admits Cheney.

But that changed when she changed her business to focus on millennial and Gen Z clients, who wanted to let a Lululemon-clad stylist film her going about the hair-swapping process.

“When I started working on social media, it was more me and it made my job a little more fun. I have a lot of very, very young clients,” she says, noting that they range from 17-year-olds to men in their 20s. “I’d say my average client is 26 now.”

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Set to the beat of Bad Bunny and Olivia Rodrigo, Cheney’s infectious TikTok videos feature her buzzing her client’s locks, slathering glue-like glaze onto his glossy pate, and trimming a thick new top into a trendy cut (occasionally adding a flick to show just how steady her work is). To date, her videos have garnered over 500,000 followers and more than 32 million likes.

It is noticeable that no one hides their face on her TikTok. Cheney calls too much of the hair substitute industry a shame. “If you feel embarrassed, those are your genuine feelings and I respect that,” Cheney says. “But this is objectively not unpleasant. We just treat it that way. And that’s why I think I attract people. When I treat it like it’s not embarrassing — because I don’t think it is — people believe me.”

Historically, this has not been the case. “Some of our older clients don’t even tell their wives about it. They feel a lot of shame and guilt about it, and I hate that,” she says. “I think a lot of it is just being more progressive when it comes to gender roles.”

TikTok star Em Cheney.

Chelsea Marie Wallace

What Cheney is looking for in the cosmetics space is something akin to parity. “It’s the same thing with women’s makeup or highlights or hair coloring. It’s not embarrassing to show up without microbladed eyebrows or before botox. All of us [share] pictures of this is not strange. It’s only weird because of how society treats men. It is normal for women to be vulnerable. But when men are vulnerable, it’s very strange.”

Based in her studio in Bountiful, Utah, which she shares with her mom, Cheney sees 20 to 30 clients a week while also teaching. For optimal maintenance, her clients typically come in every two to four weeks for a touch-up and color touch-up, and the blunt itself should be replaced every two to three months. “Their hair continues to grow while the frizz doesn’t, so you have to do a haircut that blends in,” she explains.

All this leads to expensive maintenance. Clients spend up to $3,800 a year on peru care, and Cheney custom dyes and perms.

“Men spend this much money on golf, spend this much money on their cars, spend this much money on food, going out to eat, doing fun things. It’s just a small adjustment because they don’t spend money like this, but they’ll get used to it,” she says. “Women spend thousands and thousands of dollars a year on our cosmetics.”

TikTok star Em Cheney is getting ready to style her wig.

Chris Clark, @chrisclarkfilm

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(For the curious, toupee wearers can treat their hair normally after a 24-hour heat-free period that allows the glue to dry. After that, “you wash your hair twice a week. You can condition it every day. If you swim in chlorinated waters, you have to wash it after wash it out,” says Cheney.)

The stylist is encouraged by the acceptance of her work – to the point that she can’t always accommodate those ready for her close-up.

“I think it’s been really cool to have people just come up and say, ‘You’re going to make a video about me, right?’

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Source: HIS Education