By Erin Pedrini
Web Production Assistant

“We are doing our best to just change women. We have our slogan — Changing Lives One Wig at a Time,” said Lillian Lee, owner of Lillian Lee Salon in Teaneck and founder of the nonprofit Do Wonders. Do Wonders provides women in need who have cancer with human hair wigs to make them look and feel beautiful while they are going through a difficult time.

Lillian Lee Salon was started 25 years ago and Do Wonders was started about 10 years ago but became a 501(c)(3) two years ago. Do Wonders started, Lee said, when she had extra wigs that were in perfect condition.

“Without even knowing, I was starting to give wigs away. It didn’t have a name, it didn’t have a purpose, it was just that I was giving wigs because I had extra wigs. So I was very lucky and very fortunate that the community got together and decided that I had to be organized and have a name. A group of women sat down and helped me create the name and we created everything about the foundation,” said Lee. “They took it upon themselves to do committees of wig drop-offs and reached out to all of the other Orthodox communities requesting for wigs and they all started bringing me wigs.”

Lee said that there is a large Orthodox community near the salon and the majority of the wigs are donated from Orthodox women. Orthodox women cover their hair for religious purposes and Lee said that when they feel that they no longer want one of their wigs, they bring them to her and she refurbishes them. She said that the wigs are made of human hair so she can color, cut and style the wigs to make them look as close to the patient’s hairstyle as she can. Lee said when the wigs come in, they are organized. She said she usually has the patients bring in a picture and she finds the wig that will work best for them and goes from there. Lee said that she has been very successful in making the wigs look natural.

Lee said that she dedicates two days at the salon every week strictly to working on Do Wonders and taking care of patients. She said that everything is free for the patients because the patients are women who are sent by social workers, don’t have health insurance or are in financial need.

“We are doing our best to just uplift the morale and spirit of the women. It really just makes such difference. They go home, they have families and they can go to work and not feel different. The wigs are just beautiful and they would retail for over $1,000 and if your hair is going to grow back, you aren’t going to spend that much money on a wig. I’m very fortunate that I have this and that the women I have met in the community really helped get this going,” said Lee.

Anyone can donate wigs to Do Wonders. Lee said that some people, when their hair grows back, bring back their wigs. Lee said that there have been incidents where she has a woman in the wig room and she can’t find a wig for her and at the same time, someone is returning a wig and that is the wig that the woman needed.

“I had a woman with her 14-year-old daughter and her daughter wanted a wig with really long hair, like she had, but I didn’t have any wigs with long hair. As I was looking, my receptionist called me to the front and there was an Orthodox woman returning a wig and it was long and dark. I introduced them and they were hugging and crying. When I fit the wig on the girl it fit perfectly. It was such a godly moment,” said Lee. “So the community is coming together and I am really excited that people believe in what I am doing and doing their best to help me and promote me and support me.”

Lee said that she worked to make Do Wonders a 501(c)(3) nonprofit so that she could start fundraising so she could purchase brand new wigs for patients. Last year, Lee had her first fundraiser and she has her second fundraiser, A Night of Wonders Benefit Concert, coming up on Oct. 26.

Lee said that her youngest recipient was 5 years old. She said that the girl had long, blonde hair and wanted a wig that looked like that. Lee said that because she was able to raise money for new wigs at the first fundraiser, she was able to provide a wig that worked perfectly for the girl.

Do Wonders donates about five to 10 wigs a month, said Lee. There is also a wig repair woman at the salon who can fix wigs that are missing tracks of hair and she can adjust wigs to fit the women’s heads perfectly. Lee provides women with all of the pieces that go along with wearing the wig, as well as provides them with information that she has learned from other women she has helped about the process of losing hair during cancer treatment. She also provides the service of taking care of the wig by washing and styling them once a month. They also teach patients about how to do their eyebrows and eyelashes.

Lee said that she receives nice cards and notes thanking her from the patients she has helped. “Sometimes I don’t see people again and I wonder, but at least I feel like I did something,” she said.

When Do Wonders started, Lee said that the mission was just if someone needed her, she was there for them.

“I’m a stylist so part of my job is to make women beautiful and make them feel good and look good. It just came to me like ‘I have a wig, you need a wig.’ It was never intended to be a charity but as the years went on and people who were helping me with this were telling me that I had to do it, I had to make it legit. Once I got there, I had my first fundraiser and it was such an impact on so many levels,” said Lee. “I decided that my mission would be now to try to inspire other cosmetologists and other salons and other organizations to do what I do. If you have a talent and you have a wonderful gift that you know how to do hair and you can take an hour of your day to style a wig to help someone, why can’t you?”

Now, Lee said that she is on a new adventure of visiting salons and trying to find some type of organization that will allow her to give presentations and teach others. She said these are people who have clients in their salons and they are likely to have a woman with breast cancer one day. She said those people can send the patients to her but it would be great if they could help them themselves because they will feel really good. That is why Lee said that this year she is now branching out to see how other people can help her and how she can help them.

“I spend a lot of time in making women feel OK and by the time they leave, they have a big smile, they take pictures with me and they hug me. Little by little I have done it so I am hoping that as the years continue we get more new wigs. I would love to have all new wigs instead of used wigs. That will be my goal,” said Lee.

Lee said the most rewarding part of founding Do Wonders is, “Knowing that these women can continue fighting and going forward and do whatever they have to do to stay alive because the hair has a magic spell on it. It gives them confidence and there is nothing like a confident woman. When you look good and you are confident, you can accomplish the world. So the most rewarding thing is to know that they are going to keep fighting and that this hair is going to help them do that.”

Do Wonders accepts human hair wig donations that can be made at Lillian Lee Salon. A Night of Wonders Benefit Concert is being held on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe. The events will feature musical performances by local artists, a silent auction, raffles, food, cash bar and will honor Co-Anchor for NBC’s Weekend Today in New York Pat Battle. Tickets purchased before Sept. 30 are $85 and tickets purchased starting Oct. 1 are $100. Tickets can be purchased here. Donations for Do Wonders can be made here.