Hair is a familiar touch, our sense of self, and a universal symbol of femininity. However, hair loss robs all these away from us. For cancer patients, hair loss is not a choice. Although anticipated, the moment they lose their hair still brings unimaginable shock. Moreover, hair loss reveals the sickness - it is a visualisation of the cancer. It is a battle deep within their bodies and it is their fight, alone.

To understand more about hair loss and its impact, I interviewed cancer survivors as well as their key stakeholders.

From my secondary research, I discovered that hair plays a greater role in female identity, with hair loss threatening her body image and sense of self. As such, I decided to scope my design towards women.

Based on my market research, caps and wigs support in the transition of hair loss. There are also solutions drawing social support, as well as more personal solutions.

How might we accompany cancer patients in the transition they experience during hair loss & chemotherapy?

I explored five distinct directions in accompanying the cancer patient’s hair loss journey, such as shaving to empower, and involving survivors to support.

In my exploration, I attempted to distill the essence of hair into a different form. Something tangible that could convey familiarity, identity and femininity. I discovered that jewelry could embody these elements and was a potential medium

1. Address the helplessness faced from diagnosis to treatment by empowering patients with a choice to transform their hair into jewellery. 
2. Regain the 3 things they lost: familiarity, identity and femininity.
3. Connect newly diagnosed patients with cancer survivors.

I explored multiple ways to transform hair into jewellery, such as heating, soldering and fusing with glass. 

Eventually, I looked at a simple and scalable method of resin casting on a board, preserving the flow of each strand. To get them into modular form, I make use of CNC cutting. 

Later, I explored colours in resin casting. This allows the user to pick and customise to the colour they want.

From there, I looked at various forms that worked well when it is flat, while bringing across the idea of connection.

As my concept focuses on transmission, I explored differently folding methods. I refined the paper weight, texture, colour and size. And also added a sieve to aid in hair collection.

I envisioned the jewellery to work like a Chain. A physical Chain, and a symbolic chain between the patients. 
The jewelleries are made of common modules, but they are customised according to the type, colour and size chosen by the patient.

Here’s how the system works. Modules from survivors are sent to the designer who collates them and distributes them to the chemo centre. Before chemotherapy, patients receives a package from Chain, containing a gift from a fellow survivor. Keeping the gift, they can collect their hair, and mail it to the designer. The designer transforms the hair into Chain for the patient. The patient receives the bracelet, to be connected with the gift she received from the survivor earlier. After her recovery, the patient passes on the support to other fellow patients, and keeps the two special pieces for memorabilia. On the whole, the design team crafts the jewellry and coordinates the system, which is funded by a foundation.

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