Making wigs a young Brentwood woman's labor of love

She might still be a teen, but Dieloni Coleman, of Brentwood, seems to be going on 30, since she’s already a business owner and entrepreneur.

Coleman, 18, who prefers “Loni,” in December started Laces of Loni, where she makes real-hair wigs for her clients of all ethnicities. On top of a full load at Los Medanos College as a business administration major, she finds time to sew wigs on her Singer and Brother sewing machines.

“My love for hair began once I realized how much I’d damaged my hair,” she said. “I know it sounds ironic, but it started when I was about 13, due to me cutting my hair and to extreme heat damage.”

In brainstorming a solution to protect her then-damaged hair, thinking of braids and clip-in extensions, she decided on wigs — the perfect transition to protect the growth of her natural hair. During her “a-ha” phase and while starting her business, she worked at a trampoline amusement park, but as any serious business owner would agree, she had to make a decision about commitment. So she quit her day job.

“I felt that if I’m going to pursue hair, I really need to give it my all, with no distractions,” said Coleman, a Liberty High School graduate.

Not only does she create custom wigs for her clients, but she makes and wears them herself.

“My favorite part about making wigs is the reactions I get once I’m finished. People assume that it is my own hair, even though they’ve seen me yesterday with brown hair, and then I show up the next day with blonde hair! I also love coloring wigs, because you don’t have to process your own hair to achieve the color,” she added. “You can just get a wig and try many different colors.”

Her colors run the spectrum of reds to blues and blonde to oranges, giving her customers any color choice they want. Coleman has made dozens of wigs so far, and it takes her anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to create each one after she receives her client’s head measurements. She said a small head circumference ranges from 21 to 21.5 inches, a medium 22 to 22.5 and a large circumference ranges from 23 to 23.5 inches.

“It’s funny because a lot of women will come to me and say, ‘I’m not sure if you can do a wig for me because my head is huge!’ ” said Coleman. “But once it’s measured, it turns out to be a 22- or 22.5-inch, which is what a lot of women tend to have.”

When she opened her business in December, she charged $100 to $150 for a wig because of her confidence level at the time, but today her skills have blossomed, and her wigs go from $250 to $550, depending on style and length of hair. The process of making wigs sounds daunting but not for Coleman.

“I start off with quality hair, and from there I have a lace closure or a lace frontal, which is the part that is going to act as a scalp,” explained Coleman. “I then bleach the knots of the closure or frontal to get rid of any black knots that the hair came with, which gives it a natural-scalp look.

“Next I pluck the hairline of the closure or frontal to allow the hair to look more natural. No one wants a bulky hairline!” she continued. “Now that all the work is done on the frontal/closure, I use my sewing machine and sew all the hair onto a spandex dome cap. I always like to start off with the shortest bundle, then put the longest bundle of hair at the top; that way the wig already creates its own natural layers.”

Once she’s done sewing all the bundles, she sews the frontal/closure on last to make sure everything lies flat. Her final touch is styling the wig exactly how her clients want. Even though she’s just getting started, Coleman is already thinking ahead when it comes to giving back to her community.

“I want to give away free wigs to children with cancer and for adults, they would pay and about 30 percent of those funds would go back into cancer research,” said Coleman. “I got this idea because everyone wants to feel confident and feel beautiful. With or without wigs, everyone is truly beautiful, and they don’t need a wig to do that — but if they would like to enhance their natural beauty, they can do so with a wig.”