After a 2011 car accident left Tammara L. Taylor stuck in bed with a broken neck, crushed leg, and spinal and pelvic fractures, she became inspired her to turn a tradition passed down from her mom first into a hobby, then a business.

Taylor’s sister, Jackie Reyes, had taught Taylor how to weave hair as a teenager, and now encouraged her to make a wig. Their mother, a beautician who died from cancer in the late ’70s, had taught Reyes her wig-making skills.

Taylor then made another wig, this time for another sister who had lost her hair as a result of cancer treatment. Through this, she learned that there was a high demand for quality wigs, particularly those suffering from medical conditions or the side effects of treatment.

Market research company IBISWorld has reported that wig and hairpiece sales from brick-and-mortar stores alone was above $275 million in 2012 and that the industry is still growing.

By 2013, Taylor had turned her wig-making into a business she knew filled both an economic and emotional need.

Hair loss in the United States

Illness and accident are not the only reasons individuals experience hair loss. An estimated 35 million American men are losing their hair, and developments in wig-making and other hair replacement techniques are continually competing, all promising newer and more natural-looking solutions.

Androgenic alopecia, divided into male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness, is a genetic condition. Men generally experience hair loss much earlier than women, even in their teens and early 20s. Women typically experience thinning in their 40s and older. The pattern also varies slightly, with men experiencing receding hairlines and gradual loss of hair from the frontal scalp and crown, and women’s thinning being more even or concentrated around the crown.

Some of those suffering from this condition choose custom hairpieces. Others turn to newer procedures such as scalp pigmentation.

These hair simulation tattoos are designed to give the appearance of thicker hair by mimicking the appearance of real hair follicles. The technique uses needles 75 percent smaller than general tattoo needles. In this procedure, the color of the patient’s scalp are hair are matched by a professional and then filled in as quickly as in one sitting.

In the United States alone, approximately 811,363 people are currently seeking professional help to treat hair loss.