The Styles 'R' Us fitting room is a quite, private space to try on wigs, hats and complete a whole look and even claim a few selfies.

For people in the middle of cancer treatment, mirrors can be a difficult sight to bear. Kristi Anthony, owner of the Styles ‘R’ Us salon in Baker City, knows this well enough, having been there while her own parents fought the disease.

Spurred by this life experience, Anthony has made an entrepreneurial shift to better include chemotherapy patients who have no hair left to cut, offering a lineup of customized wigs and hats.

Anthony always brightly welcomes her new clients as she sweeps away the trimmings of her last. She keeps up on the lives of those who visit her salon on the corner of Auburn Avenue and Resort Street. Anthony has worked in Baker City for nearly 30 years, and she loves the moments of self-rediscovery people experience at the end of the appointment.

Anthony bought Styles ‘R’ Us from Doris Hutton on Jan. 1, 2020, just before the pandemic began. Anthony has had difficulty finding stylists to fill out her space, but she said she also enjoys working alone.

Using that time for reflection, Anthony says it was her family experience that guided her decision to expand her shop with a wide range of beautiful wigs and hats, of many eras and functions, especially for the people who almost have no hair to cut.

Anthony lost both her stepmother and her father to cancer, something that very well could come up in a given conversation in her shop.

Her parents, Fred and Ann Corbin, supported her as she attended beauty school in the 1990s, and ultimately helped her launch her business, with her father remodeling her whole salon.

She says she was very close to her father, Fred, who was the mayor of Granite when he passed from cancer in his second term of office.

“He was my biggest supporter, always, and I do miss that a lot,” Anthony said.

Customized for clients

Chemotherapy tends to wreak havoc on hair and nails alike as it works against malignant growth. Loss of hair can add another challenge for cancer patients, and that’s where Anthony hopes she can help.

In one corner of her salon, Anthony has set up a private fitting room where her clients can create any look from her selection of realistic and fanciful headwear.

Her selections aren’t simply unpacked and shelved for sale, Anthony takes the time to style each one.

“I have a station back here for my problem wigs, if I have to revamp the whole wig,” she says. The hair is soft and realistic to the touch, though she says she can tell some subtle differences as she works, heating, curling, combing and conditioning each wig.

Anthony has been stocking up for months as she prepares for a more official launch of her expanded business, with some of her selections on display.

“I ran into a couple women recently on fixed incomes and neither could afford to do (hair treatments) anymore, so they each bought a wig,” Anthony said. “They just throw that on and feel happy, it’s just ready to go.”

Clientele expands

Anthony said that although she started offering wigs and hats to help cancer patients, she’s accidentally found a secondary market — several younger girls have found interest in the decorative wig and hat styles.

“I had bought a few longer wigs when I had some young girls come in, and three sold right off the bat,” she said. “And I had gotten a few hats to pair with, so the girls bought the whole outfit.”

Anthony’s timing was fortuitous, coinciding with the burgeoning “cosplay” community, in which people replicate the look of favorite movie and TV characters.

Among the hat styles Anthony offers are newsboys, derbies, sunhats, fishing hats and even some very pomp styles, which Anthony says has appealed particularly among Kentucky Derby fans, the annual horse race known for the hat styles among the spectators.

“Every year, they have a mint julep and celebrate,” Anthony said.

She’s had the help of local esthetician Hannah Fulfer to model her wigs and hats as she’s ready for her more formal launch this month, filling several booths of the store with the new material she’s added.

Anthony also intends to offer services to the local infusion center, the Billie Ruth Bootsma clinic at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City.

An infusion clinic and a salon have a lot in common, where you may find yourself donning a gown, taking center stage in the chair, and putting your trust in the experts, though certainly both have the common goal to make you feel more like yourself.

Styles ‘R’ Us salon offers walk-in haircuts service and styling appointments from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Anyone interested in trying her new headwear can call Anthony at 541-239-7004 to reserve the fitting room.