Megan Navarro
SAN MARCOS — Knowing how isolating it can be living with alopecia, one woman has been working with others who are dealing with hair loss and now, she is launching a San Marcos-based wig boutique and resource center.
Kelly Engram, a professor within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University, recalled that the last time she had “good hair” was in her late teenage years because she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, a thyroid autoimmune disease, when she was in her 40s. One of the symptoms of Hashimoto’s is hair loss; Engram was going through a “perfect storm” of significant weight loss and perimenopause that were not helping her grow her hair back.
Engram went through a lot of frustration and trial and error, struggling to find a wig that made her feel like herself again, but experiences where she was persuaded into wearing something that she was not used to, leaving her voice unheard.
“I was used to wearing a short blonde pixie and then, [the wig salon] kind of talked me into a really long brunette wig that was completely foreign to me and looking back on it, that was a completely wrong thing to do,” she recalled.
Through her experiences and after doing her own personal research, the professor decided to use her skills to create wigs and open the “online door” to sell wigs in May 2025. She has sold approximately 600 wigs all over the world, with clients in Australia, Europe and Pakistan.
However, she was missing the in-person experience with clients, leading her to open a brick-and-mortar location — Prairie Fire Hair — in San Marcos. There, she will be able to do more in-person consultations with an in-house colorist and stylist beside her, as well as host monthly workshops and support groups at no cost.
All that Engram is going to offer would be geared to welcoming women, who are dealing with all of the challenges, such as the feeling of loss of identity, related to hair loss into an uplifting and caring community.
“Wearing a wig is so incredibly difficult, but at the same time, utterly life-changing. I have had women who tell me like their lives have completely changed from wearing wigs; they feel like they've gotten themselves back. I actually had this one woman who I had a consultation with and she was sobbing. [She] just basically told me that she was to the point where she felt like she just wanted to end it all because she just didn't feel like worthy of existing. She just didn't feel like herself anymore. I can attest to that feeling myself and then, I've heard stories over and over again,” Engram said. “Wigs aren't really normalized in our society. People can wear extensions and that's no big deal and you can do all of these things to change your appearance, but wig-wearing is still sort of like a taboo thing. When you can get together with other people who are also wearing wigs, it is just so empowering to have that support around you.”
Prairie Fire Hair is also filling a gap, Engram said, as she was invited to a conference for a medical group in San Antonio, where she learned that people have been looking for a wig resource in the local area — which includes Hays County — for years.
Engram will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Prairie Fire Hair, located at 2108 Hunter Road, Suite 106, San Marcos, at 10 a.m. Friday, July 10, followed by an open house from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., where visitors will have an opportunity to tour the studio, learn about wig options and services, meet the founder and enter prize drawings for premium hair care packages. Then, on Saturday, July 11, a complimentary Wig 101 Workshop will be offered to learn about selecting the right wig, proper fit and more; attendance is free, but advance registration is required.
To learn more about the business and to register for workshops, visit www.prairiefirehair.com.
