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Beverly Doctor Launches Online Boutique To Help Women with Hair Loss

 Dr. Santila Terry launched DocBarbie Hair Boutique, an online store April 24.
Dr. Santila Terry launched DocBarbie Hair Boutique, an online store April 24.
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Photo courtesy of Santila Terry

BEVERLY — DocBarbie Hair Boutique founder Santila Terry wants to help women with hair loss problems feel beautiful again.

The 35-year-old doctor specializing in pediatric developmental disabilities launched the online hair boutique April 24. She also runs Special Therapy Care, a medical practice with two locations — 11750 S. Western Ave. in Beverly and 4507 W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn.

In her 12 years in practice at Special Therapy Care, which works with children with disabilities, Terry said she would meet with mothers who had lost their hair for numerous reasons. Some had alopecia, others dealt with side effects of chemotherapy, and other women lost their hair because of fire burns. Some just had medical conditions.

Terry said she couldn’t freely address these kinds of issues at work because it wasn’t the appropriate place. She said she could only listen. DocBarbie will allow her to communicate with women now.

“Hair means so much to women,” said Terry, of Beverly. “It has a lot to do with how we feel about ourselves and how we can be versatile with our look. So without it, it takes something away from us that affects women emotionally.”

Her company will offer customers virgin hair extensions, lace front wigs, keratin tip extensions, custom wigs and more.

Terry has no background in hair care, but said she said she wanted to help women deal with their social and emotional issues that come with hair loss.

“It impacts her self esteem, her self confidence, her sense of identity,” Terry said. “People think hair extensions, custom wigs are just for beauty, but they’re not. For some people, they’re almost like a necessity, to bring them back to a whole person again and how they feel as a woman.”

The hair is for anyone, but Terry said that what makes her online hair boutique unique is that they actually focus on custom wigs and other hairpieces for women with medical conditions. One feature on the website is the “DocBarbie Medical Suite,” which addresses that.

“DocBarbie is chic and fun,” Terry said. “The whole concept is that every woman can be a Barbie, and Barbie is a symbol of beauty. She’s timeless and she has so many different ethnicities, she’s traveled the world. What I’m trying to say that as women, we are all Barbies, whether young or old. That symbol of Barbie — Barbie embraces women from all facets of life.”

Visit the website at docbarbiehairboutique.com

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