For over 25 years, Kristin Vandenbrink dedicated her life to caring for others as a nurse. She built a career rooted in compassion, resilience, and service. But even while thriving in healthcare, Kristin felt a quiet pull toward something more creative.
“One day at church, I felt called to do hair,” she recalls. “I’ve always loved beauty, hair, and fashion. Over the years, I kept receiving affirmations that I should pursue cosmetology.”
Answering that call wasn’t easy. Kristin balanced part-time nursing while attending beauty school, slowly building a clientele and stepping into a new identity as a cosmetologist. By the fall of 2019, she took a leap of faith and opened her own salon.
“If I was ever going to open a salon, I knew I would name it Beautiful Me,” Kristin says. “As a society, we struggle to accept compliments. I wanted to create a space centered on self-acceptance.”
Just three months after opening, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Kristin instinctively shifted back into “nurse mode,” serving her community during an uncertain time. But another unexpected challenge was on the horizon.
In the summer of 2020, during a routine appointment, a breast exam revealed a lump. Shortly after, Kristin received the diagnosis: triple-positive breast cancer—an aggressive form of the disease. What made it even more shocking was that her January 2020 mammogram had been completely clear.
“It had grown that fast within nine months,” she says.
Kristin quickly began treatment with The Cancer & Hematology Centers, working closely with her physician Dr. Kelly Lynch and care team. She started chemotherapy before surgery, navigating not only the physical toll of treatment but also the emotional weight of sharing the diagnosis with her family. The same week she was sending her daughter off to college.
As treatment progressed, Kristin lost her hair. An experience that deeply impacted her, both personally and professionally.
She questioned her identity and her future. “I remember thinking, who would want to come get their hair done by a hair stylist that didn’t have any hair? I was anxious and angry.”
When she stepped into the wig world a new wave of overwhelm took over. She explained, “I thought if I knew hair and was this overwhelmed by wigs, where were others doing that didn’t have a background in hair?”
But Kristin leaned on her faith and a guiding belief: God can turn all things for good.
“I decided this would become my testimony,” she says. “I wanted to walk alongside other women going through this.”
Determined to better understand wigs and to improve the experience for others, Kristin began researching and educating herself. She took an online course and learned to create her own wig, starting with basic sewing skills and a desire to make something for herself.
What she discovered in her research changed everything. She quickly learned that not all human hair is ethically sourced and was committed to finding a better way.
Kristin set out to do things differently. She developed her own method of creating wigs using ethically donated human hair, personally wefting and constructing each piece. What began as a personal project soon became a passion—and then a mission.
“I made three designs: Sage, Sam, and Kristin. I spent over a year perfecting them before offering them to others,” she says. “When I put on my own wig, I finally felt like myself again.”
Her first client? Another cancer patient.
“We did a ‘hair harvest,’ using her own hair to create a wig,” Kristin says. “It allowed her to look and feel like herself during treatment. That’s when I knew this was bigger than me.”
Today, Beautiful Me Hair Studio offers much more than hairstyling. Kristin and her growing team provide comprehensive wig consultations, education, and support for individuals navigating hair loss. Services include custom wigs made from personal or donor hair, chemo caps, and beauty tutorials for wigs, eyelashes and eyebrows. Even navigating how to work with your insurance provider about wig coverage.
To further support patients, Kristin also established a wig financial assistance fund, to help offset some of the costs. Each custom wig typically takes between three to nine weeks to create, with a dedicated team assisting in every step—from hair wefting to hand-knotting.
Kristin’s journey, however, didn’t end with breast cancer. Over the years, she has faced multiple health challenges, including chemotherapy, radiation, a double mastectomy, reconstruction, sepsis, and even melanoma.
Despite it all, her perspective remains grounded in purpose.
“My full-circle moment is realizing that everything I went through was God giving me the passion to turn ashes into beauty and the passion to walk alongside other women experiencing hair loss while making this world a little better.”
Through Beautiful Me, Kristin has created a space where healing goes beyond medicine, where identity, confidence, and dignity are restored one person at a time.
For those interested in donating hair, Kristin accepts donations with a minimum of eight inches and even offers to share photos of the final wig with donors who include their contact information, a powerful way to see the impact of their gift.
To learn more about Beautiful Me Hair Studio, hair donations, or to contribute to the wig financial assistance fund, visit:
Hair Donations: https://www.beautifulmehairstudio.com/how-to-donate-hair
Financial Donations: https://www.beautifulmehairstudio.com/wig-financial-assistance-info
