This Celebrity Hairstylist, Who Has Worked With Amy Schumer, Is Helping Women Who Pull Their Own Hair

May 06, 2023

Last year Amy Schumer openly shared the struggles that she has had with hair pulling or trichotillomania (TTM) since she was a child. "When I was 13, I pulled out so much hair that I needed to get a wig and wear a wig to school," she told Howard Stern. "It was humiliating. And it was really hard." Schumer went on to talk about feeling unlovable, shame and working to let that go. She also loosely based a storyline in her Hulu series, Life After Beth, on her struggle with hair pulling.

Kimberly Gueldner

Schumer is not alone. According to Massachusetts General Hospital and their Trichotillomania (TTM) Clinic it is estimated that that between 5 and 10 million Americans have TTM. And women are 5 to 10 times more likely than men to pull their own hair, which can be on any part of the body.

During her interview with Stern, Schumer went on to talk about how hair extensions have been a game changer. "I’m lucky that extensions have become so normalized," she said adding, pretty much "every woman you see on camera is wearing a wig or has a lot of added hair that's just how it works in the business…all these things that we've been ashamed of and hiding...we put on makeup, we put in extensions, we put on Spanx...It's all good…doing whatever you want to feel good."

Kimberly Gueldner, a New York City-based celebrity hair stylist and the owner of Voël Hair Studio, who created her own line of hair extensions, has been on a mission to take any stigma out of wearing extensions. In fact, Schumer has been wearing Gueldner's Voël Hair extensions for years and has worked with the stylist on TV, movies, comedy tours and more.

"As women, we have so much shame around everything, and her shared experiences help to alleviate that," says Gueldner of Schumer who has mentioned that she specifically wears Voël Hair. "I have had women come to me since the interview Amy did on Howard Stern, saying how thankful they were that she was so open. It's great that other actors have also been honest about extensions and wigs because so many women want "that hair." Now they are learning that most of the time, they are wearing wigs and extensions, and they can have it too."

About a decade ago after many years of touring and working with Gwen Stefani, Faith Hill, Katy Perry and countless other artists, Gueldner got inspired to ultimately create her own line of extensions. She had left touring life and was working at a salon when she found herself disillusioned by the kinds of extensions that were available in the market.

"I didn't like the glues and tapes or how they looked," she says. "They were also uncomfortable for many women. I had a lot of clients in the salon with very fine hair who were always asking me for extensions, and I would say, I don't think you should get them because they could damage your hair or your hair is too fine for extensions."

She wondered why there weren't comfortable, wearable extension for fine hair. "I started experimenting and created Voël Hair. I did them on my clients for about four years before I made it into a company."

Lightweight and made from 100% natural hair, Voël Hair extensions are meant to look like your actual hair. They are ideal for women with fine hair who seek a subtle change to enhance the hair's texture while making it manageable.

"It gives women the opportunity to have more hair without having someone notice it, creating a safe space if the reason for extensions is private," says Gueldner. "When you get hair extensions to compensate for hair loss, you usually don't want people to comment on it. That's why I gravitated towards having a private studio instead of a storefront salon."

Also a key element for Gueldner is to minimize her environmental footprint. "I hate waste and am super conscious of waste in the beauty industry. For many brands, the hair is only used once and it bothered me to see so much hair being thrown away," she says. So she searched for hair that is high quality and reusable and doesn't require adhesives. "Because of this, the wefts are easy to pop in and out," says Gueldner. "After about a year, when the hair can't be used anymore, I donate it to matteroftrust.org and they use it to make mats to clean up oil spills."

Gueldner has discovered that many women in the corporate sector seek her extensions, not for a dramatic change, but to feel more confident after dealing with hair loss or fine hair. For one of her clients, who works in a corporate office, her goal was to maintain her natural look with extensions.

"The first time she got them, she was thrilled because it looked like real hair and she doesn't have to worry about drawing any unwanted attention," says Gueldner. "She can feel good while going to work every day."

Kimberly Gueldner at Voël Hair Studio