Karen Houghton Speaks About Owning The Wig Shop Karen Houghton has been in the beauty world since 2004, when she started her own business, “I loved making people feel more beautiful, but I was looking for something else to tie in with it,” she says. “I’ve always loved hair and doing hair. So I bought a salon for a short time, but it was not for me. I just didn’t feel like I was giving back.” “I had a friend go through stage four ovarian cancer in 2009 just before I moved here,” she continues. “To use her words: ‘just to go into work and feel human, was a struggle.’ One of her biggest concerns besides her health was the loss of her hair. Once she got a wig, she said, ‘I feel normal now, without people wondering if I’m sick.’ “For most women, their hair is a high priority, and an identifying factor. Having a wig took the worry for her, out of how she looked. Once she felt more like herself, then she could focus on her health fully.” When the opportunity to buy The Wig Shop in Murrells Inlet presented itself in 2014, Karen, touched by her friend’s journey, and inspired to help others in similar situations, jumped at the chance. Right now, her makeup is available online and at the shop by appointment only. “It’s important that my makeup is all natural,” she says, “it doesn’t have any ingredients that could hurt somebody with a weakened immune system. So it’s a great complement to my shop.” All different styles of wigs displayed in the shop’s storefront. The greatest number of Karen’s customers are cancer patients. But there are other reasons too, why people shop for wigs. “A lot of people, young and old these days, are experiencing hair loss or thinning hair, from mild to extreme,” she tells me. “Our society leads a stressful life—with medications, and diet— it’s not only the elderly who lose hair.” “I just had a girl last week who colored her hair herself, and she was terrified and so in shock by what she did, and wanted a wig,” Karen tells me. “There are others who just like wearing wigs, like shoes, and they don’t care who knows it. You’d be surprised how many types of situations there are.” Karen worked hard to make the environment at The Wig Shop warm, friendly, comfortable and boutique-like, so that consultations like this one, are empowering. Karen sells synthetic and human hair wigs, and she also carries toppers and clip-in extensions, and a small selection for men. Anything she doesn’t have, she can find. Her biggest selling styles are synthetic wigs because they’re so easy to care for— making them an ideal choice for anybody going through illness. There are all types of caps that the hair attaches to, so natural in appearance that if the hair flows back in the wind, it looks like your own scalp underneath. “Wigs have come a really long way,” Karen says. “They’re not our grand- mother’s wigs anymore. It’s really tough to tell when someone is wearing one. They can be as light as two ounces, comfortable, and very stylish.” Karen Haughton and her fellow employees smiling at the prospect of making their customers feel confident in the way they look. “We work with so many women in this area,” she says, “all the way from Charleston to North Carolina. You’d be surprised how many people say, ‘why don’t we have this in Charlotte or Charleston?’ We’re really one of the largest and nicest shops in the area. And it’s really convenient to Market Common. We just have a great reputation as well as a huge selection; and we stock the highest quality wigs. There’s some lower-end things you can find online, but that’s not what we specialize in.” Because of her friend’s experience, Karen is aware of the challenges people face emotionally when shopping for a wig. So she created a clean, new, boutique-like environment that feels welcoming, relaxing, and chic. “We just have to so much to offer to help people with whatever they’re going through,” she says. “There’s four of us who work here, and a few of us wear wigs, and a few of us don’t. But I try to hire people who are knowledgeable about hair, to add to peoples’ comfort levels.” “I’m very adamant about not selling something that doesn’t look good on them,” she concludes. “We don’t want them to walk out of here unless they look good and feel good about it.” What To Know: The Wig Shop, Discounts for customers with cancer or alopecia. Some insurance companies will reimburse the cost of a wig, check with yours. To learn more about some of our other local businesses, click here! Envelope Facebook Phone Internet-explorer Simple Karen Cosmetics Facebook Internet-explorer

Interior Design In the Market Common Laurie Dragunoff has wanted to be an interior designer since she was in high school. Originally from Connecticut, she enrolled in an accredited program for interior design at UMass Amherst, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1990. She’s been in business as an interior designer for 22 years: first for architectural and interior design firms, then for herself, owning her own business for 16 years in Connecticut— Decorative Interiors. Her business was unique in that she owned a store as part of it. “I always wanted my own store,” she tells me. “I had a location in Middletown, Connecticut at a place called the Galleria Design Center. It’s the largest indoor marble-granite showroom in Connecticut. All of the stores carry items for decorating or designing your home. I sold furniture, window treatments, accessories, wallpaper, fabrics and lighting. People would hire me to walk around the galleria with them and help them make selections for their house.” Two years ago, Laurie’s daughter moved to Charleston for college. While exploring the area, Laurie decided to come to Myrtle Beach to see a friend. She found herself in the Market Common, fell in love with it, and put a deposit down for a house. She took another year to sell her house and store up North, then moved South with Decorative Interiors. Working with Laurie is a win-win. It takes the difficult guesswork out of interior design for clients who aren’t familiar with blending colors and fabrics, and ensures a timeless look (and higher resale value) for a home. “I love everything about living here, and about being in the South,” she tells me. “Once I arrived, I decided not to open another store as part of my design business. It tied me down a little, and I wanted more freedom— a change of pace, and a change of life. I’ve turned my house into a showroom, and run my business out of my home in Sweetgrass West. “I have wallpaper books, fabrics books, I carry all the same lines I used to carry in my store in Connecticut. I’m supporting people in the Market Common, and they’re supporting me.” Laurie explains to me how she approaches a project, and what the advantages are to having assistance with interior design for your home. Laurie displays some of the color schemes she’s working with for a client. “Everyone has a style, and as an interior designer, you have to pull out what that person’s style is,” she says. “The hardest thing for a client to do is to visualize their finished design. If they can’t speak the words to express that, then I can’t show them viable options that they might pick. Often I ask them to look on Pinterest and show me examples of what they like, so I can get a sense of where the client is in their mind, so I can understand, ‘okay, they like clean lines, they like contemporary,’ and go from there.” “Additionally,” she continues, “people when they’re buying a brand new home, often don’t think they need to hire an interior designer until they’re ready to move in and decorate. But that’s not the case. Builders don’t necessarily hire experts to select tile, cabinet and flooring options. And new homebuyers don’t always have the skill to pick that which will bring them satisfaction in the long run from the choices the contractor is presenting them, or find viable alternatives if they don’t like the selection presented to them. Laurie at home in her Sweetgrass West residence, which also serves as her design headquarters. “Hiring somebody with a lot of experience is valuable, because when you try to do it yourself and make a mistake, that’s costing you money,” she says. “Having a cohesive, pleasing design helps with the resale value of your house. It has to look timeless, so that somebody will come in and say, ‘this is perfect for me, I don’t need to make updates.’” Laurie can do anything in terms of interior design, including providing drawings, floor plans, and full layout. She also helps those relocating get organized about what to keep and what to buy new, and how to t it all together. Laurie attends continuing education twice a year to say current with her knowledge of product and where to find it, to continue to deliver the greatest possible value to her clients in the least amount of time. Her motto is, ‘Live your best life in style,’ which sounds like it fits with the Market Common perfectly to us. Unfortunately this company is permanently closed. We have admired their business and are sad to see them go.