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'I hope it helps people's identity through chemo'

Chloe Harcombe & Liz Beacon
BBC News, Gloucestershire
BBC Joy Roodenburg-Vermaat with her son and daughter. Her son has short dark hair and is wearing a navy blue fleece. Joy is stood next to him. She has short grey hair and is wearing a red top. Her daughter is to her right. She has long dark blonde hair and is wearing a black top. All of them are looking at the camera and smiling BBC
Joy Roodenburg-Vermaat's children came up with the idea to make the hats

A woman who lost her hair following chemotherapy is offering others going through the same thing a chance to make hats using their own hair.

When Joy Roodenburg-Vermaat from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, she said she found the prospect of losing her hair "terrifying". She tried wearing wigs, but did not feel comfortable in them.

Her children came up with an idea that involved cutting her hair and attaching it to the lining of a hat. The family are now sharing tutorials and packs so other people can make their own hats.

"I hope that it allows people to keep their identity through chemo," said Ms Roodenburg-Vermaat's daughter.

Ms Roodenburg-Vermaat said she "resigned" herself to the fact that she would lose her hair during the treatment for her "aggressive" cancer.

"When I was diagnosed with cancer, it felt like the ground was literally shaking underneath me.

"I was losing control of my life, my identity and how I looked."

She added that she was conscious of strangers seeing her without hair and realising that she had cancer.

A box containing all the equipment needed to make a hat of joy. It contains an orange tube of glue, a box of pins, black thread and pieces of black and white material. There is pink tissue paper in the box and it is placed on the table.
Bunches of hair, pins, glue and thread are needed to make the hats

After Ms Roodenburg-Vermaat's children suggested the idea of creating a hat with hair, her daughter, Morwenna Louttit-Vermaat, attempted to turn it into a reality.

She spent the afternoon "saving" Ms Roodenburg-Vermaat's hair by cutting it off in bunches before it fell out and gluing it on to a strip to sew to a piece of fabric that could be worn under any hat.

Hours later, Ms Roodenburg-Vermaat looked "exactly the same" as before.

Joy Roodenburg-Vermaat. She is wearing a red straw hat which has hair sewn in. Joy is looking directly at the camera and smiling.
The family were able to craft a hat in a few hours

Following the success of the "hats of joy", the family has created a website to share tutorials so other people can make their own.

They have also sent out 20 packs to local centres that support people going through cancer and have asked for feedback to shape their future plans for the venture.

"You get stripped of everything - all your control, your whole life, but it's the one thing you can still control," said Ms Louttit-Vermaat.

"It's your hair and you're still you, going through all of it.

"The dream is that something nice comes out of a very tricky year in our family."

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