By: Richard Hernandez

In Bogotá you can still find some businesses that have survived the passage of time and more recently the pandemic. The Chapinero sector is an example of this. Although many of its emblematic sites have disappeared, there are also others that refuse to succumb.

On Calle 64 with Carrera 11 is the Bari wig store. Nothing to do with Italy, before, on the contrary, its name alludes to an indigenous people known as the Barís or Motilones who live in the jungles of the Catatumbo River, on both sides of the border between Venezuela and Colombia.

The brand and the logo (a tunjo) were chosen by Don Guillermo Restrepo, a paisa from Armenia (Quindío), who worked as chief of staff at McGregor, a famous clothing company, whose owners were Jewish. There he met many seamstresses. When this company ended, Restrepo was paid with sewing machines.

“My mother Bernarda is also a paisa from Medellín (Antioquia). Apart from housework, she took a beauty course where they were taught to weave hair by hand, cut, make hairpieces, make up and many other things. Those courses were very good, not like the ones now. So my dad suggested that they make the hairpieces and wigs by machine,” says Restrepo, who continued to run that business.

At first they began to make hairpieces that Mr. Restrepo sold at night to the women who worked in the cafes in the center of the city. "My dad didn't start looking for a job, but what they now call entrepreneurship," he says, laughing. Then they began to sell to television programmers like Promec, which made series like 'Let's relive our history', where the actors used many wigs, mustaches, beards and extensions.

“So we had to hire more seamstresses. The first small factory was in the Restrepo neighborhood. Then we moved to the Santa Sofía neighborhood, to a bigger house. At that time, hair was easy to buy. In every beauty salon that was respected there was a box where they deposited the hair. The owners kept it and sold it. Later, my father rented this place in the Fénix building, which at that time was the tallest in Chapinero. That was like 45 years ago,” he notes.

There was a time when hair was no longer so easy to get, says Restrepo. They had to hire two gentlemen to visit the beauty salons they found on the raids they made from Bogotá to the coast. This is how they came to collect so much hair that once they exported some boxes to the United States.

“By the hair's breadth our parents pulled us through. We are three brothers: two men and one woman. Curious case in a Paisa family. 15 years ago my parents retired from the business. Now they live in Girardot (Cundinamarca). So, my wife Margarita and my brother's wife took over the business. At that time I was with a private company. Then I started working with them and teaching them, because I had lived here all my life. Finally, my wife and I stayed,” he says.

The Restrepo family's wig business has had different stages. A variety of clients have passed through this place: actors, models, beauty queens. There was a time when, along 76th Street, near the Los Héroes monument, gays and transvestites began to parade in that sector, who also became assiduous buyers.

“The gays left Barí because now, where they sell makeup, they bring long and extravagant wigs. That's what they like. They already have their own niches, let's put it that way. When they want a wig that lasts a long time, they come here. They usually buy those toy wigs that I call cosmetic,” he states.

There was also a period when the extensions were sold a lot due to the rise of drug trafficking. Many pretty women came. Beauty salons were overwhelmed. Another moment that Restrepo remembers is that in Chapinero there were many hippies who had their clothing stores. Also, because rock concerts were held in the Hippies park. Many of those young people who are now parents remember when they pass by the place that they sold their long hair there.

Despite the fact that different types of competition and circumstances have arisen, the Restrepos' business has managed to stay. One of those competitors is people who don't know the business very well and go to China or Los Angeles to bring wigs. They end up selling them very cheap. The same thing happens with some merchants in Sanandresito. The pandemic also affected them a lot, despite the fact that they managed to pay for the premises a month before the start of Covid-19.

“We continue to attend by phone to women who were undergoing chemotherapy treatment or who need extensions. That helped us pay for services. The most ironic thing is that we went to apply for a loan of 5 million pesos and they almost kicked us out. After having paid them 250 million of the credit for the premises ”, he comments.

Two employees work with the Restrepos. On the first floor there is the shelving where the wigs are displayed, a sewing machine, a small space to comb the wigs and the reception. The workshop is located on the mezzanine. When many wigs were sold, they had up to 12 employees. Some of them have set up similar businesses on the sides of the Lourdes church.

In these places, now with the pandemic, people continue to come to sell their hair. Others prefer to donate it to foundations that make wigs for cancer patients. In most institutions they receive hair with a minimum length of 25 centimeters. While, in these businesses, it cannot be less than 45 centimeters. The advisable thing is 60 to 70 cm. And to avoid the theft of hair, they cut it themselves. The price varies according to the quality, length and quantity.

To assemble the wig, explains Restrepo, once the hair is cut, it is embedded in a board to remove the waste that is not useful. It is then sorted and knitted into a lace cap, part by machine and part by hand (the crown). Then he brushes. The wig can be washed with shampoo.

As for the price, Restrepo assures that they have been very careful about the competition. There are wigs that can be obtained from 350 thousand pesos, while in other places they can cost up to two million pesos. Mustaches cost 45 thousand, eyebrows and sideburns 70 thousand. Beards that are difficult to make can cost 350 thousand pesos. "The toupee has gone down a lot because now bald men shave their entire heads, fortunately, because that seems so ugly to me," he says.

Santiago Restrepo does not know if the business will continue with the third generation. He has two sons, one who is a psychologist, musician, and Rasta, and the other an environmental engineer. “I don't say anything because I was never interested in this business and my brothers even less so. I was even embarrassed to say that we had a wig factory and here I am. The most beautiful thing is to sell the wig to a lady who is undergoing chemotherapy and see the joy of the girls when they buy hair extensions. I am very happy with this work”, he concludes.