In June, Katrina LeCavalier was two weeks away from a dream vacation to Italy. But one day in the shower, the 28-year-old noticed something was wrong with her hair.

"It felt like someone put Nair in my shampoo," she says of the experience. "Like clumps were just coming out and it was scary. I thought I was dying. I didn't know what to do."

The loss is due to an autoimmune disease called alopecia areata. Doctors at Sunnybrook Hospital are trying to shock her hair into re-growth, using cortisone injections and chemical applications to her scalp.

For now, though, the 28-year-old woman is wearing a wig. The prosthetic isn't easy to take care of. LeCavalier can't wash it herself, so she drops it off at her hairdresser weekly.

The emotional trauma may be even worse.  "My hair was everything. I used to colour it all the time. I used to like funk it up and do all kinds of different things," she sighs.

Elline Surianello knows what LeCavalier is talking about. Surinello is the owner and first client of  LeMetric Hair, a company that makes hairpieces for women. She started the company when she began to go bald herself.

"As a woman, it's very - you feel unattractive. It's part of a woman. It's part of you. It's your hair. It's how you feel inside," she explains.

And to that end, she wants to help LeCavalier out: LeMetric donated a brand new hair piece, worth about $4,000.

On Thursday, Health Specialist  Laura DiBattista will take you through Katrina's first fitting CityNews at Five and Six.

What causes baldness?

What makes female baldness different from male pattern baldness?

Myths and facts about women's hair loss.

Coping with the loss.

How to care for a wig.