“If life was fair, I’d be 5 foot 5,” Atsuko Tanaka said as she fondled a thick strand of hair and worked it over with a comb and blow dryer. Even with the stylist chair set to its lowest level, and standing on tiptoes, Ms. Tanaka had trouble styling the higher regions of the client’s head.

“I’m only four-eleven, so I have to wear heels,” she said.

Another testament to the random nature of life is that Ms. Tanaka, 39, who grew up in Japan with no knowledge of Jewish culture, now specializes in styling expensive wigs worn by ultra-Orthodox Jewish women seeking to conform to the requirement of religious law to cover their hair after marriage.

“They call me the Japanese sheitel macher,” she said, using a Yiddish term for wig seller. Ms. Tanaka does not speak Yiddish and she does not even sell wigs, but she has become the stylist to see for a certain set of moneyed women who follow a tradition often associated with modesty, even if the wig prices can top $5,000.

Looking modest is not a strong suit here at the Julien Farel salon on Madison Avenue, where Ms. Tanaka works. A wash-cut-blow dry for a wig can take more than two hours, and her prices start at $450.