Category Archives: Hair Loss in the News

This months Saga magazine has an article about female hair loss.  It states that approx 50% of women experience some form of hair thinning after the menopause.

The article mentions thickening hair products – there are a number of hair thickening products on the market which are a good way to help with mild thinning.  These products (sometimes known as coloured hair thickner or scalp makeup) can be applied to the hair to cover the parts of the scalp that is on show.  They are not suitable for areas where the thinning is severe or if there are any patches of hair loss.  These products are generally easy to apply and will wash out when you next wash your hair.

The article in Saga Magazine also includes the journalist’s experience of her visit to Lucinda Ellery. For a large number of ladies who experience a reduction in volume of their hair then Medi Connections or the Intralace System are the most effective ways of disguising the hair loss areas.  Although hair thickening products can be effective, clients who use them will often report that they would like something that lasts longer and something that does not need to be applied so frequently.  Using either Medi Connections or the Intralace System will give you natural looking volume and a head of hair that will feel like your own.

There are lots of ladies who are fortunate to have a full head of hair all their life but for those who are not so lucky then there are great techniques available to replace the hair that is missing.

The October issue of Easy Living (available in the shops now) has an article written by journalist Lisa Markwell about her recent chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.  She talks about how affected she was when her hair started to fall out during her treatment.  She came to see Lucinda Ellery for a consultation to discuss using the Intralace system until such time as she felt comfortable with her new hair growth underneath.  Lisa, like many other women that contact us, explained how she really could not feel herself until she had hair that looked like her own and that she could treat like her own.

The Intralace System is integrated with your growing hair and will not affect your regrowth.  The system is designed to last for two years but typically a post-chemo client will need the system for less than its life span.  It needs to be maintained (usually every 6 weeks) as it is connected to your own hair so as your hair grows, it will move away from the scalp and a trained technician at Lucinda Ellery needs to adjust it for you so that it remains secure.

One client who contacted us today having read the article in Easy Living magazine commented that Lisa Markwell had described in the article exactly what this client had felt about losing her hair from the cancer treatment.  She was very happy to hear that an option like the Intralace System is available to help someone manage their hair loss during such a difficult time.

I am sure Lisa appreciates that sharing her experience has raised awareness on how deeply upsetting it is for any woman to experience hair loss.

Channel 4’s ‘Embarrassing Illnesses’ and Embarrassing Teenage illnesses have both featured the hair loss conditions Alopecia and Trichotillomania.

More and more worried parents are calling us about their children’s hair loss problem. One lady enquired on behalf of her thirteen year old daughter who was being badly bullied at school because of her patchy hair loss. We know that hair loss is embarrassing anyway but children can be very cruel to each other.

The young girl in question dreads going to school everyday and has told her Mum that she would prefer to die than have to face her bullies. How sad that not only has she got to cope with all the other teenage challenges but her peers are teasing her about something that she can not control?

Children with hair loss problems will shy away from certain activities to avoid bringing attention to their hair – swimming and sleepover would be very difficult. I know one young girl who said she gained a reputation for being a loner so that people would not ask her to stay over and so that she could avoid the inevitable girly conversations about hair. Don’t underestimate the lengths people with a hair loss problem will go to just to avoid a hair conversation.

It is important to find the right cosmetic solution for children with hair loss. Timing is also crucial. A child will not want to go to school one day with patchy hair loss and arrive the next day with a full head of hair. Finding the right solution can make day to day activities much easier. We recommend speaking to an advisor at Lucinda Ellery so we can explain our services. We offer a free of charge consultation for children on the basis that we can offer advice in general and where appropriate, recommend one of our cosmetic options. What we do is not always suitable for younger clients so everyone is seen on a case by case basis to make sure we are right for them.

We appreciate that parents want to make the right choices to help their child.

There was an article recently published in the April Edition of Top Sante magazine about Alopecia (reprinted in our main site). The lady featured in the article, Helen, described how her life was affected by her thinning hair. Many people endure months and possibly years of putting up with hair thinning or patchy hair loss caused by Alopecia before they find a solution to help them disguise the areas of loss. It can affect all areas of someone’s life. Helen spoke about how it had affected her relationships. Most partners or husbands are very understanding about how losing your hair can affect a woman’s day to day well being. Some women find everyday activities like dropping the children to school or even going to work a real challenge. Unfortunately for us ladies, it would seem that it is not acceptable within society for us to have anything but a full head of hair. Many clients of ours will say that before they had their hair makeover that people would only look at their hair whilst talking to them, they would not look them in the eye.

It is important to know that there are great options available in terms of replacing the hair that is missing. If your hair thinning or hair loss is affecting your everyday life then a positive step forward would be to investigate what can be done to give you a head of hair that in turn restores your confidence.

There was an article in today’s Daily Mail about our client Robina and her experience of living with Trichotillomania. There has been a huge amount of interest from the press in Robina’s story and as a result she is going to be on the ‘couch’ tomorrow morning on GMTV.

Trichotillomania or hair pulling is something that we deal with on a daily basis so we are sure that tomorrow’s program will raise awareness about this little known condition. Robina uses the Intralace System to help her manage her hair pulling and it also gives her a beautiful disguise! The Intralace System has two benefits for our trichotillomania clients – it acts as a physical prevention to hair pulling as well as replacing the hair that is missing. The client feels better because they look better, and their hair gets a chance to regrow.

We often find that following a press article or TV piece that clients are overwhelmed that Trichotillomania is actually much more common than most people think.

There was an article by Jemima Khan regarding Trichotillomania which was printed in the Sunday Times last week. Some clients from Lucinda Ellery were interviewed about their experience of this little known condition.

The article has had a huge amount of interest. There have been calls from ladies of all ages and also a number of calls regarding children with Trichotillomania. In some cases the hair pulling may be from eyelashes and eyebrows only but in most cases the hair pulling affects areas on the scalp. The Intralace System is suitable for clients with TTM as it will replace the hair that is missing as well as act as a physical prevention. The Intralace is not a ‘cure all’ but using it alongside the TTM management skills recommended by Lucinda Ellery can make a big difference to a lot of clients and indeed many clients become pull free and experience full regrowth.

The article in the Sunday Times accurately described how someone with TTM feels and there is a great need for more awareness in schools and within the medical profession. Typically a person with TTM will say that they find it humiliating and perhaps the reason for this is because the problem of TTM is not widely recognised.