Client L reviews her experience of Female Pattern Hair Loss

Transcription of interview - Client L

For those who are unable to view the video, prefer to read, or who have difficulties in hearing, this is a transcription of the interview

I was about 20, 21, when I started to lose my hair. A very gradual process, and it coincided with university so it was a very crucial time in life.

It was very gradual, it just started at the crown, and I just noticed it when I was brushing my hair, I could see it in the mirror and I just would think, I would just kind of part my hair slightly - different ways - and it just progressed from there over a couple of years.

I went to see quite a few doctors actually cos I was quite ill at the same time with a totally separate illness to do with my throat and I was hospitalised a couple of times with it. So after that my hair loss progressed quite rapidly when I was about 22, so I did see a couple of doctors at the time; and they weren't entirely sympathetic, and I was kind of left with the feeling that it was "only your hair", you know which stayed with me for a long time. And a few other opinions that it was just female pattern hair loss, but no solutions either way and kind of "be on your way" and "be happy".

I do remember at the time when it was quite advanced I would specifically hate having my photograph taken. If there was a group of people and I had to sit down the front I couldn't stand to have people behind me; I would be sweating, I was so conscious, and similarly at work if someone came to talk to me at the desk I would have to stand up as well and talk to them, or kind of maneuver myself so that they couldn't see the top of my head, which was where the problem was. Windy conditions again, it was just a consistent 24 hour thing I had to think about - it was with me all the time.

At the time I would mostly try and arrange my hair myself; I'd comb it in certain way and I would put clips in, to try to keep it in place and cover the patches, and that was how I dealt with it mostly. I didn't even want to think about wigs, I didn't even want I think to admit to myself that I had a problem, I had a real problem. So I just managed it myself. And then I came here.

So I found out about Lucinda Ellery's via the internet really, there just came a day when I decided, I just burst into tears one night before going out, and I didn't want to go out, I was so upset, my boyfriend at the time, who is now my husband, said "we'll do something about this, whatever it costs we'll look into it" and so the next day I got up and I just went on the internet, and every search I did it brought me back to Lucinda Ellery. You know, I would type in hair loss, solutions, prosthetics, that kind of thing and it brought me back to Lucinda Ellery each time. So it was local to me and I decided to come in for a visit.

I had no preconceptions about coming into the studio at all, I just didn't know what to expect to be honest, and the first thing that hit me when I came through the door was this buzzy atmosphere. It was really young, it was really dynamic, and there was lots of people in there that I felt akin to, you know there was lots of young girls who looked really friendly, it really struck me that it was a really warm place to come into, and then I met with Lucinda and I was taken into this beautiful office, and we sat down and it was just a lovely meeting, with this lovely woman who was interested in my story, what had brought me here to the studios that day, and how she could help me. And there was no hard sell, there was no "well you should have this done and you should spend this amount of money and you should book it today and blah blah blah", it was very holistic , and it was go away and think about it, and I think if I had said I want to sign up today she would have said "no, go away and think about it", I think that was the impression I got. So I did, I did go away and think about it, but I just couldn't get it out of my head, I just wanted to come back and try it, and it was really, it was a turning point in my life meeting Lucinda, I can't lie.

The next day I went into work and I remember work colleagues said "have you dyed your hair, what have you done to your hair? They absolutely had no idea I'd had anything done and I confided in a couple of really close friends at work and they were like "I would never have guess you'd had something like an intralace system put in place, they just didn't know. People mostly said "what have you done, what's different?", and obviously I didn't tell, I chose just to tell my family and friends but now I tell people out of interest, yeah, I'm just, I'm proud.

Eight years down the line it's totally transformed my confidence. I was a confident person, it's kinda like pre and post hair loss, and pre hair loss I was a confident bubbly person and during the hair loss years I absolutely lost my confidence. My femininity or one's femininity is all bound up in your hair, a lot of it is, and to start losing your hair it just strips it away and you feel pretty desperate and down and to have that restored and now I'm literally the envy of my friends with my hair. They don't, you know, a lot of people I meet, I may be at work and brushing my hair in the bathroom and this girl said "you've got such lovely thick hair, you're so lucky" and I was like 'you know, it's in the genes, it's in the genes'. People just don't know, and I thank the studio every day for my hair, I really do.

Now it feels, it literally feels like my hair. It doesn't feel weighty, or an add-on, or anything because it's all weaved in with my own hair, it just feels so natural it really does.

So since learning to live with the system now and it becoming like my own hair, swimming, going on holiday, it's just a joy, it's just a joy. I dive in the pool, swim without fear of coming up out of the water looking like a boiled egg or something, it's absolutely natural.

To sum up being a Lucinda Ellery client I would say in the first instance it's life-changing, really life-changing. Hold my head up high now, this glorious lustrous hair that friends are so complimentary about, and then on a day to day basis coming into the studio it's such a warm and inviting place to come and it's me time and it's pamper time and I leave feeling fabulous.

I would say to anyone who's in a similar situation who's nervous about picking up the phone and perhaps starting on this journey of regaining their hair and their confidence to just pick up the phone and come into Lucinda, Lucinda's studio and meet with one of the team because they're the nicest, warmest and caring team who will bring you back that confidence and bring you back your hair.