Client R reviews her experience of hair loss

Transcription of interview - Client R

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I was about 14 years old when I noticed my hair change, and this was a result of me suffering from food poisoning. So I was taken into hospital, and I was in and out of conciousness for about 2 weeks, and when I came round my hair started to just all fall out. And it fell out to the extent that I was screaming because you could start to see my scalp, and since then it's not really grown back, and it kept the way it has been, and I've tried effortlessly (sic) for years and years to try and grow it but its just, no, it hasn't worked.

My hair was really thick and it was below my bum. It was really thick and it was beautiful, and I just completely lost it all, so it was a part of me that I'd lost. But now, having the hair I've got, is just like it used to be really.

My life at 14 when all this had happened became really difficult, because you're going through that teenage phase, and there's all peer pressure at school, and suddenly people had noticed that all this hair had gone so there was a bit of bullying that I put up with at that time. But not only that, but because I come from an Asian background, hair is such a big thing, and to have lost my hair, you know, there were comments coming out from relatives and what have you so it really did knock my confidence, so from being an A star student my results just plummeted really, as a result of that.

And there were quite a few situations that I'd completely freak out at, I mean going swimming was one of the biggest things, I used to love swimming, but getting my hair wet and having the hair just fall flat and you could see my scalp was a huge confidence issue for me. I'd be reluctant to go into communal showers with the girls at school, cos I used to love sports, and my sports activities then became restricted because I'd try not to build up a sweat; and going out in the rain as well - I hated it because my hair would just frizz up into a horrible frizzy mess and I just didn't know how to cope with it, it was very difficult.

I mean I just used to look at friends of mine and they could just wash and blow dry their hair and that was it ready to go, and I would take hours to blow dry and try to volumise it and lift it up; I didn't know how to style my own hair, you know, and I had to learn all these tricks. But it does get wearing after the years and years go on.

The way I found out about Lucinda Ellery was back in 2007 in the lead up to my wedding, and I picked up a magazine, saw a picture of a lady who was having her hair volumised - before and after - and lo and behold there it was Lucinda Ellery, and in 30 seconds picked up the phone dialled the number, and that was it. The reaction I had from my family and friends and all my colleagues was 'oh my god, who is that?' And when I walked into the room where my husband, well my husband to be, and he was just astounded, it was like looking at a new woman, and he goes 'oh my god I fancy you all over again!'

Then honestly, colleagues and friends, they were amazed, and my confidence, it just oozed out of me, from that point onwards and I've never really looked back.

The impact that this had had on me has been absolutely phenomenal, and nobdy understands unless you're going through that yourself, nobody else understand what it feels like to have all my hair back, I can go out with confidence, my business is conducted so much more confidently than I've ever done before. I interact with people at a completely different level to how I used to do before I lost my hair, and it's just been amazing and I would never look back; to me this is a lifestyle choice that I chosen for life, and I would never go back from here.

All the things I do with my hair I can do so much more with my hair now. There a couple of things: one it's great for my husband because every time I go back to see him after I've had my hair done at Lucinda Ellery, it's like 'Oh wow', it's great, but on the other side I'm so experimental with my hair, I love to have it straight, I love to have it curly, when I come due for a new system I'll chop it all off, put some wacky colors in, and then we're ready again for a complete new overhaul. It's absolutely amazing, it really is, it's cool.

I mean I have to say, for me my experiences to date with my hair, going to all the hairdressers that I used to go to from one to another to another, I've lost count, nobody could style my hair , manage my hair, and it was as if because my hair was thin I wasn't that important - it was like 'what do we do with your hair? There's nothing we can do with it' but then suddenly, having found Lucinda Ellery, my first impressions of... I was quite hesitant to walk through the door thinking 'oh my god how are people going to look at my head because I haven't got enough hair', when I walked in it was like walking into a haven. I met Lucinda and I came away quite emotional with tears of joy really; you can't put a value on that, and to have just half an hour with Lucinda, to have her go through my hair issues relating it back to her own, having that empathy, and every time I come in I get made to feel like a princess, and in today's day and age nobody's got time for you unless you pay wods and wods of cash. I do feel quite emotional, you know, because you come in, I get treated like a star and it's amazing - the amount of events I run in my business, celebrities galore, I'm a nobody. When I actually come and get my hair done it's really nice to be pampered, to have people fussing over you, to actually want to do your hair and you can see the passion within the staff, every single one.