Hannah Winstanley

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Hannah

Hi my name's Hannah, I'm 27 years old, and in a few days time I'll be off to Manchester to get the Intralace System fitted for the first time; which I'm really excited about but I'm also really nervous about.

I've been suffering for the past 10 years with thin hair - getting thinner with each passing year - and it's got the the point now where I've just lost confidence in my hair, I've lost confidence in me and how I look and I'm just hoping that with the Intralace I'll walk out of that studio with a whole new confidence in myself, I can start loving myself again and I can start loving my hair again.

I started noticing my hair getting thin when I was about 15 years old, and my mum told me it was because I used to go to horse riding classes every week and she said wearing a helmet was what was causing my hair to get flat. I just believed her for many years until I was 18 or 19 and I moved to university and my hair wasn't bouncing back. I thought if I stopped the classes my hair would go back to normal. It didn't and in fact as the years have gone on my hair has got thinner.

Having thin hair you can't style it, you can't dye it, there's not much you can do with it really apart from try and maintain it, wash it regularly so it doesn't greasy - that's probably my big issue. If I don't wash my hair every day it just looks really really greasy. If I'm in a hurry and I don't have time to wash my hair and it goes out looking greasy I worry about people judging me, I feel like they really think that this girl doesn't wash her hair - which I do, I do regularly. I do try to make it look as normal as I can, and that's just something that has grown inside me as I've gotten older; is me worrying people judging me, judging me for how I look.

One way I try and distract people from my thin hair is by wearing headbands. I feel like it distracts people from staring at the top of my head, which, if I take my headband off, you can see like I literally just washed this hair an hour ago, and as you can see it's just so thin on the top.

So this will be the first time I'm getting the Intralace fitted, and my concerns at the moment are like, what am I going to look like? I have seen pictures on Instagram of ladies with their Intralace fitted and they look amazing, so I'm just worried with me having thin hair for so long, what's it going to look like with my hair a bit thicker, a bit fuller, am I going to look like a completely different person? Is it gonna look stupid? I know it won't look stupid but that's my worry, I'm worried that I'm just not going to look like myself and you're gonna tell straight away that it's not my hair.

Another worry I have is that the actual Intralace itself, getting fitted. I know a few people who've had like weaves and stuff in the past to try and make their hair look longer and thicker and they said it's been so painful, with the plaits like pulling on their hair, and in fact they've actually got it taken out, like straight away, and I really don't like people pulling my hair. I very rarely go to the hairdressers, so the idea of someone yanking at my hair for about 6 hours is kind of nerve-racking.

I've spoken to the ladies at Lucinda Ellery a number of times, and they have reassured me a lot that the stylists are very helpful, very friendly, if I have any concerns to let them know. So that's reassuring.

It's just exciting the thought of having some volume to my hair again, and no longer having to worry about having to wash it, wondering if people are just staring at me because of my greasy thin hair, so in a few days time, Manchester studio here we come and whole new me.

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So I just got back from Lucinda Ellery, and as you can see, I'm a lot different than I was.... I've got my Intralace System fitted and (laughs) I literally cannot believe how different I look, and I absolutely love it. I never thought in a million years I would look like this. I never thought I'd have a fringe ever again. I just can't get over the top of my head. Like I can look at myself now and not think "my goodness, how did my hair get so thin", now, as you can see I can't stop stroking it 'cause it's just like, there's so much hair!