New Years Eve 2011

I am now at week 15 of my hair restoration course and at last the changes are becoming more visible. Generally my hair feels thicker and fuller and the condition of my hair and scalp are greatly improved. So far I have looked at mapping brand new hairs coming through near the front of my scalp but these are now on a long growth cycle so that the roots can deepen and produce larger hairs.

Now we are going to look at my Crown where at the start the hair were thinning, miniaturising and looking quite sparce. the following two pictures were taken at five weeks and fifteen weeks and the difference is very clear.

The hairs are thicker, there are fewer minimising hairs and there are more of them. There is still room for improvement, more hairs coming through and fine hairs to thicken up.

The Products used in the hair restoration process are key to the overall success for the client. We use the following products by HCLL. Here is a reminder of the products we use.

Scalp Therapy

Scalp therapy is a solution for your scalp which breaks up and dissolves subum, a build-up on your scalp which clogs hair follicles causing the hair to die and also blocks the topical penetration of MGT and other treatments.

8 Weeks and growing!

So I've reached the 8 week mark and it's time to record my progress. It's very difficult not to check my progress too often, but things are definitely on the move. Surprisingly it appears that the right of my head is growing better than the left.

And lets have a look at it a bit closer.

A breakthrough at five weeks - It's working!

I have now been on the course of therapy for my hair loss for five weeks. I have taken DHT Blockers every day, one in the morning and another before bedtime. I have been using HLCC Scripts scalp therapy to soften the sebum on my scalp and Scripts DHT blocking and nutritional shampoo. I have also been using the nutritional conditioner and Maximum Growth Therapy applied to my scalp most days. 

At the start, five weeks ago, I had no hair at all on the front half of my head from where my original hairline would have been, a little tuft of bum-fluff a little way back. This first picture was taken two weeks after I had started on my regime. There are no hairs here at all.

After five weeks, when looking in the bathroom mirror with the sunlight coming in the window over my shoulder I noticed a halo of light along the top of my scalp and on closer examination I could see lots of tiny hairs growing.

These two shots are taken at the same distance from the surface but in the second pic I angled the scope back slightly. The hairs are very fine and will have short roots which will have minimised over the years but as the hairs grow in size so will the follicle containing them in the skin. The hairs will eventually grow in thickness and length as in the diagram below.

The final countdown to launch

After 10 months of researching, planning and implementing we are now only days away from being able to offer full consultations to customers about our new laser hair restoration service. We told the local Press about it in April 2011 and we have had posters in the windows of the salon for months now. The laser room is ready, the administration is ready and I am ready. All we need now are the products from the USA and we can start.

The hair restoration process has four parts:

1. Blocking DHT:  We all produce testosterone, both men and women but men in much larger amounts. In men, testosterone gives us our male characteristics, our frame, our muscles, hairy chests and beards etc but it is also used for another important function. An enzyme called 5-Alpha reductase converts testosterone to Dihydratestosterone (DHT) in the prostate gland to give us men our sexual function. DHT will lock in to receptors in the prostate to give us our sexual ability but we also have DHT receptors in the papillae or base of the hair on the crown of our scalps. Any excess DHT that is not being used for sexual function will lock on to the base of those hairs on the scalp and begin the process of slowing down the cell division that enables our hairs to grow. This process is called hair miniaturisation.


We combat miniaturisation with Scripts DHT Blocker and Complete Nutrition.

2. Scalp therapy:  All hairs have sebaceous glands which secrete and oily substance called sebum which lubricates and protects the hair. When a hair suffers miniaturisation it grows slightly smaller on each growth cycle until it is just a tiny fine hair in a large follicle. To prevent dirt, foreign bodies and bacteria from entering the follicle the sebaceous glands produce enough sebum to plug the follicle for protection. This in turn further inhibits the hairs growth because the sebum hardens into a crusty plug around the hair in the follicle.

We break up and dissolve this 'Sebum plug' with Scripts Scalp Therapy so that it can easily be washed away.


 3. Scripts DHT Blocking Bio-Therapy Shampoo: A Cleanser that creates thicker, fuller, great looking hair, safely and without risk. Unlike almost all other commonly used hair and scalp cleansing products, Scripts Shampoo has been scientifically formulated without DEA and SLS as part of its active ingredients.

We clear the way so that the continuing therapy can penetrate down to the hair root.
  
4. Maximising the growth potential: Next we apply Maximum Growth Therapy to the scalp. (MGT) is a unique formula designed to help stop hair loss using 11 topical DHT blockers and nutrients. MGT is designed to provide the hair with protein building nutrients and B vitamins directly to the hair follicle to help with hair growth. MGT has a proven vasodilator (Biotin) which improves blood flow assisting the vitamins in revitalizing the condition of the hair and scalp. Additionally, it relieves the scalp of dryness and encourages thick healthy hair.

Apply MGT to the scalp to maximise the growth potential.

Before Hair Restoration there was Hair loss

I have experienced hair loss. Almost certainly from the age of 18 my front hair line began to change shape but at the time, in the 70's, I had long hair which flopped over my brow onto my face and the receding hairline was hidden. I had lots of hair, as did many young men and I didn't really notice my hairline and it didn't bother me anyway. In my early thirties I started having my hair cut at home by a mobile hairdresser and I remember her telling me that my hair was beginning to thin.

At that time I looked at my dad and thought, "He's lost it on top, I suppose I'll go the same way". Interestingly my younger brother (The middle of three) started losing his hair at a younger age than me and yet our youngest brother still has a good head of hair even now that he's into his forties, so what's going on here? Many people believe that they have inherited their head of hair from their father but in fact men should look to their mother's father for a true picture for it is believed that the genes for hair loss are carried down the maternal line.

Our DNA determines the number of hair follicles that we are born with and it is impossible to increase the number of follicles on the scalp as we grow older.

Hair growth is regulated by the dermal papilla, a structure located at the base of the hair follicle. The dermal papilla regulates which phase of the growth cycle a follicle is in at any one time. During the growth phase, rapid cell division takes place above the dermal papilla at the matrix. The dividing cells are pushed upwards from the follicle's base where they harden and undergo pigmentation, a process known as keratinisation. Keratinised cells form the hair shaft and exit the epidermis, appearing to the naked eye as hair.

What happens at puberty?

Hair will grow thick and strong up to puberty, when levels of testosterone in the body increase. At this time, hair is the thickest and strongest that it will ever be. Testosterone is converted into Dihydratestosterone (DHT) by an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. DHT that is not required by the sex organs for normal function may bind to DHT receptors located on the dermal papillae on the crown of the head. This process disrupts the hair growth cycle, resulting inthe reduction of cell division in the matrix and a decrease in the production of keratinised cells, which in turn produces a shorter, thinner hair shaft. Consequently the hair follicle miniaturises and shifts back into the resting phase, giving rise to the term 'male and female pattern hair loss' - a condition referred to by medics as Androgenetic Alopecia.

75% of men and 35% of women are affected by hair-loss.