Stem Cells - The New Hair Loss Revolution
Beauty Expert Steven Smith tests the latest treatment for thinning hair
MY HAIR HAS ALWAYS BEEN my crowning glory and, although I am cursed with the family high hairline, my thick wavy locks covered that and made me stand out in a crowd.
I haven’t always loved my hair. In my school days it was red and the constant bullying I received as a result made me hate it. As soon as I left school I couldn’t wait to turn it blond - the same colour as my idol, David Bowie. It was a great success and I was pictured in the local paper sporting the same look as David Sylvian, the lead singer of the band Japan, who was very hip at the time.
Now in my fifties, I actually adore red hair but as it’s greying in places I opt for gentle highlights, as my base colour is less red.
One thing I have never had problems with is hair loss. However, after a bout of shingles and a terrible few months with Salmonella poising picked up on a trip to India really took its toll, not only on my body but my hair, which started to look lose its lustre and become thinner on top.
My first thought was that perhaps all the medication I’d taken had affected it. So I treated the hair and also dosed myself up with zinc, silica and Selenium. My hair regained some of its fullness but it just wasn’t the same as it had been before.
I began to wonder if I needed a hair transplant. My father had one many years ago but to me it always looked as though someone had sewn some fake hair into his scalp and it never really looked good. It worked for some people, including Callum Best, although that was after the third attempt.
Friends had tried other treatments, ranging from PRP and Meso therapy and several had gone to Trichology centres, all with varying degrees of success.
Having been a professional hairdresser myself, I have seen the struggles men and women suffering with hair loss or thinning hair go through. Even worse is the false hope that so many of these lotions, potions and downright cons give to desperate people.
My luck was in when I researched the market, as there was something new to the UK - Stem Cell Hair Loss Therapy. The method is based on the principle that by injecting stem cells within the area with the thinning hair, the patients get new blood vessel formation which in turn increases the amount of nutrients arriving in the treated area.
Researching a little more, it became clear that this is not for someone who has lost all their hair but it can give hope to those with thinning hair, particularly men in the early stages of baldness. A definite plus was that it could be done in a single session.
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